Arts in Society Grantees Announced for 2022-2023 Grant Cycle
ARTS IN SOCIETY GRANTEES ANNOUNCED
2022/2023 Grant Cycle
23 grantees have been announced for the 2022 Arts in Society grant program! After reviewing more than 300 applications, this year’s panel has selected 23 Colorado artists and organizations to receive a total of $527,500 in funding for the 2022-2023 cycle.
The Arts in Society grant program supports the integration of arts and culture into multiple disciplines critical to the health and well-being of Coloradans. The program funds collaborations across Colorado that bring artists and professionals from a wide variety of non-arts sectors together to positively impact social justice and community welfare through community-based initiatives.
"Research shows that arts and culture are positively correlated with long-term
social impacts. Coloradans from across the state are utilizing the arts in impactful ways to address critical social issues ranging from health and wellness to the economy and social justice. Colorado Creative Industries is proud to partner with the Arts in Society collaborative to invest in projects across the state that contribute to community wellbeing," says Christy Costello, Interim Director of Colorado Creative Industries, a division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade.
Over the last six years, the Arts in Society grant program has provided more than $3M to support projects that engage arts organizations and artists as partners who are raising awareness and responding to a wide array of civic and social challenges faced by Colorado communities. As of December 2022, a total $527,500 has been disbursed to grantees across Colorado with project grants ranging from $7,500–30,000. In addition to project funding, grantees engage in cohort learning opportunities.
“The value of the Arts in Society grant program is not only found in the tremendous community impact of this cross-sector, but also in the investment in artists, cultural workers and civic leaders that supports and facilitates opportunities for them to engage and learn from one another, to develop professionally and strengthen their organizations, and to build a statewide support network to benefit all Coloradans,” stated Tariana Navas-Nieves, Director of Cultural Affairs, Denver Arts & Venues
Arts in Society will continue to support grantees by providing flexible project timelines, as well as peer-to-peer and peer-to-funder support. Additional esources facilitate the adaptation of the work to their communities’ needs. roject timelines range between one and two years and will take place between December 2022 and December 2024.
"Centennial School in San Luis has done an extraordinary job prioritizing and convening multimedia opportunities for youth. The Arts in Society grant supports the school's RISE Media Lab with in-class instruction support, hyper-local curriculum design, media production, project-based materials, and community outreach including a screening of student work. It is an honor to share Arts in Society's commitment to fostering relationships with artists in educational environments, between generations, and across the state of Colorado."- Kate Perdoni, Colorado Artist and 2022 Arts in Society Grantee.
Arts in Society grants are administered by RedLine Contemporary Art Center and re-funded by a collaborative of private and public foundations, and government agencies. For the 2022-2023 grant cycle, the funder collaborative includes: the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, the Colorado Creative Industries Division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade, The Colorado Health Foundation, and Denver Arts & Venues. To learn more about the history of this program, previously funded projects and partners, please visit www.redlineart.org/arts-in-society.
Meet the 2022-2023 cohort of Arts in Society Grant Recipients:
Jana L Bussanich Art, Yellow Couch Creative
Tin Roof Productions (TRP) Pilot Artist Intern Program
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Jana L Bussanich Art, Yellow Couch Creative, in partnership with Tin Roof Productions 501c3, Pilot Artist Internship Program, matches qualified incarcerated artists with art professionals through a) a rigorous application process and (b) delivering three components crucial for success in the art world: Art-practice development, coaching, and business development.
Pop Culture Classroom
American Indian Game Design
Denver, Colorado
Pop Culture Classroom will be working with the American Indian Academy of Denver to implement a video game design course, where students will be creating video games with pro-social messages that address issues in their community through an Indigenous lens.
Storytellers of the Ancestral Red Road (SOAR)
Indigenous Holistic Health & Creative Wellness
Pueblo, Colorado
Storytellers of the Ancestral Red Road (SOAR) is a Southern Colorado collective of traditional Indigenous teachers and allies, sharing cultural wisdom in multi-generational educational settings, and practicing well-being and community-focused healing through creative expression.
Western Colorado Writers' Forum
See Me, Hear Me, Talk to Me
Grand Junction, Colorado
The goal of “See Me, Hear Me, Talk to Me” is to initiate social justice discussions between usually disparate minority, age, and racial groups in addition to using art and art prompts as catalysts to create a sense of community, belonging and engagement in a multi-media event and display.
The Clinic
(Re)Brilliancy: Creating sustainable arts-based workshops at Denver Health
Denver, Colorado
(Re)Brilliancy is a training of Denver Health mental health professionals, with arts backgrounds, to facilitate The Clinic’s arts and play-based (Re)Brilliancy workshops that remind our healthcare providers how incredibly resilient and brilliant they already are.
Local Theater Company
We the People: The Democracy Cycle
Boulder, Denver, & Gunnison, Colorado
We The People: The Democracy Cycle leverages the power of storytelling and music to encourage complicated civic discourse between rural and urban communities across Colorado.
