2019 GRANT RECIPIENTS:

• Aaron Rosenblum – Kentuckiana Sounds is an interactive sound map and website featuring audio recordings made by members of the community, documenting the sounds of everyday life in our region.
• Bridge Kids International – 7 Generations – Teaching African Heritage Culture through Arts builds upon the success of BKI’s first 7 Generations African Heritage Culture Camp to provide year-round arts programming that support children’s educational attainment, build relationships and develop positive self-image.
• Center For Neighborhoods – Parkland neighbors are self-organizing to create a renewed vision for the area that includes creative ways to integrate art, education, local economy, neighborhood pride, and neighborhood action
• Cochran Elementary School – 2nd grade take a field trip the KMAC Museum in downtown Louisville to particpate in a guided tour of the museum and a hands on STEAM art activity.
• Kentucky Center for the Arts Foundation – The Little Africa project will serve as a complementary component of 2019 Better Block Louisville, adding clear arts-based creative place-making strategies into a traditional neighborhood development project that includes the design and construction of a semi-permanent, outdoor performance space/community plaza/playscape.
• Kentucky Shakespeare, Inc. – Several nights per week, children attending Kentucky Shakespeare Festival performances will participate in free, hands-on arts activities with trained and experienced arts educators.
• Looking for Lilith Theatre Company – Looking for Lilith Theatre will co-produce a bilingual play, “Just Like Us/Justo como nosotros” by Karen Zacarias, with Teatro Tercera Llamada, Louisville’s only Spanish language theatre company, to reach new audiences in both English and Spanish speaking communities, and in communities both U.S. born and immigrant, while raising awareness of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) recipients and their struggles to reach their American Dream.
• The Little Loomhouse – The Little Loomhouse will partner with Beechmont Community Center, Iroquois High School Magnet Career Academy -A2G Program, and Wilkerson Traditional Elementary to offer a series of free, inclusive Fiber Arts programs after school.
• Louisville Story Program – Louisville Story Program will engage equine workers and residents of the neighborhoods of South Louisville in a literary arts collaboration that will lead to the most caring, in-depth look into the lives and stories of equine workers ever published.
• Portland Museum – Portland Museum will host speakers, curate an exhibit, and collect histories that highlight the narratives of families who lived on shantyboarts at the Portland wharf in the 1950s via StoryCorps.
• Rhythm Science Sound – Rhythm Science Sound’s Mixing Matters project is an artistic, educational and culture building program which utilizes dance music culture(hip hop, house, dancehall, reggae, etc) as a platform for community and youth development.
• Slaughter Elementary – Slaughter Elementary will partner with StageOne Family Theatre to engage students in a residency that examines differing perspectives and points of view that led to the Revolutionary War and how the Revlution is a gateway to understanding how democracy works in our country.
• St. Joseph Children’s Home – Saint Joseph Children’s Home will partner with local artists in a variety of fields, engaging children who have been victims of trauma/abuse in workshops across multiple arts disciplines, culminating in a performance to showcase their learning and growth.
• West Louisville Women’s Collaborative, Inc. – West Louisville Women’s Collaborative, Inc. will host monthly artist-led Community Jam Sessions on the first Friday evening of each month, using a variety of musical instruments (hand drums, shakers, acoustic guitars) to engage community members in shared arts experiences and elevate their voices.
• Yani Vozos – This project will be a continuation of the successful Music Together program, providing free after-school music instruction to youth ages 9-18 in the South End of Louisville, a location with a high population of at-risk and low-income youth.

