Grants presented at GO ART! ceremony

BATAVIA — The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council presented 23 decentralization grant awards during its 12th annual  Reach and Ripple Grant Awards Ceremony on March 12. 

Reach grants were awarded to 21 arts and cultural organizations in Genesee and Orleans county, and two Ripple grants were presented to individual artists. The grants, from the New York State Council on the Arts' decentralization grant program, totaled $46,330, including two Ripple grants of $2,000 each.

More than 50 people attended the ceremony, which was at the GO ART! Cultural Center, 201 East Main St.

The Decentralization Regrant Program, known locally as Reach and Ripple, was first developed in 1977 by the New York State Council on the Arts in response to a mandate by the New York State Legislature to encourage greater participation in the state’s cultural funding at the local level. Local decision-making is the basic principle of the Decentralization Regrant Program in supporting a wide range of community-based professional and avocational arts programs in diverse communities throughout the state, and in helping to support the work of individual artists. GO ART! administers the decentralization program in Genesee and Orleans Counties.  (The Arts Council for Wyoming County administers the program for Wyoming County.)

Individuals, non-profit organizations and local government agencies in both Genesee and Orleans counties submit applications annually for arts and cultural programs that are reviewed by special panels, made up of artists, community leaders and educators from the two counties. The panels then submit funding recommendations to the GO ART! Board of Directors for approval, and grants are awarded. Through the Decentralization Regrant Program, GO ART!, NYSCA, and the New York State Legislature hope to expand, upgrade and increase arts and cultural programming in Genesee and Orleans counties. 

The Awards Ceremony provided the Genesee and Orleans County Community a means of publicly congratulating the 2010 Reach and Ripple Grant Recipients.  Those attending included representatives from the state and local legislatures such as state Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Genesee County legislators Esther Leadley and Annie Lawrence, and Orleans County Legislator Don Allport. 

An exhibit was also featured in the Center’s Permanent Gallery that featured works of Hispanic farmworker women who participated in the Reach Grant funded project by World Life Institute of Waterport.  The pottery exhibit will remain on display through the month of March to celebrate Arts Awareness Month.  

 For more information on the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council’s Regrant Program, contact Heather at GO ART!, 585.343.9313 or hgrant@goart.org.    

The list of recipients of decentralization grants in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties.

Genesee County

• Batavia Concert Band, $4,945, 2010 summer concert series.
• Batavia Players, $1,400, Shakespeare theatrical production, and $2,000, summer youth theater production.
• Byron-Bergen Public Library, $1,575, arts, music, education-fun in our community.
• Genesee ARC, $1,500, Celebrating Art-abilities art show.
• Genesee Chorale, $3,640, Great Performances concert series.
• Genesee Symphony Orchestra, $4,350, 63rd season — Making Orchestral Music Relevant to a Rural Population.
• Gillam-Grant Community Center, $2,175, artistic programs.
• Le Roy Christian Community Project, $400, after school theater/art program.
• Pat Stabell via Darien Town Board, $700, Darien Art Show and Community Day.
• Tale for Three Counties Council, $1,820, A Tale for Three Counties 2010, community reading project.
• Town of Le Roy, $1,200, Trigon Park Summer Concert series.
• Village of Corfu, $1,400, Winterfest.
• Village of Le Roy, $615, Farmers' Market musical and art presentations.
• Woodward Memorial Library, Le Roy, $953, children's Super Saturdays at the Library.

Orleans County

• Lake Plains Players, $1,000, musical to be announced.
• Lee-Whedon Memorial Library, Medina, $2,500, Finally Fridays music series.
• Lyndonville Lions Club, $1,850, Musically Lyndonville.
• Swan Library, Albion, $1,500, Elements of Photography.
• World Life Institute, Waterport, $4,983, "Voices from the Earth” pottery art.
• Yates Community Library, Lyndonville, $1,824, concert series: More Than Just Books.

Individual Artist Grants (which GO ART! calls Ripple Grants):

• Pat Stabell, $2,000, community inspired paintings for health care facilities.
• Ann Reid, $2,000, for work on the music composition "AElinor, The Oratorio."