Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program’s Monthly Newsletter
2021 NEWSLETTER
Rhode Island Foundation
Save the Date Annual Meeting
Save the date to join with us in honoring the incredible acts of philanthropy that have been on display over the last year, to learn more about the Foundation’s recent work, and to celebrate our annual awardees.
Monday, September 13, 2021 5:30 p.m. (Event details and logistics to follow)
Community Leadership Award: 35 Years of Rhode Island Expansion Arts Alumni
Harold B. Soloveitzik Professional Leadership Award: James C. Sullivan, Esq.
Carter Inspiring Partner Award: Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
For more information about the Rhode Island Foundation click here. (Event details and logistics to follow)
Arts in Academics Grants
In 2004, retired Rhode Island art educator Karel Greenblatt Gertsacov endowed the Arts in Academics Fund to support educational projects that integrate art disciplines into other core academic subjects. Successful Arts in Academics projects create collaborations among artists and educators and promote the arts as an integral part of the learning process. This fund is not intended to support performances where students are passive participants. Literacy projects are generally not funded unless they are exceptionally creative and include other core academic subjects.
Grant amounts typically range from $500 to $1,000.
Any K-12 public or charter school teacher, artist, or nonprofit organization is eligible to apply as long as the proposed project benefits Rhode Island public school children. Grants may be used for stipends, materials, equipment, honorariums, and other costs associated with implementing the project.
Applications must be submitted by midnight (EST) on October 22, 2021.
For more information about the Arts in Academics Grants and to complete an application clickhere
RHODE ISLAND STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS &
RHODE ISLAND STATE COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES
RI Culture, Humanities and Arts Recovery Grants (RI CHARG)
RI State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (Humanities Council) have opened applications for a new collaborative grant program. The funding, from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), totals $968,000.
Applications are open to all eligible nonprofits regardless of whether they have received federal funding in the past. Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)-centered organizations and nonprofits with annual budgets under $500,000 will be prioritized in this grant program, in keeping with federal agencies’ emphasis to focus on equity, inclusion, access and pandemic resilience.
The recovery grants, called the RI Culture, Humanities and Arts Recovery Grants (RI CHARG), are designed to assist nonprofits with general operating support to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from hardships suffered due to the pandemic.
The Arts and Humanities Councils, which are encouraging first-time applicants, will be offering joint virtual workshops on July 16 and July 21.
The program opened July 12, 2021. Deadline to apply is August 13, 2021 at 11:59 p.m.
For more information about the RI Culture, Humanities and Arts Recovery Grants click here.
New Atrium Gallery Exhibit: Nature, Nurture, Hope: A Different Kind of Mental Health, featuring artwork by Rebecca Flores and her son Joshua Elijah Amado
An exhibition of artwork by Cranston-based painter Rebecca Flores called Nature, Nurture, Hope is currently on display at the Atrium Gallery on the main floor of the state’s Administration Building, One Capitol Hill, Providence. The exhibit also features artwork by Flores’ son Joshua Elijah Amado.
About the exhibit, Flores said: “Nature, Nurture, Hope: A Different Kind of Mental Health, was created by me in 2013, at my home studio in Cranston, in an effort to precipitate behavior that generates a dysfunctional amount of emotion and approach, as well as encourage a deeper understanding of learning some mental and emotional self-defense that can be very empowering. This can offer the mental and emotional fitness to allow people to function at levels they want to and are capable of. The exhibition includes contents and makeup that is part of the formula for feelings that is simply easy to learn tools that are important and should be employed in our daily lives. Tools that teach our young people and adults that things do go wrong in our life, that no matter what happens we should control our thoughts that affect our environment, the benefits of health, understand how it protects us, and to what extent we should get involved.”
Exhibit details
What: Nature, Nurture: A Different Kind of Mental Health, Hope by Rebecca Flores Joshua Elijah Amado
When: Open to the public, weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through September 17, 2021
Where: The Atrium Gallery, first floor of the state administration building, One Capitol Hill, Providence
For more information on the artists please visit: Rebecca Flores
“The Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) has helped expand our goals of merging non-Latino organizations with PRIAA.” – Lydia Pérez
Spotlight Conversation with Lydia Pérez, Founder and Artistic Director of the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, Inc. (PRIAA)
Lydia Pérez is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, Inc., (PRIAA). Lydia is also the Founder of Yoruba 2, an award-winning and nationally recognized traditional music group from Puerto Rico. The group is known for playing Puerto Rican folk music called “Bomba” and “Plena”, along with other Caribbean rhythms. Lydia has spent the last 27 years as an interpreter and cultural educator/activist in Rhode Island and Puerto Rico, with recognition as a crucial asset within both communities.
Her work has been held in high regard by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA), Rhode Island Foundation, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), Hartford Perform and other cultural arts organizations, along with school departments across Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP) from Puerto Rico specifically asked PRIAA to represent the beauty of Puerto Rican culture and perform at the 2019 Conference of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA).