2018 GRANT RECIPIENTS:

• Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest: Seeds of CONNECTion – This project will commission British artist Ashley Peevor to conduct workshops and create living costumes known as Grassmen, in order to teach participants about the cultivation of living sculpture through seed growing and provide the experience of connecting people to nature and one another through the lens of art.
• Bluegrass Anonymous: Concert Series – Bluegrass Anonymous and Clarksville Parks & Recreation will provide free Bluegrass concerts in Lapping Park, in order to support local musicians, attract national touring acts and shine a greater light on the bluegrass music for which our state is famous.
• Bullitt County Arts Council: Arts Reach Project – Provide arts supplies and instruction to young people and senior citizens at community centers and assisted living facilities, thereby enriching lives and improving mental health through increased engagement, creative thinking and artistic expression between generations.
• Commonwealth Theatre Center: Discover Drama – Implement a research-based, drama-infused residency program for Bullitt Alternative Center students, to provide valuable skills to teens in order to ultimately increase emotional literacy and better understand stress and trauma triggers.
• William M. Duffy: In My Community – The sculptor will work with students at the Griffin Community Recreation Center to create collages of people/places in the community, to both teach them sculpting skills and help build a sense of personal pride.
• Historical Society of Harrison County: Jazz Concert in Corydon Square – This concert allows Harrison County residents to experience high quality jazz from internationally known jazz musicians, Jamey Abersold’s Jazz Quartet, free of charge.
• Kentucky Shakespeare: Shakespeare Tour – This educational, interactive production of The Taming of the Shrew, accompanied by workshops, provides arts programming to all Clark County elementary schools, boosting literacy and using the arts to enrich academic training and critical skills.
• Louisville Youth Orchestra: NouLou&YOUth! – A partnership with NouLouChamber players, offering free, quality educational chamber music programs to Bullitt, Henry, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble counties, providing professional educational support for LYO members and stoking engagement and passion in the counties.
• MobileMaker: Generation Maker – A mobile art, science, engineering and innovation lab that provides STEAM educational activities to students in grades kindergarten through five, to educate students a number of valuable skills such as woodworking and laser art, that bridge the gap between subjects and expose them to exciting, innovative career opportunities.
• Shelby County Community Theatre: SCCT Academy Scholarship Program – Offer adult and youth scholarships to the SCCT educational outreach program, in order to enhance necessary skills like theatrical training and public speaking and increase education accessibility.

