Grant Awards
2011 Supplemental Grant Awards
The funded programs are listed below (with the amount granted in parentheses):
Exploring the African-American Cultural Legacy ($4,000) – This program, coordinated by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society, will explore the African-American culture as evidenced by its significant contribution to American music and dance. Exploration in songs deeply rooted in the black church (spirituals, gospels, jazz, and the blues) and Zydeco (the fast paced dance music of the Louisiana and Texan Bayous) will be the focus of the curriculum. On October 15, 2011, Ysaye Maria Barnwell, the founder of the African American a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, will be at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg’s Allison Hill Campus. Ms. Barnwell will be holding a workshop during which the participants will not only learn to sing together, but will also learn to sustain a community singing group in the Harrisburg Area. On November 6, 2011, Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys will be in residency at Downey Elementary, Harrisburg City School District. They will be giving two assemblies where they will demonstrate and talk about Zydeco music and dance. The principal will also select a class for which the band will give a more up-close presentation of the various instruments used.
Art With Heart ($3,400) – This program, coordinated by the Carlisle Arts Learning Center, is a series of after school art classes and workshops geared towards at risk youth and teens from Hope Station – a community aid organization in Carlisle. The participants will create artwork in a variety of mediums to be included in CALC’s “Works in the Windows” project. This project fills vacant store front windows in downtown Carlisle to bring more energy to the community and to make it more aesthetically pleasing. The classes and workshops will stress creativity, design (the planning in developing the windows), and confidence in “giving back to the community”. The children seeing their artwork in the ten windows CALC currently occupies for all to view creates a huge sense of accomplishment and pride. This is an expansion of an already successful summer camp with these children who are requesting a year round program.
Mechanicsburg Art Center Scholarship Fund ($2,600) – This program, coordinated by the Mechanicsburg Art Center, will offer scholarships to students who would like to attend art classes or camps, but are unable to do so for financial reasons. Every year they receive numerous requests for tuition assistance and are only able to satisfy a portion of these requests due to limited resources. These scholarships will serve at risk and disadvantaged youth as well as individuals with disabilities, and will allow them to attend an art camp or art class of their choice. The program will also work closely with area public school art teachers and providers (counselors, etc.) to identify those who would most benefit from this program.
The Youth Entrepreneurship Project ($3,000) – This program, coordinated by BARAK, Inc., allows youth to engage in activities and acquire skills that encourage self-empowerment through seeking higher education and/or entrepreneurship. This programwill provide high school youth with the necessary skills to facilitate a youth entrepreneurship venture focusing on items produced in BARAK’s art programs. They will be mentored by adults in the community who have experience starting, maintaining, and managing multiple aspects of business. These skills are relevant not only to youth who have an inclination towards business and entrepreneurship, but also to young artists who need knowledge of the business side of art. The students will be trained to take responsibility for inventory management, overseeing production, and developing and executing a marketing strategy. This program is an expansion of the Voices of Youth program (previously funded by CEF), and will work with several organizations in the Greater Harrisburg area, such as the Boys and Girls Club of Central PA, the Steelton-Highspire School District, the Harrisburg School District, and the UMC Neighborhood Center and Center for Champions.
Live at Rose Lehrman Artist Residency & Educational Program ($3,000) – This program, coordinated by the Live at Rose Lehrman Performing Arts Series at Harrisburg Area Community College, is comprised of three elements: (1) a professional artist residency that benefits youth and the community; (2) a mentor/mentee program with students from the Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA), and; (3) a college-level internship program held annually in the spring semester. The artist residency program scheduled in conjunction with the artist series, provides local schools with the opportunity to participate in master classes, pre-and-post show lectures, meet and greets, and school shows serving more than 1,110 youth and community members. The mentor/mentee program gives a select few students chosen from CASA to learn about an upcoming dance event by shadowing the director and other series staff. The college-level internship program involves regional college students who participate in the day to day operations at Rose Lehrman as a way to experience the field of arts administration.
Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA) Scholarship Fund ($3,000) – This program, coordinated by Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA), is enables them to provide intensive arts education to the most talented and motivated students in the region regardless of their ability to pay CASA’s tuition. CASA enrolls approximately 140 students annually and 40% of these students will require some type of scholarship assistance. Funding will enable CASA to expand the number of scholarships available for qualified, low income students. In the past 4 years CASA has provided scholarships to 50 low income students including homeless youth, homeschoolers, and students without the financial means to pay for tuition at CASA when their home school district does not pay.
Hershey Theatre Apollo Awards Program ($2,500) – This program, coordinated by the Hershey Theatre, honors outstanding student achievement in the performance arts with recognition and scholarships, and encourages increased support of theatre arts programs in secondary schools. The Apollo Awards program and their collaborative partners, open doors of opportunity to students in the way of master classes, roles in local productions, higher education scholarships, and a chance to attend the National High School Music Theatre Awards in New York City. All nominees receive scholarship support to further their education and training regardless of the award outcome. The Hershey Theatre Apollo Awards program embraces all of the communities in the central Pennsylvania. The students, parents, friends, and patrons of the program represent all ethnicities, creeds, and walks of life. No singular theatre educational program has ever reached so many participants in the span of a single year in the capital region.
Honor Our Elders ($1,000) – This program, coordinated by the Camp Hill Lion Foundation, is an interview / story-writing / song-writing project with all third, fourth and fifth grade students (approximately 300) to culminate in a concert and the creation of a mounted keepsake of the students’ story. In the fall, students will learn how to conduct interviews of their elderly relatives and Camp Hill community members. In Language Arts class, students will write a narrative based on their interviews. Students will mount a final copy of their story on a larger piece of paper and in art class students will illustrate their stories with a decorative border as a keepsake. Students will work with a composer-in-residence team, Two of a Kind, and Mrs. Dixon, the music teacher, to write songs as a class based on one interviewee’s life experiences. In March 2012, the students will present the Honor Our Elders concert of their original songs, the project theme song (commissioned through the Lion Foundation in 2009), a multi-media presentation of interview video excerpts, and a reception honoring the Elders involved with the project.
