RISCA awards 68 grants for more than $160K in community, school funding

THE R.I. State Council on the Arts awarded 68 grants totaling $164,890 to local schools, organizations, community centers and artists.
THE R.I. State Council on the Arts awarded 68 grants totaling $164,890 to local schools, organizations, community centers and artists.

PROVIDENCE – During its December meeting the R.I. State Council on the Arts awarded 68 grants totaling $164,890 to local schools, organizations, community centers and artists, according to a Thursday statement by the group.

Saying he was “particularly pleased” with the recent round of grant recipients, Randall Rosenbaum, RISCA executive director, added: “Programs in arts education and projects that support the work of artists contribute to the economy and vitality of life in communities throughout our state.”

Of the 235 grant requests received within the deadline, the 68 successful applications represent artist fellowships, arts education programs and community-based projects.

One of the successful applications was from the Saylesville Elementary School in Lincoln, which received a $1,700 grant for “We Are Rhode Island” – a research project in which students investigate lesser-known figures in the state’s history and turn their findings into theatrical performances.

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Pawtucket’s Friends of the Rhody Center Inc. was awarded a $1,000 Arts Access Grant to support six months of a community steel pan, or steel drum, ensemble which will offer free participation to youth.

One of the individual artist grants awarded during the most recent round of grant funding was a $2,000 grant to Kate Aitchison of Providence. Her paper-making workshops at AS220, which use local plant fibers from the Blackstone River Valley and Narragansett Bay, are open to the public.

To date, during its current fiscal year, which runs until June 30, RISCA has awarded 307 grants totaling $1,165,519 to nonprofit organizations, schools, artists and community groups.

Funding awarded by the state organization is appropriated on an annual basis from the R.I. General Assembly as well as from the federal National Endowment for the Arts.

A list of the grant recipients can be found HERE.

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