DCA awards $327,420 in Iowa Community Cultural Grants
Iowa Great Places projects in Corning, Dubuque and Fairfield receive funding
For Immediate Release March 20, 2008
(DES MOINES, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs has awarded 21 Iowa Community Cultural Grants totaling $327,420 for arts, historical and cultural programs in 14 Iowa communities, including three Iowa Great Places.
The ICCG program encourages strong cultural growth and development throughout the state and provides matching grants to support organizations and projects that provide lasting employment for Iowans while also enhancing Iowa’s artistic, cultural and historical resources.
Projects include museum exhibits, historic restoration and archaeology projects, folk life and other festivals public art projects, ethnic heritage projects and performing arts events and companies.
DCA received 80 ICCG requests totaling $1,146,357 for fiscal year 2008-2009. The 21 grants announced today will be awarded July 1, 2008 pending legislative budget approval.
Three Iowa Great Places – Corning, Dubuque and Fairfield – received ICCG funding for projects in their communities. The funding helps each community move forward with the state in fulfilling work plans outlined in their Memorandums of Understanding.
In Corning, the French Icarian Colony Foundation received $2,070 to hire a part-time horticultural specialist to recreate vineyards, orchards and gardens of the 1852-1898 Icarians; develop a children’s garden project; and expand the Adams County Family Heritage Garden.
The Dubuque County Historical Society received $22,500 for the Great Rivers Center Building Preparation project, a crucial step in the expansion of the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.
The Fairfield Arts and Convention Center received $22,500 to establish a full-time grant writer position that will serve the needs of its educational, entertainment and capital programs.
“With these projects, Corning, Dubuque and Fairfield are combining state resources with local assets to make their places great,” DCA Director Cyndi Pederson said.
Great Places is program that combines the resources of state government with local assets to build capacity in Iowa communities, regions, neighborhoods or districts to cultivate the unique and authentic qualities that make them special.
Communities and organizations across Iowa are encouraged to apply for fiscal year 2009-2010 Iowa Community Cultural Grants. Nonprofit or tax-exempt organizations that promote and develop the arts, history or historic preservation, culture, ethnicity, tourism, economic development, festivals or municipal libraries are eligible to apply. City and county governments and tribal councils are also eligible. Cash-match awards range from $1,000 to $25,000.
Applications for the 2009-2010 ICCG program will be available at www.culturalaffairs.org later this year. For more information about this grant program, please contact Riki Saltzman at 515-242-6195 or Riki.Saltzman@iowa.gov.
A summary of 2008-2009 ICCG awards announced today appears below:
(Community)
(Organization)
(Project)
(Details)
(Grant Amount)
Amana
Amana Heritage Society
History in Motion: Interactive Tours of the Amana Colonies
This project will present a program of specialized, thematic guided tours of the Amana villages, landscape and natural areas for visitors and area residents to experience the Amana Colonies in new, exciting ways. The tours will use a variety of transportation modes: walking/hiking, biking, wagon rides, motor coach and canoeing.
$2,880
Burlington
Geode Resource Conservation and Development, Inc.
Iowa-Shining NaturaLee: Exploring Natural Resources in Lee County
ICCG funding will support the employment of an Iowa resident to serve as the full-time project coordinator to develop, implement and promote a series of interactive, natural-resource based, interpretive tourism venues. This project will emphasize the influence of the Mississippi River, agriculture and forestland pertaining to the culture and heritage of Lee County and the surrounding area.
$22,500
Cedar Rapids
New Bohemia Group, Inc.
New Bohemia Arts and Music Festival
The New Bohemia Arts and Music Festival celebrates local artists and musicians in the New Bohemia Cultural District and the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids Cultural Corridor. ICCG funding will enable the hiring of a festival coordinator, supplement performer and production staff salaries and expand the festival to a two-day event.
$10,350
Clinton
Felix Adler Memorial Association, Inc.
Discovery Guaranteed: Children’s Center Director
ICCG funding will fund an associate director for the Felix Adler Children’s Discovery Center in Clinton, Iowa. The center’s founder/CEO and her husband will retire from their 10-year, full-time, volunteer positions. This funding will create needed employment for an Iowan. It will guarantee continued enrichment of children and families as well as discovery of the world around us.
$22,500
Coralville
Johnson County Historical Society
Community and Special Events Coordinator
ICCG funding will support a staff position salary that will leverage professional expertise by coaching volunteers in techniques to explore, discover, interpret and professionally document a rapidly vanishing township history. The results will be: 21 new township displays, a rotating Collectors Gallery and a 19th century walking tour of homes and mini-folk life festival.
$22,500
Corning
French Icarian Colony Foundation
French Icarian Village Horticultural Program Position
ICCG funding will support the continued restoration and rebuilding of the French Icarian Village site with the hiring of a part-time horticultural specialist by the French Icarian Colony Foundation to recreate the vineyards, orchards and gardens of the 1852-1898 Icarians; develop a children’s garden project; and expand the Adams County Family Heritage Garden.
$2,070
Des Moines
Des Moines Playhouse
“Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters”
The Des Moines Playhouse will produce the play, “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” by Karen Abbot, which emphasizes diversity for upper elementary and junior high youth. It will tour central Iowa schools, linking theatre, literature and social studies, enriching curriculum and underscoring the Six Pillars of Character. We will create study guides and opportunities for student/actor interaction.
