IMMEDIATE                                                                                       AUGUST 11, 2004

TWO GRANTS FUNDED FOR ABAC ARTS CONNECTION

TIFTON--The Arts Connection at Abraham Baldwin College has been awarded two grants totaling over $25,000. The Grassroots Grant was given by the Governor’s Office, and the Arts Residency Program Grant came from the Georgia Council for the Arts.

The Grassroots Grant involves 12-15 agencies in eight counties, including Tift, Turner, Irwin, Ben Hill, Cook, Berrien, Worth and Wilcox counties. “Each agency will have its own project, so 12-15 projects will be going on at the same time,” said Polly Huff, Assistant Director of the Arts Connection, Agency Director of Grassroots, and Coordinator of Arts in Schools Program.

The program is meant to benefit arts agencies which can provide quality grassroots arts programming to the entire community, and which need “a boost” to get going. Each agency is given up to three years of Grassroots funds for their project.

After the third year, they can either apply with a different project, or choose to fund the project on their own. Many agencies develop strong relationships in the community and are ready to venture on their own after the third year of Grassroots funding.

The projects will start in September and finish in May. This is the 11th year the Grassroots Arts Program has been in the community. Approximately $18, 286 was awarded to the eight counties this year, with each one receiving $1,500 - $2,000.

“With local merchants’ donations and help, some counties have actually had $5,000-$10,000 to work with in the past,” Huff said. “The goal for this program is to present an arts program that benefits the entire community.”

The second grant to be awarded was the Arts Residency Program Grant. This program was also fully funded and is meant to benefit one entity in an entire service region. The grant is limited to small groups and is based on need and quality of the proposed activity.

Only in its second year, this program allows an artist to come in for an eight-week period to work with a group of students from that area. The first two weeks of this program will deal with planning the project, five weeks with the host creating the project, and a one week period for post-planning. At the end of the project, the artist will host a community showcase and will present a piece of permanent art to the school, in this case a quilt containing essays written by the students.

This year’s artist is William Wilder, a “Historyteller” from South Carolina who will work with one full grade from Worth County Elementary.

“Worth County Elementary does not participate in our Arts in Schools Series, which made them a perfect candidate,” Huff said. “We were able to provide the funding, and Worth County’s Superintendent, Gary Russell, was gracious enough to allow us to bring the program to one of his schools.”

Planning for this event began in May with $7,000 in funds.

For more information on either of these programs, contact Polly Huff at (229) 386-3478 or visit the website at www.abac.edu/arts/gap

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