Huajatolla Heritage Foundation
Wisdom Archives of Huerfano County
Huerfano County, Colorado
Huajatolla Heritage Foundation is tapping into the Wisdom Archives of Huerfano County utilizing a variety of formats including art, education, and presentation to weave together a tapestry of events and stories that honor the rich cultural legacy of our area.
Blue Sage Center for the Arts
Story Share
Paonia, Colorado
Story sharing is one of the most powerful ways we connect to ourselves, to others, and to the human experience. Our goal with Story Share is to bring various segments of the community together through the stories, to create a safe space to tell stories, listen to the stories of others, and build empathy for one another. This collaboration is between community members: Storytellers, Visual Artists, Writers, and Improv Theater bringing a story to life.
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Sesame Street (Baghch-e-Simsim باغچهٔ سم سم , "Sesame Garden") in Colorado for
Afghan Kids
Aurora, Colorado
Three recently resettled Afghan artists are leading a collaborative production of a Sesame Street-style show, for Afghan refugee children now living in Colorado.
OneBodyEnt
Men of Influence Presents: Change and Make a Difference Documentary Series
Colorado Springs, Colorado
The Men of Influence Presents: Change and Make a Difference Docu-Series!
Colorado Music Bridge
IMPACT Music Program at Gilliam - Addressing Trauma Among Youth in Detention
Denver, Colorado
Colorado Music Bridge is implementing their IMPACT Music Program at Gilliam Youth Services Center, providing modern keyboard, lyric writing, and music production to youth in detention with accessible curricula and trauma-informed pedagogy.
The Project Shop
Community Service Print Projects
Carbondale, Colorado
Arts education through service-learning print projects empowering student-artists to share their voices on critical issues, fostering conversation and community engagement.
The Liberty Rural Learning Co-op, Prairie Cultural Commons
Prairie Sea Projects, 2023-24 season
Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Denver, Colorado
The Prairie Sea Projects are creative initiatives and community actions that respond to the ecological future of the Colorado High Plains region.
Youth Documentary Academy (YDA)
Youth Media Matters and the Power of Story to Heal, Engage, and Empower
Empowering young people to locate and amplify their voices through the art of
documentary film while engaging high impact youth-produced media to high schools across Southern Colorado.
Kate Perdoni
San Luis Documentary and Media Program
San Luis, Colorado
Centennial High School students engage studio and production techniques to create self-expressive, multi-media work.
Words to Power
Healing Words
Denver, Colorado
Healing Words is a collaborative project, bringing together Words To Power, Gang Rescue And Support Project (GRASP), and Denver Public Safety Youth Programs/Safe City to serve youth experiencing serious challenges as they reflect upon their struggles, find the power in their words, connect with community resources, and see themselves as leaders in collective healing.
Radical Arts Academy Denver (RAAD)
The RAAD Initiative for Arts Activation in FNE Denver
Denver, Colorado
The RAAD Initiative for Arts Activation in FNE Denver’s goal is to activate RAAD's unique community responsive, culturally sustainable arts-based learning (ABL) programming as a necessary response to both the current post/COVID mental health crisis, as well as to the general exclusion of historically minoritized youth/adult populations from meaningful arts/educational experiences – in visual art, music, dance, theater, and creative writing – that are designed for community, by community.
Poetry Heals
Write It Out After School
Colorado Springs & Manitou Springs, Colorado
Poetry Heals will provide therapeutic poetry writing to augment programming for youth experiencing serious challenges through Voces Unidas for Justice (United Voices for Justice) and community centers in Colorado Springs.
Peak to Peak High School
Fashioning Environmental Justice
Lafayette, Colorado
Students will apply STEAM learning to the fashion arts, working with the artist and designer Ruthie Meere, to create upcycled fashion for a community showcase.
Friends of the Wright Opera House
Celebrating Colorado Native Voices through Film: A Partnership between the
Ouray International Film Festival, Ouray School, and Colorado Native Artists
Ouray, Colorado
The Ouray International Film Festival is bringing Native filmmakers and educators to Ouray School and to the 2023 summer festival program in order to foster long-term conversations around Native communities in Colorado and beyond.
Tabor Opera House Preservation Foundation
Tabor Opera House Youth Collective 2023
Leadville, Colorado
The Tabor Opera House Preservation Foundation in historic Leadville, CO, is bringing back the Tabor Youth Collective, TYC, a series of summer camps and performances in the summer of 2023. TYC - aims to create a deeper awareness of the social justice issues local youth are experiencing and provide a safe environment using a reader’s theatre approach through personal stories, music, movement, and audience participation - along with city/county statistics related to topics.
Warrior StoryField and Kindred Way
Coming Home: Dragon, Phoenix and the Space In Between
Denver, Colorado
Participants will be guided to explore their story of coming home from service through sculpture, forming archetypal works of self expression while on a journey of collaborative discovery.
City of Westminster
Heart-ifacts: Family Treasures that Tell the Stories of our Community
Westminster, Colorado
“Heart-ifacts” is a community-driven, pop-up museum that celebrates Westminster’s cultural diversity through treasured family heirlooms and everyday objects.