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From June 5, 2009

July 1, Arts in Health Care Project Grant Deadline
This grant category supports the presentation of arts programs, artists in residence programs, and training programs in health care and nursing home facilities and in agencies/centers serving people who are elderly. Matching grants of $1,000 to $4,500 are available through the State Arts Council’s Creative Communities Program to support the following arts in health care projects:

• Multi-day participatory arts programs where patients/residents/clients and staff are directly engaged in the creative process with professional artists;
• Arts training programs for artists, health care and nursing home staff; and
• Planning arts programs with health care practitioners, artists and/or consultants.

Who may apply? Hospitals, county and nonprofit nursing homes, veterans’ homes, hospice care programs, rehabilitation centers, assisted living facilities, visiting nurse associations, agencies serving the elderly, and arts organizations with 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status from the IRS, and not-for-profit incorporation in the State of New Hampshire that:

• Make their programs accessible to people with disabilities.
• Have submitted all required reports on past State Arts Council grants (if a previous grantee).
• Are in good standing with the State Arts Council and the N.H. Attorney General’s Office.

For information, visit http://www.nh.gov/nharts/grants/partners/artsinhealthcare.htm or contact Judy Rigmont, creative communities coordinator at the State Arts Council, at Judy.L.Rigmont@dcr.nh.gov or 271-0794.

Congratulations to:

NEFA Public Art Grantees
Two New Hampshire organizations and one Maine organization teaming up with a New Hampshire artist are among the beneficiaries of grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Six communities in northern New England and six New England artists have been awarded a total of $60,000 in grants through NEFA’s public arts initiative. The grants pair artists or artist teams with nonprofit organizations and municipalities to plan and/or create a site-specific contemporary public artwork for the local community.

This initiative was made possible with support from Jane's Trust, and modeled on NEFA’s Fund for the Arts and Art and Community Landscapes programs, to support public art projects addressing environmental issues with an emphasis on rural and underserved communities in northern New England.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon will use the funds to identify locations throughout the center’s campus where future collaborative public art projects – both  permanent and temporary – can best be realized – in conjunction with Vermont artists Dan Gottsegen and Terry Boyle.

Littleton Area Senior Center, in partnership with the Littleton High School and Common Ground, a nonprofit provider of behavioral and developmental services, is undertaking a permanent site-specific art installation for the Littleton River Walk Trail, a 1.5 mile walking trail. The organizations will be working with Harvard, Mass., artist Linda Hoffman.

And eco-artist Tim Gaudreau of Portsmouth will team with Waterville (Maine) Main Street to create a public art project to help the community connect to the Kennebec River, and in particular a 12-acre publicly owned parcel of land called Head of Falls, the historic site of several textile mills and homes of mill workers.

Other winning organizations and artists are Burlington (Vt.) City Arts and puppet artist Eric Bass of Vermont; Fitchburg (Mass.) Cultural Alliance and Rhode Island artist Gillian Christy; Railroad Street Youth Project of Great Barrington, Mass., and artists Will Machin of Vermont and Howie Sneider of Rhode Island.

For more information on the winning proposals and the artists, visit http://www.nefa.org/about/documents/090527_PANNE_PR_web.pdf.

The Mount Kearsage Indian Museum
The Warner museum is one of 100 in 39 states participating in the Conservation Assessment Program. The program, sponsored by Heritage Preservation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, helps small to mid-sized museums obtain a general assessment of the condition of their collections, environment, and historic buildings. Following an on-site assessment by a conservation professional, the museum receives a written report recommending priorities to improve collections care. This report assists museums in educating staff and board members on conservation practices, creating long-range and emergency plans, and raising funds to improve the care of their collections.

For more information on the Conservation Assessment Program, including a list of all of this year’s participants and application material for next year, visit http://www.heritagepreservation.org/CAP.

Comic Artist Marek Bennett
Marek Bennett, a Henniker-based cartoonist, released his second book this week at the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art-NY Art Festival. The book, “Breakfast at Mimi’s,” collects the first three years of Bennett’s weekly newspaper comic strip, “Mimi’s Doughnuts.”

Bennett, who is listed on the State Arts Council’s artist roster, has attended the festival as an exhibitor for the last two years. For more information on his work, visit www.marekbennett.com.

Last updated: August 13, 2009