KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

The ArtsKC Fund is a united arts fund which raises money through corporate support, individual  contributions, foundations, and Workplace Giving Campaigns. Workplace Giving Campaigns,  which raise approximately 47% of the fund, were held by 90 local businesses this year, a 20%  increase in business participation from last year. This is the highest number of participating businesses in the five year history of the ArtsKC Fund. The totals for Workplace Giving in 2011  showed an approximate 5% increase from last year. The total from the 2011 ArtsKC Fund  Campaign was $399,655, the remainder of which is used for management of the program and Inspiration Grants, which are awarded to individual artists.

“The ArtsKC Fund is a wonderful example of our community’s dedication to supporting the arts in the Kansas City metropolitan area. These grants are each investments in the cornerstones of our arts community, which then ripple out, both directly, to their combined audiences, and indirectly, through the economic growth and development of our region,” says Harlan Brownlee, Arts Council President and CEO.

There is a wide range of arts organizations and not-for-profit arts programs in the Kansas City region which receive grants through the ArtsKC Fund. Recipients range from the Kansas City Ballet to KC Fringe Festival, from Synergy Services to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Multiple disciplines, diverse audiences, and a variety of styles are represented through the ArtsKC Fund recipients, which demonstrate the wide range of arts opportunities in our community.

All 23 Ovation Grants and 29 of the Catalyst Grants were awarded for general operating support. Grants for general operating support allows the Arts Council to provide local arts organizations with sustainable funding for fulfilling their mission.

The remaining 16 grants were awarded to a variety of arts organizations and other not-for-profits in the five county area for specific program support. Programs which received funding include Owen/Cox Dance’s partnership with Park University to create contemporary dance set to classical music, support for WaterFire, a public art installation annually held at Brush Creek and StoneLion Puppet’s .Our Spring Won’t Be Silent,. a project focusing on the connection between arts and awareness of environmental issues.

Ovation Grants are awarded to well-managed, firmly established not-for-profit arts organizations that have broad reach and impact throughout the metropolitan area. All of the current recipients serve a regional audience with performances, programs, and exhibitions that have a combined attendance of more than 1.95 million annually. Catalyst Grants are awarded for a variety of arts programs, projects, and activities such as programs for youth, for families, or for fully accessible and inclusive audiences.

2011 Catalyst General Operating Support grant recipients:

Accessible Arts -$1,000
The mission of Accessible Arts, Inc. is to unlock the arts for children with disabilities and advocate access to the arts.

Allegro Community Children’s Choir -$500
Since its creation in 2000, Allegro has grown from one choir of 38 singers, to almost 200 singers in four ensembles: Poco Allegro, Vivo Allegro, Allegro con Moto, Allegro con Brio. Drawn from across the Kansas City metro area, Allegro singers come from private, public and home-schooled environments. Known for connecting with their audiences, this upbeat choir program enriches, inspires and transforms the lives of children through learning, sharing and performing beautiful music of the highest quality.

Arts in Prison -$2,750
To provide educational and personal growth opportunities through the arts for those inside correctional facilities, exiting correctional facilities and at-risk youth, as well as volunteers and community, to motivate and inspire positive change.

Charlotte Street Foundation -$3,500
Charlotte Street Foundation’s mission is to support and recognize outstanding artists in Kansas City; promote, enhance, and encourage the visual, performing and interdisciplinary arts; and foster economic development in the urban core of Kansas City, Mo. In all endeavors, CSF places artists at the center of its mission and has built an infrastructure that depends on and reflects their involvement. As a result, CSF is an organization that continually evolves in response to artist input and in relation to the city’s larger cultural ecosystem.

Chestnut Fine Arts Center -$1,900
Located in Olathe, KS, the Chestnut was created to allow individuals to participate in high quality, enriching arts activities, and is committed to furthering the performing arts opportunities for adults and children in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Chestnut currently hosts a theatrical season of six plays and/or musicals per year, in addition to sponsoring numerous children’s workshops, talent shows, recitals, concerts, performances by the Dickens Carolers and a vocal and piano educational studio.

City in Motion Dance Theatre -$3,500
City in Motion Dance Theater, Inc. is a professional dance company, a presenter of dance, and a school of dance. Its mission is to foster the development of high-quality, contemporary dance programming and expand the dance audience in the Kansas City metropolitan region.

Culture House -$1,900
Culture House’s mission is to positively influence communities, locally and nationally, through artistic endeavors and to develop intellectual and moral faculties through education. Company goals are to educate youth in the performing arts and civic responsibility, equipping them for cultural leadership, and to support professional artists in a community of excellence, while modeling a healthy perspective on life and the arts.

Culture Through Ballroom Dance -$500
The mission of Culture Through Ballroom Dance is to develop a positive foundation in children by building confidence, self-esteem, and interactive social skills through the artistic expression of Ballroom Dance. The curriculum based arts-in-education in-school residencies give children the opportunity to learn the artistic components of ballroom dances of various cultures. In the process, they also learn etiquette, teamwork, and respect for others.