2017 GRANT RECIPIENTS:

• Discover Drama—Resilience, Bellewood School – Using the proven power of theater to open up a candid conversation in a safe space about adverse childhood experiences and using theater techniques to foster and encourage resiliency skills as a means to promote a healthy future for some of our city’s most vulnerable youth. Grant Amount = $4,810
• Fiber Arts Community in South Louisville, The Lou Tate Foundation d.b.a. The Little Loomhouse – Partnering with two South Louisville Community Centers (Beechmont and Americana) to offer Fiber Arts programs for adults and teens at each center. Grant Amount = $3,385
• Peacebuilding and Community Strengthening through Art, Side by Side Studio, Inc. – Providing weekly art programming interactions as well as large-scale neighborhood and community family events for children, youth, and families residing in the Park Hill, Chickasaw, and Parkland neighborhoods. Grant Amount = $5,000
• Explore More, Play Cousins Collective – Teaching youth about diversity and inclusion through the exploration of children’s literature featuring main characters of color and other marginalized groups. Grant Amount = $3,126
• LaCucarachita Children’s Production, Teatro Tercera Llamada – Production of an original bilingual play – La Cucarachita Martina, based on a Latino folktale – in partnership with The Louisville Free Public Library. Grant Amount = $4,900
• 20th Annual Louisville Jewish Film Festival, Jewish Community of Louisville, Inc. – Supporting the annual Louisville Jewish Film Festival whose mission is to showcase outstanding national and international films illuminating some aspect of the Jewish experience in the world and promoting cross-cultural understanding within the Louisville community. Grant Amount = $4,800
• Seven Generations, Bridge Kids International – Supporting the African Heritage Summer Camp utilizing music, dance, visual arts, theater, and storytelling as important vehicles for learning, expression, and sharing across cultures. Grant Amount = $5,000
• Best Practices in Access and Inclusion: Sensory-Friendly HAMLET, Western Middle School for the Arts – Providing access for students with disabilities to Stage One’s sensory-friendly production of Hamlet in partnership the national gathering of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education’s (AATE) 2018 Access and Inclusion Symposium to be held in Louisville in February. Grant Amount = $3,840
• Communities of Iroquois, Louisville Story Program – Intensive work with a group of Iroquois High School students to guide them toward a groundbreaking book that documents life in South Louisville with unprecedented depth and richness: they will each develop portraits of their own communities, be they cultural, geographic, linguistic, or based on other commonalities. Grant Amount = $7,500
• Puppet Hero Parade, Squallis Puppeteers – The Hero Parade will be a group of larger than life backpack puppets, many smaller rod puppets made together by Squallis artists, Portland youth and community volunteers. The puppets will represent our community’s heroes and will help to promote positive role models and exemplify the thriving art scene in Louisville. Grant Amount = $20,075
• Taking Art in a New Direction, Louisville Visual Art – In partnership with New Directions Housing Corporation LVA will expand its existing Mural Art Program and target locations throughout Louisville’s West End to develop a vibrant mural network. Grant Amount = $17,650
• Project Ready: LYRICS, Louisville Urban League – Broadening Project Ready, which provides economically disadvantaged youth with academic and social supports to prepare them for post-secondary success, through the exploration of hip-hop using multimedia to introduce young people to social science STEM fields like anthropology, psychology and sociology. Grant Amount = $10,000
• Mixing Matters, Rhythm Science Sound – The “Mixing Matters” project is an artistic, educational and culture building program which utilizes dance music culture (hip hop, house, dancehall, reggae, etc.) as a platform for community and youth development. Grant Amount = $15,450
• Louisville Cultural Accessibility Association, Kentucky Center for the Arts Foundation – The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, in partnership with Actors Theatre of Louisville and the American Printing House for the Blind, will launch the Louisville Cultural Accessibility Association whose mission will be to inspire Louisville’s cultural spaces to become more accessible to visitors with disabilities, through educating and strengthening communication between cultural administrators in areas of accessibility and inclusion. Grant Amount = $11,650
• Sarabande Writing Labs, Sarabande Books, Inc. – Expansion of Sarabande Writing Labs’ six-week poetry workshops partnering with Americana Community Center, Hotel Louisville and Louisville Metro Youth Services and adding a program for West Louisville girls. Grant Amount = $8,850
• Relevance to the Present. Discovering Slave Narratives. Understanding Ourselves, Portia White – Relevance to the Present will be a multi-discipline arts experience to explore the topic of the transatlantic slave trade with 20 high school students from Central High School and high school students recruited from surrounding areas – Beecher Terrace housing complex, Western Branch Library and Village West City View Apartments. Grant Amount = $10,750
• The G.A.P Cultivation Program and Documentary, The Gap Felony Prevention Program – A 24-week program using film arts to prevent youth violence, develop youth character, and prepare young people for employment opportunities in a growing industry through education and training. Grant Amount = $24,933
• We Create: Artists and Refugees Celebrate Making Louisville Home, Kentucky Refugee Ministries, Inc. – An exploration and community-wide celebration of refugee stories and artistic talent through multiple components: creating art inspired by refugee stories; showcasing refugee and immigrant talent; live events in neighborhoods across the city; and building opportunities to mentor artistic refugee and immigrant newcomers. Grant Amount = $20,522
• Imagine 2020 Concert Series, Louisville Federation of Musicians – A partnership between the Louisville Federation of Musicians and the Louisville Free Public Library offering a series of concerts – the third Sunday of every month – throughout 2018 at public library locations across Metro Louisville. Grant Amount = $10,000
• Capacity Building & Program Launch, ELEVATOR Artist Resource – A nonprofit start-up with a mission to engage & empower Louisville’s diverse community of artists & creators through responsive support and connection to opportunities. Grant Amount = $40,000
• Producing Art In Neighborhoods Together Open Call, Center For Neighborhoods – Expansion of this grassroots approach to the creation of new public art, the P.A.I.N.T. program emphasizes neighborhood engagement in the design and implementation of high-quality, meaningful cultural assets collaborating with residents, artists, nonprofits, schools, and local government. Grant Amount = $20,000
• Portraits of Pride, William M. Duffy, Sculptor – The “Portraits of Pride” project will involve working with the 6th-8th grade students of the West End School to research and create bas-reliefs of alumni of the West End School, Carter Elementary and Virginia Avenue Elementary Schools, that will be displayed throughout the school. Grant Amount = $11,700
• Music Together, Yani Vozos – Free after-school music instruction – guitar and rhythm classes – to youth ages 8-18 in the South End of Louisville in partnership with Americana Community Center and Iroquois Public Library. Grant Amount = $15,800
• K-8 Arts Integration Teacher Leadership Team, Academic Services/Jefferson County Public Schools – Arts Integration is an approach to teaching that integrates the fine and performing arts as primary pathways to learning. This project will develop online platforms for schools and teachers to access relevant lessons, research and other supplemental tools to implement arts integration across the district. JCPS will also engage regional school districts in the process and develop a playbook so that others can implement similar strategies. Grant Amount = $22,862