RIEAP: As the Founder and Artistic Director of the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, tell us about your organization and involvement with the community of Rhode Island?
Lydia: As founder and artistic director of the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, Inc., I am very proud of the work we’ve accomplished since our founding in 1994 in Warwick, Rhode Island.
PRIAA’s interest and involvement with the community includes involvement within the education sector, folkloric art performances, as well as culturally significant art exhibitions. We develop, plan, and execute projects that nurture creativity and inspire future leaders in the arts. Our organization works together with emerging artists, strengthening their creative ideas and fostering their personal development. PRIAA carries out events that demonstrate the cultural heritage of each region and produce projects for cultural and traditional appreciation. We created an apprenticeship program specifically to ensure that our traditions are passed down from generation to generation. We live art and breathe creativity.
During these last 27 years we brought our Indigenous, Jibara, Bomba and Plena music, along with Los Vejigantes throughout New England. We envision having our own building to serve as a headquarters to continue providing solutions for education and inclusivity within our schools, while also bringing economic prosperity to our neighborhood and state. We are Puerto Rican, and we show it with pride!
To read the rest of the interview with Lydia Pérez, visit the Rhode Island Expansion Arts’ website click here. For more information about the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, Inc., click here.
NEWS FROM COHORT & ALUMNI
Rhode Island Heritage Month’s Virtual Celebration
September 2021 is Rhode Island Heritage Month!
Many Rhode Island Expansion Arts Alumni will be featured including:
Cambodian Society of RI
Eastern Medicine Singers
India Association of RI
Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, Inc.
Quisqueya En Accion
RI Latino Arts
RI Black Storytellers
Tomaquag Museum
For information about the celebration clickhere. For the YouTube channel click here.
Colombian American Cultural Society, Inc. Flag Raising Ceremony
A ceremony raising the Colombian flag to celebrate the Colombian 111th Anniversary of Independence on July 19th at the Rhode Island State House, starting at 5:00 pm. This event is sponsored by the Colombian lawmakers. A second event will be held on July 20th, 2021, 4:00 pm Pawtucket City Hall and 6:00 pm at Central Falls City Hall.
Warwick Center for the Arts (WCFA) Presents “Resilience”
A Juried Exhibit for Native American Artists curated by Angel Beth Smith, Lorén Spears & WCFA Exhibit Committee.
Awards: Three “Excellence Award” cash prizes will be presented at the opening reception. First Prize $200, Second Prize $150, Third Prize $50, non-cash Honorable Mentions may also be presented.
For many years, RISCA’s Atrium Gallery and The Warwick Center for the Arts have partnered together to bring traveling exhibits of diverse communities to Warwick. The exhibits typically originate at the Atrium Gallery and then travel to Newport, North Kingston, and Warwick. African American, Latin American, Asian, and Native American artists have all had the opportunity to showcase their work at these exhibits.
This year, we will have the first-ever juried Native American Art Exhibit as part of the traveling exhibit program. The exhibit will originate at the Warwick Center for the Arts and then travel to the Atrium Gallery in Providence in 2022.
For more information about the Resilience exhibit at the WCFA click here
OPPORTUNITIES
Meet the NEA / American Rescue Plan Funding Information Session
Interested in applying for an American Rescue Plan grant through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)? Join the Alliance of Artists Communities in partnership with the NEA on Thursday, July 29, 2021 at 12pm ET for an informational session specifically for residencies who are considering applying.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently announced guidelines for American Rescue Plan grants for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. Organizations can apply for $50,000, $100,000 or $150,000 grants to cover general operating expenses. You are eligible for this funding regardless of whether you have received NEA funding in the past, and first-time applicants are encouraged to apply! Additionally they are encouraging applications from organizations that are focused on addressing a range of equity issues that impact their audiences, artists, and communities, and organizations with small and mid-sized budgets.
Brandon Gryde — Director of Presenting and Multidisciplinary Works and Artist Communities at the NEA — will share updates on grant guidelines, the application process, and how residencies can approach this new funding stream. A brief presentation will be followed by open Q + A.
Free + open to the public. Any and all staff, leadership, and boards of artist residencies are encouraged to attend! Register here. (Registration closes on Friday, July 23)
This session will be live-captioned and ASL interpreted. AAC is committed to providing full access to all. Please send accessibility inquiries and requests in your registration. AAC staff will reach out to you to meet your accommodations.
Join us September 30 – October 2, 2021 for the NALAC National Latinx Summit. We are gathering to engage our imaginations, meet the call of the moment, and assert our collective strength. We celebrate 32 years of NALAC, 22 years of our Leadership Institute and 11 years of our Advocacy Leadership Institute.
For more information about the National Latinx Summit click here
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