Five Star Jazz Band -$1,555
Five Star Jazz Band’s mission is to provide highly motivated middle- and high-school-age musicians the unique opportunity to perform in a professional-caliber jazz ensemble. 5 Star nurtures the Northland’s most talented musicians in Kansas City’s worldwide jazz legacy by raising musicianship to the highest level of excellence, expanding educational opportunities outside the classroom, and creating a professional foundation for lifelong musical growth.

Gem Theater Cultural and Performing Arts Center -$1,708
The mission of the Gem Cultural and Educational Center is to develop and promote multicultural visual and performing arts programming as well as to become a leader in providing results-oriented after school arts-in-education programming. The Gem specializes in activities designed to increase audience awareness and the development of local and multicultural artists and promotes community involvement in the arts for urban core residents and those in areas throughout the bi-state region.

Heartland Chamber Music -$1,900
Heartland Chamber Music Academy was founded in 2001 to provide opportunities for young musicians to study and perform chamber music in a musically comprehensive and stimulating environment.

Kacico Dance -$500
The mission of Kacico Dance is: To be a Kansas City based modern dance company of the highest quality presenting public concerts regionally in a variety of presentational forms for audience enjoyment, enrichment, and cultural education.

Kansas Academy of Theatrical Arts -$1,900
Kansas Academy of Theatrical Arts (KATA) is a grassroots community youth theater focusing on nurturing the basic needs of young people from different economic groups and religious beliefs ages 5-18. Through theatrical training KATA gives youth personal presentation skills and creative thinking skills that assist them with today's world. Students write and perform plays, learn set building, prop construction and work hands on activities and back stage skills.

Kansas City Actors Theatre -$1,900
The Kansas City Actors Theatre (KCAT) aims to challenge and enlighten the Kansas City community by producing classic and modern-classic plays using Kansas City theatre artists. KCAT presents a collection of plays that are integrated, whether over a season or in true rotating repertory, in order to deepen the appreciation of each individual play. KCAT is an artist-led, artist-driven ensemble of theatre professionals.

Kansas City Artists Coalition -$2,750
The Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC), an artist-centered, artist-run alternative space, presents a variety of contemporary visual art exhibitions in its Mallin Gallery, Jacqueline B. Charno Gallery and the Underground. The Artists Coalition also provides opportunities for artists including grants, panel discussions, publications, programs and workshops. The Artists Coalition was created to change the lives of Kansas City visual artists and to promote visual arts awareness and artistic culture in Kansas City.

Kansas City Chorale -$1,000
The Kansas City Chorale is a professional vocal ensemble that enriches the local, national and international communities through its dedication to excellence in performing music from diverse historical periods. In its thirtieth season, the Chorale will present seven concerts as part of their subscription series as well as five non-subscription concerts.

Kansas City Youth Jazz Inc -$3,500
The mission of Kansas City Youth Jazz is to develop and maintain a multicultural music education program that perpetuates and promotes our jazz heritage.

KC Chalk Walk Festival -$500
This FREE, family-friendly event--in the tradition of European 16th Century street painting–transforms the dull, grey concrete sidewalks of Concourse Park into colorful, pastel pathways. Kids and parents will join local, amateur and practicing artists to create everything from temporary chalk "masterpieces" to some colorful games of Tic-Tac-Toe!

KC Clay Guild -$1,000
KC Clay Guild’s mission is to provide a supportive environment in which the clay community can meet, share knowledge and experience, promote public awareness of the ceramic arts and foster creative and economic growth.

KC Fringe Festival -$1,000
The KC Fringe Festival — now in its seventh year — is jam-packed with live theater, dance, performance art, visual art, spoken word, puppetry, storytelling, film and fashion. The KC Fringe Festival is a celebration of local, regional and national artists, presenting events at venues throughout Kansas City.

KCMetropolis.Org -$576
KCMETROPOLIS.org publishes online substantive, critical, unbiased review, preview and side-story articles on the traditional and independent performing arts to help promote, make accessible and educate the general public about Kansas City's rich, performing arts environment.

Kansas City Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts -$617
KCVLAA is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that provides legal and accounting assistance to qualifying artists and arts organizations from all creative disciplines. Our ArtSmarts program provides seminars in arts law to help artists avoid common pitfalls in their professional arts careers.

Midwest Center For The Literary Arts (The Writers Place) -$2,750
For over a decade, The Writers Place has served as Kansas City's best-loved literary gathering center, a place where writers -- both local and national -- can meet with readers of all ages for readings, lectures, workshops and receptions. It's a place where readers gather to discuss books, poetry, and plays. At The Writers Place, the art of the spoken word is celebrated every day.

New Music Institute of Kansas City, dba newEar -$2,100
newEar contemporary music ensemble dedicates itself to commissioning and performing music of our time to provide our listeners with unique, stimulating and enlivening musical experiences.

Octarium -$600
Octarium is Latin for “Eight as One” and the name defines our mission: Eight Singers, One Choral Voice. Octarium is committed to fostering and promoting the development and appreciation of the art of choral music through innovative and engaging programming, seeking to inspire, enlighten and educate.

Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City -$1,000
By providing highly talented direction, The Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City allows talented musicians an opportunity to satisfy their love for classical music and fulfill their continuing desire to perform. The orchestra thus provides symphonic, family-oriented entertainment at an affordable cost and in a convenient location for a variety of audiences who otherwise might not have the financial circumstances or accessibility to such classical programs with such a consistently superior quality of performance.

Summerfest Concerts -$1,750
Summerfest, a professional chamber music ensemble, enriches the cultural life of Kansas City through the performances of a variety of music in a setting that fosters interaction between musicians and audience.

Theatre for Young America -$3,500
To nurture the educational and emotional growth of young people through drama; and to nourish the spirits, bodies and minds of young people and associated adults through Theatre/Drama; and to make these rich benefits available to all socio-economic levels and all traditionally underserved populations.

Wylliams Henry Contemporary Dance Company -$3,500
The Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company has been hailed by critics and audiences alike as one of the most exciting, captivating dance troupes in the Midwest. New works expressing important social issues from the Holocaust to racism are a hallmark of the company in performances that are thought provoking and speak to the human spirit. Performances are given in both conventional and non-traditional spaces -- often in partnership with community organizations -- to introduce contemporary dance to new audiences. Wylliams/Henry connects with a broad spectrum of individuals in both urban and rural communities, while presenting the most powerful and uplifting works from the rich archive of American modern dance.

2011 Catalyst Project grant recipients:
Arts Council of Johnson County -$1,500:
Website enhancements will help to support a regional marketing plan of uniting the creative industries with the general public and cultivate a strong voice for the suburban creative community.

Associated Youth Services -$750:
This grant will provide the “Art on 8^th”, an art education program written by Dr. Carol Kariotis, to 10 at-risk boys residing at Home Ties Residential Center.

Bach Aria Soloists -$2,500:
A special community concert will be presented in collaboration with Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company featuring the music of Bach, Ysaye and Piazzolla.

Brush Creek Community Partners -$2,000:
This ArtsKC grant will support the fifth year of the multi-sensory spectacle that is Waterfire Kansas City, as recreated by artist Barnaby Evans at the Country Club Plaza based on his award winning public art installation in Providence, Rhode Island.

Kansas City Music Teachers Association -$2,000:
Funding will help provide 16 grand pianos for the 19^th annual Multi-Piano concert featuring over 450 performers from 46 studios.

Liberty Community Orchestra -$750:
Funding will help underwrite the first concert of the orchestra’s season, “The Best of John Williams”.

Mattie Rhodes Center -$3,250:
The Visual Arts Out-of-School program serves minority and low-income elementary school children with after-school activities using the creative arts to enhance academic achievement and behavior.

Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre -$2,000:
A professional theatre which offers a six-play season of classics and will be expanding their performance runs from three weeks to four weeks.

Music Theatre for Young People -$2,500:
For their 20^th anniversary, Music Theatre for Young People will unite esteemed and established alumni and students to present “Suessical the Musical”.

Northland Symphony Orchestra -$1,000:
For over 40 years, Northland Symphony Orchestra has been providing quality orchestra concerts free to the public and will be performing a pops concert, supported by the ArtsKC Fund, to end their 2012 season.

Owen/Cox Dance Group -$3,500:
Students and faculty of Park University’s International Center for Music will team up with Owen/Cox Dance Group to premiere a new contemporary dance work set to music of the Classical and Romantic era and performed by some of the region’s finest young musicians.

Puppetry Arts Institute -$750:
Puppetry Arts Institute offers a field trip program which utilizes puppet supplies from the historic Hazelle Factory and aligns with curriculum based grade level equivalent objectives for kindergarten students.

reStart, Inc. -$1,000:
The Arts program at reStart brings high quality arts activities and professional arts instruction to 150 homeless children and 40 adults and engages them in tours and various performances at art venues in the community.

StoneLion Puppet Theatre -$3,500:
Utilizing the puppetry arts in an interactive setting, StoneLion will bring awareness to environmental issues in our community through a Community Green Day Art Festival series.

Synergy Services -$3,000:
Synergy will provide high quality arts experience to over 900 underserved youth through their Youth Arts Program with services provided by Kansas City Young Audiences.

Wonderscope Children's Museum of Kansas City -$1,000:
This Catalyst Project grant supports the renovation of the Art Works room at Wonderscope where children get to paint, draw with chalk, and create with recycled material.


About the ArtsKC Fund:
The ArtsKC Fund is a united arts fund aimed at raising new money to support a wide range of arts organizations, arts programs, and individual artists. Its purpose is to provide sustainable sources of new financial support for the arts community, broaden access to high quality arts experiences, and promote excellence in the arts and arts administration. The ArtsKC Fund serves organizations and individuals in the five county area. For more information, please visit www.artskc.org.

About the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City:
The Arts Council advances and supports the arts for the benefit of the Kansas City region. The goals are achieved through various programs and services which focus on three primary strategies:

• ·       Increased funding for the arts and cultural initiatives from diversified and sustainable sources.
• ·       Increasing community awareness of the arts and culture and the impact on quality of life issues in our community.
• ·       Establishing the arts as an integral part of economic development and other key civic and business initiatives.

  For more information, please visit www.artskc.org.