Archive: December 2005

Chicago - The people of Illinois are being invited to share their views on public funding for the arts and the value the arts bring to their communities. From January through April of 2006, the Illinois Arts Council (IAC) will hold statewide public information gathering sessions. Five sessions will take place in different communities throughout the metro-Chicago area, with seven more held from Charleston to Alton and Rockford to Carbondale. Sessions will be attended by the IAC’s Strategic Plan Task Force*, a group which includes 40 North | 88 West Executive Director Jennifer Armstrong, and all Illinoisans are encouraged to participate. Input gained from these sessions will be crucial to the development of the IAC’s 2007-2012 Strategic Plan. In addition, the IAC hopes these sessions will raise public awareness of their programs and services.

“We need the help of the public to ensure the strategic plan addresses their needs and aspirations,” says Shirley R. Madigan, IAC Chairman. “We want to know: What do the arts mean to the people of Illinois? How do people support the arts? And, how do the arts support them? I invite all concerned Illinoisans to join us, and have their voices be heard.”

Schedule of Public Sessions (times to be determined):

January 19: Evanston: Music Institute of Chicago
January 25: Decatur: Decatur Area Arts Council, Madden Arts Center
January 26: Charleston: Eastern Illinois University, Tarble Arts Center
February 2: Chicago: Chicago Cultural Center
February 7: Palatine: Little City Foundation
February 16: Chicago (Pilsen): The Mexican Fine Arts Center
February 22: Chicago (Southside): eta Creative Arts Foundation
March 2: Rockford: (Location to be determined)
March 22: Rock Island: Quad City Arts
March 23: Peoria: Peoria Arts Guild
April 10: Carbondale: Carbondale Middle School
April 11: Alton: Madison County Arts Council, Jacoby Arts Center

To share their views and sign up for a session, Illinoisans are encouraged to visit the IAC website in early January at www.state.il.us/agency/iac/, email the IAC at strategic@arts.state.il.us, or call the IAC Strategic Planning office at 312/814-8715. Information regarding interpreters and universal access is available online.

*The following is a full list of the Strategic Plan Task Force members:

Members of the 21-member Strategic Plan Task Force, chaired by IAC member Harper Montgomery, hail from throughout the state and represent a broad diversity of backgrounds.

Shirley R. Madigan, Chairman, Illinois Arts Council (ex-officio), Chicago
Rhoda A. Pierce, Vice-Chairman, Illinois Arts Council (ex-officio), Highland Park
Andy Van Meter, Secretary, Illinois Arts Council (ex-officio), Springfield
Harper Montgomery, IAC member, Task Force Chairman, Chicago
Charles E. Box, IAC member, Task Force Vice-Chairman, Rockford
Jennifer Armstrong, Executive Director, 40 North/88 West, Champaign
Bill Brattain, IAC member, Colchester
Libby Chiu, Executive Director, Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education, Chicago
Dan Crews, Arts and Humanities Publicity Office, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston
Ronne Hartfield, Museum Consultant, Chicago
Adrienne N. Hirsch, Vice President, Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston
Eunice Joffe, Arts Connect, Highland Park
Peggy Montes, IAC member, Chicago
Elaine Muchin, IAC member, Chicago
John Riley, Past Executive Director, Illinois Arts Council, Chicago
David Roche, Ph.D., Executive Director, Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago
Paul Sierra, Artist, Chicago
Kevin Stein, Illinois Poet Laureate, Peoria
Nancy Stemper, Carbondale Community Arts, Carbondale
Arthur M. Sussman, Vice President, MacArthur Foundation, Chicago

Terry A. Scrogum, Executive Director, Illinois Arts Council (ex-officio), Chicago
Alex Shapiro, Strategic Plan Operations Manager, Chicago

For more information, contact Ann Ridge, Director, Marketing & Public Relations & ADA/504 Access Coordinator, at 312/814-6762, or ann@arts.state.il.us.

The Illinois Arts Council is committed to the cultural, educational, and economic growth of the diverse people and communities of our state through the support and encouragement of the arts and artists.

New York - The Heritage Health Index, the first comprehensive survey ever to assess the condition and preservation needs of U.S. art collections, concludes that immediate action is needed to prevent the loss of millions of irreplaceable artifacts. These findings were announced at a news conference in New York on December 6 and are detailed in “A Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State of Americaᾀ?s Collections.” Visit http://www.heritagepreservation.org/HHI/summary.html to read a summary of the report. To read the survey’s complete findings, visit http://www.heritagepreservation.org/HHI/index.html.

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, invites you to nominate outstanding arts and humanities youth programs in your community for a 2006 Coming Up Taller award. Each year, the Coming Up Taller awards recognize and reward excellence in after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs for underserved children and youth. Award recipients receive $10,000 each, an individualized plaque, and an invitation to attend the annual Coming Up Taller Leadership Enhancement Conference. Read the full article here.

source: www.absolutearts.com

Champaign - The Urban League of Champaign County is seeking mentors for its Youth Employment Program (YEP).

The YEP initiative works with young adults (18 - 21 years old) who have dropped out of high school and/or been adjudicated. The goals of the program are to provide educational services and life skills training toward career preparation that will lead to these youth obtaining meaningful unsubsidized employment.

Mentors are needed to come to the Urban League facilities weekdays between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. A variety of classes are taught and individuals from a wide range of backgrounds are encouraged to call or drop by the Urban League offices at 314 S. Neil Street, Champaign.