$19,980
Des Moines
Employee and Family Resources, Inc.
KFMG-LP Radio, the “Voice of the Community”
By restoring local radio arts/cultural programming, KFMG-LP showcases the diverse and exciting cultural environment within Iowa and promotes Iowa artists and cultural activities in ways that actively attract and engage Iowans. In so doing, KFMG-LP is an investment in Iowa’s cultural resources, strengthening Iowa’s arts and cultural environment.
$22,500
Des Moines
Iowa Fringe Festival
Iowa Fringe Festival
Iowa Fringe Festival creates a nurturing environment for established and new producers to present performing arts works in a festival setting that draws patrons to experience cutting edge works. These companies have facilities, and receive promotional support and 70 percent of their ticket sales. ICCG funding will support wages for a part-time information technology manager, technical director, volunteer coordinator, videographer and graphic designer.
$9,000
Des Moines
Metro Arts Alliance of Greater Des Moines
Metro Arts Jazz in July
Jazz in July is an annual series of jazz events presented free to the public at venues throughout Central Iowa during July. The program includes concerts by Iowa jazz artists as well as an education program that teaches young people about the history and traditions of jazz.
$13,500
Des Moines
Subjective Theatre of Des Moines
The Des Moines Social Club Initial Development
The Des Moines Social Club will offer classes, two resident theatre companies, a meeting space, a public restaurant, and a home for various Des Moines arts and artists. Funding provided by the ICCG will support the architect, the project manager and the general manager/artistic director of the company in opening the performance space.
$22,500
Dubuque
City of Dubuque
Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator Position
The City of Dubuque is creating a new part-time contract position to administer arts and cultural affairs initiatives including the Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission’s operating and project support grant programs. It will include management of Art on the River, the city’s public art program and will also involve developing an inventory and conservation plan for other city public art.
$12,330
Dubuque
Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
Historical Preservation of the Iowa Legends: Ghost Players/Field of Dreams.
ICCG funding is for the salary support for a director/producer. The project exists to edit, archive and preserve a permanent part of Iowa history and make this resource accessible to the public. The collection tells of our rural community, culture and values through the unique stores of the Ghost Players.
$18,000
Dubuque
Dubuque County Historical Society
Great Rivers Center Building Preparation.
The Great Rivers Center Building Preparation project is a crucial step in the expansion of the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. The project will provide for demolition of interior space in a 52,000-square-foot building. The expansion along the water’s edge will create national center for interpretive exhibits and research to explore the Mississippi and the Rivers of America.
$22,500
Dubuque
Dubuque Symphony Orchestra
Classical Madness Free Community Concerts
Dubuque Symphony Orchestra patrons and citizens of Dubuque are currently voting for their favorite classical music selections, starting with 64 and eventually narrowing it down to just four. Those selections will comprise the repertoire for two free community concerts in September, which mark the beginning of our 50th anniversary season.
$17,370
Fairfield
Fairfield Arts and Convention Center
Fairfield Arts & Convention Center Grant Writer Position.
To provide first-year funding in order to establish a full-time grant writer position for an Iowan whose goal is to write grants and develop a grant system that will support the needs of the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center, its theatre and to fund educational, entertainment and capital programs.
$22,500
Grimes
World of Difference
Valuing Culture
Teachers value our programs and want more of them, but schools don’t have sufficient funding allocated for them. This project hires cultural advocates to help schools and their community supporters to understand the costs and benefits of high-quality cultural education and helps them budget accordingly.
$22,500
Marion
Red Cedar Chamber Music
Roots: Influences on the American music we love
This program reaches rural families, senior citizens and children in Linn County with 26 chamber music events. The two-part project defines the roots of the music we love: the July/August 2008 program honors Jewish composers; the Winter 2008-2009 program celebrates the music of Stephen Foster and his European influences. They will hire nine Iowa musicians and others.
$10,800
Peterson
Little Sioux Valley Conservation Association
Place Based Archaeology
This project will develop hands-on archaeological programming for people of all ages. Programs include landscape exploration, artifact investigation representing different cultures and time periods, a prehistoric tool-making station, and a virtual interactive computer game. The materials presented allow visitors to experience a variety of aspects within archaeological studies.}
$8,820
Villisca
Villisca Historical Society
Armory Preservation and Restoration
This project is to engage the services of an architectural/planning firm to study the opportunity for restoration of the historical Villisca Armory and the associated costs of developing it as a viable building for a small business hub, a location for permanent displays of Villisca’s military history and other activities bringing new jobs to the community.
$11,070
Waterloo
H W Grout Trust
Our History Unplugged: Living History Re-Enactments.
ICCG funding will support the H W Grout Trust program, Our History Unplugged: Living History Re-Enactments. The program will provide visitors with a dynamic live interpretation of how the community’s ancestors lived. These will be adaptable live programs offered during several different events through the year.
$11,250
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The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is responsible for developing the state’s interest in the areas of the arts, history and other cultural matters with the advice and assistance from its two divisions: the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council. DCA preserves, researches, interprets and promotes an awareness and understanding of local, state and regional history and stimulates and encourages the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts and public interest and participation in them. It implements tourism-related art and history projects as directed by the General Assembly and designs a comprehensive, statewide, long-range plan with the assistance of the Iowa Arts Council to develop the arts in Iowa. More information about DCA is available at www.culturalaffairs.org.
