FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2019
EIGHT LOCAL ARTS ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVE GRASSROOTS ARTS GRANTS FROM CHATHAM ARTS COUNCIL
Pittsboro, NC—Doing amazing work through the arts – that’s what the Grassroots Arts Grants are all about! The Chatham Arts Council is excited to announce the awardees of the annual Grassroots Arts Grants, helping organizations carry the arts into every corner of Chatham county.
Eight organizations will be awarded a portion of the more than $10,000 in total funding available, which will help with operational support and the hiring of local artists to implement arts programming. This year’s award grant recipients are: Chatham County Partnership for Children, Chatham Artists Guild, Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, NC Arts in Action, NC Arts Incubator, Shakori Hills Roots in Schools, Smelt Art Gallery, and Sprott Center for Youth(Moncure). Since 2000, Chatham Arts Council (CAC) has awarded nearly $128,000 to a diverse group of nonprofits.
“Chatham County is full of creativity and the breadth of applications we received for this grant is proof of that,” said Cheryl Chamblee, Executive Director of the CAC. “Our hope is that these organizations will continue to receive the support they need to enhance the arts experience for all in our county.”
The CAC serves as the Designated County Partner to the North Carolina Arts Council in awarding the funds to local organizations.
This year’s review panel was particularly interested in seeing proposals that included outreach to diverse or underserved communities and fair payment to local artists. Applications were reviewed based on the quality of the project, community impact, ability to implement the project, and fiscal responsibility. Successful applications ranged in programming from early literacy opportunities and integrated art in after school classes to educational music programs and promoting arts/artists in Chatham County.
“The organizations who were awarded grassroots grant dollars this year demonstrated their unique ability to deepen and broaden the arts in Chatham County,” explained Selbe Bartlett, Chair of the Grassroots Arts Grants Panel and CAC Board Member. “The programmatic focus on educating youth through the arts and developing and growing artists will continue to strengthen creative, adaptive, and mindful thinking in our community.”
Grassroots Arts Grants are made possible by individual contributions to the Chatham Arts Council’s general operating fund and through the generous assistance of the Grassroots Arts Program of the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT THE CHATHAM ARTS COUNCIL
The Chatham Arts Council nurtures creative thinkers in Chatham County. We do this in two ways: we invest in artists and we educate kids through the arts. In its thirty-sixth year as a nonprofit arts agency, Chatham Arts Council’s flagship programs include Meet This Artist, Go See This, Grassroots Arts Grants, and the Chatham Artists-in-Schools Initiative – serving more than 3,500 children this year. Chatham Arts Council is proud to partner with the N.C. Arts Council, the Durham Arts Council, Chatham County Schools, and numerous Chatham arts organizations, human resource nonprofits, and local businesses. For more information, visit www.chathamartscouncil.org.
CONTACT: April Starling, Marketing/Public Relations Leader of the Chatham Arts Council, april@chathamartscouncil.org or 917.544.0608.
NOTE: Feel free to publish partially or in its entirety, with or without a byline. The article was written by April Starling, Marketing/Public Relations Leader, Chatham Arts Council.
###
