Foundation accepting fellowship applications

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Foundation is accepting applications for $25,000 fellowships through Sept. 5 from Rhode Island composers who’d like to spend a year working on music.
Established in 2003, the grants are designed to free composers to concentrate on the creative process, personal or professional development, and exploration of new directions. Up to three awards a year are made through the foundation’s Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund, rotating among composers, writers and visual artists.
The Madeline B. Standish Fund, created in 2010 to support the work of writers and artists, partially underwrites the fellowships.
“Our financial support enables local composers to spend their time making art rather than making ends meet,” said Daniel Kertzner, the Foundation’s vice president for grant programs. “That honors the importance that the MacColl Johnsons placed on the role of composers in the community,”
Applicants have to have been legal residents of Rhode Island for at least 12 months prior to the Sept. 5 application deadline. High school students, college students enrolled in a degree-granting program and composers with advanced levels of career achievement are not eligible.
A panel of four out-of-state jurors recognized as practicing artists and arts professionals will select the winners, which will include up to three finalists. While the “finalist” designation does not carry a monetary award, it reflects a formal recognition of the merit of the artistic work.
Rhode Islanders Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson were dedicated to the arts. Margaret Johnson, who died in 1990, earned a degree in creative writing from Roger Williams College at the age of 70. Robert Johnson invented a new process for mixing metals in jewelry-making and then retired to become a full-time painter.

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