If you want to be part of the workforce development solution and are willing to meet YEP participants at the crossroads, call Project Director, Margot Williams at 217-363-3333 (Ext. 28).

Champaign - Representative Naomi Jakobsson has announced that her office has teamed up with area bookstores to collect and distribute children’s books to local youngsters this winter.

“When my eight children were growing up, my husband and I made sure we took the time to read with them,” Jakobsson is quoted in a press release for the program. “Now with nine grandchildren,” she continues, “we want to instill in them the same importance of literacy. Reading is a vital part of the learning experience for our young people. Children who begin reading and learning at an early age have an advantage in becoming thoughtful and well-rounded adults.”

Book donations are being solicited through Friday, January 13. Local residents will be able to drop off new or used children’s books at two local bookstores and at Naomi Jakobsson’s district office. The drop-off locations are:

• Priceless Books: 108 W. Main St., Urbana
• Pages for All Ages: 1201 Savoy Plaza Lane, Savoy
• State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson Constituent Service Office: 206 N. Randolph St., Ste. 120, Champaign

Following the collection, all books will be distributed to local elementary schools.

For more information regarding the Children’s Book Drive, or if your organization or business would like to serve as a drop-off or distribution point, please call Naomi Jakobsson’s constituent service office at 373-5000.

Become an advocate for the Arts! Prepare yourself to be a leader in the arts in the new millennium. The Priddy Charitable Trust Fellowships in Arts Leadership provide an outstanding opportunity to achieve these goals. The graduate Fellowships are offered through the School of Visual Arts and the College of Music at the University of North Texas, in collaboration with the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts.

The Fellowships provide a stipend of $18,000 for a 12-month period of graduate study, beginning in the fall of 2006. The Fellowships also provide payment of tuition and university fees (30 credit hours), health insurance, a travel allowance of $3,500 to assist in attending professional meetings and conferences, an individual work space with state-of-the art computer equipment, and access to the services of a full-time Computer Support Specialist for assistance with technology projects and fellowship-related technology issues.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2006 FELLOWSHIPS IS MARCH 1, 2006.

For further information call 940.565.3954 or visit www.art.unt.edu/ntieva/fellowships

The Fellowships will position individuals to forge the alliances, create the collaborations, and develop high quality instructional materials, enhancing the arts and arts education in this country in the 21st century.

Artists may now apply for the Illinois Arts Council’s Arts-in-Education (AIE) Residency Program. The AIE Residency Program is a grant program that partially funds long-term artist residencies in not-for-profit organizations, including schools. Through this program, an organization selects to work with an artist from the AIE Artists Roster. Residencies with an individual artist last from one-month to six-months, and residencies with a performing arts company last from two-weeks to six-months. The artist-in-residence spends 20 hours per week at the organization.

The application deadline is February 15, 2006 for projects that will take place between October 1, 2006 - August 31, 2007. The guidelines and application can be viewed and downloaded at the Illinois Arts Council (IAC) website, www.state.il.us/agency/iac . Interested artists are encouraged to download the PDF of the application from the website and fill it out on the computer. The PDF is interactive and will auto total the budget.

Individuals are now also able to view the AIE Artists Roster as part of the IAC’s new searchable rosters. This allows you to specify certain criteria that you want in an artist, and those artists’ listings will appear. For this feature, click on “Advanced Search” from the AIE Artists Roster main page.

Contact Tatiana Gant, Director, Arts-in-Education Programs, at 312/814-6765, (Tatiana@arts.state.il.us) for any questions about the program.

Champaign - Auditions for Parkland Theatre’s production of the Agatha Christie play, “The Mousetrap,” will be held Sunday, January 15 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the theatre. Callbacks, if needed, will be Tuesday, January 17 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Director J.W.Morrisette is seeking to fill roles for 8 to 10 actors. Auditions will be easy and fun; however, actors are asked to bring a headshot and resume, if available. Actors should prepare a 30-second monologue and be prepared to speak in the Standard British Dialect. Readings from the script will be available at the audition.

All members of the community, Parkland and UI students with or without prior acting experience are welcome to audition for the comic whodunit. Parkland encourages diversity. Performances will be February 22 through March 5. For further information, call 217/351-2529.

Boston - The Boston Globe has reported that three years after the Boston Lyric Opera staged a free production of ‘’Carmen” (which drew a stunning 140,000 people to the Boston Common) the company has reluctantly shelved plans for a follow-up event, concluding that it couldn’t find enough local corporate support to underwrite the show. In an article by Globe staff writer Geoff Edgers, plans for a free production of “Aida” are now said to be cancelled. Click here to see the full article.

source: The Boston Globe

For over 35 years, residents of the East Central Indiana and West Central Ohio Region have relied upon Arts Place to enrich the quality of life through the arts. Nestled in downtown Portland, Indiana, Arts Place provides a vibrant array of both indoor and outdoor programming. The $2.9 million building features a theatre, art galleries, music and visual arts studios, and an arts park.

Arts Place is currently looking to broaden its programming. They are looking for artists interested in teaching multi-discipline workshops (visual arts, culinary arts, fine craft, technical assistance, etc.) for both their facility and their 28-year summer event: Arts in the Parks. The third component of their direct programming, for which they are also looking for artists, is their artist in residency program. They are looking to provide unique opportunities to artists looking for professional experience. If you or someone you know would be interested in pursuing this opportunity, please feel free to contact Tetia Lee, Assistant Director, at 260-726-4809 (x.230), www.artsland.org.