February 2015
Grants to Organizations and Schools: Apply Now
Photo by James S. Wood, courtesy of Tucson Festival of Books, a Fiscal Year 2015 Community Investment Grant recipient.
The Arizona Commission on the Arts is now accepting applications for the following grant programs:

Community Investment Grants provide funding support to nonprofit arts organizations of all sizes, local arts agencies and tribal cultural organizations whose primary mission is to produce, present, teach or serve the arts. 

Arts Learning Grants provide matching funds for quality arts learning projects which support lifelong learning in, through and/or about the arts.

Festival Grants assist organizations in their efforts to provide quality arts programming through festival activities and are awarded to assist with the costs of connecting artists (or their artistic work) with communities.

The application deadline for these programs is 11:59pm, Thursday, March 19, 2015. 


Online Information Session
The Arts Commission will present an online information session about these programs and the application process on Thursday, March 5 at 3:30pm. Click below to register.

2014 State Champion Matthew Kaplan. Photo by Jeff Smith, courtesy University of Arizona Poetry Center.
Poetry Out Loud
The 10th Annual Arizona Poetry Out Loud competition is in full swing. This year, over 13,000 students in 46 schools across the state participated in the annual poetry recitation competition. The Southern Region semi-finals were held on February 14 in Tucson. The Central and Northern regional semi-finals events will be held on Saturday, February 28 in Tempe and Flagstaff. Three students will advance from each semi-finals event to compete at the State Finals competition on Thursday, March 12 at 7pm. This year's State Finals competition will be hosted by the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.  The winner of the State Finals will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Finals.

Click here to learn more
Elizabeth Johnson, a specialist in socially engaged dance practices, will be a keynote speaker at the summit.
Creative Aging Summit
Join the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Mesa Arts Center for Arizona's first-ever summit on Creative Aging on Friday, March 13, 2015.

Creative Aging is a national movement aimed at fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging by exploring the potential of the arts to 
  • support older adults with cognitive or physical disabilities, 
  • help older adults remain dynamic members of society, and 
  • give meaning and purpose to later life. 
Through dynamic presentations, facilitated dialogue, and experiential, hands-on learning sessions, national and local presenters will address these topics and more. Summit attendees will also have the opportunity for fruitful networking and resource exchange with colleagues from across the state. Advance registration is required. Registration for the full day is only $15.

Register for Creative Aging Summit

The Summit will take place at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum at the Mesa Arts Center from 10:00am - 4:00pm. Practitioners and providers, both experienced and new to the field of Creative Aging, including arts organizations, teaching artists and aging or healthcare service providers are welcome to attend. 

Introducing Lisa Jayne, Newly Appointed Arts Commissioner
Show Low resident, playwright and theatre director Lisa Jayne has been appointed to the governing board of the Arizona Commission on the Arts. 

Jayne will replace Dr. Robert Breunig of Flagstaff, who completed his second 3-year term as a Commissioner in July 2014. 


NEWS
Governor's Arts Awards Nominees Announced
Earlier this month, Arizona Citizens for the Arts announced the nominees for the 2015 Arizona Governor's Arts Awards. The Arizona Commission on the Arts congratulates each of these worthy individuals, organizations and institutions. 

Call for Proposals: Strengthening Schools through Arts Partnerships
The Strengthening Schools through Arts Partnerships program supports school-based initiatives aimed at effecting change in Arizona "D" and "F" label schools by strengthening teaching and learning in arts education and/or arts integration, through school/community partnerships.
Click here to learn more

FEATURED OPPORTUNITIES
Creative Capital Project Grants
Creative Capital provides integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing adventurous projects in all disciplines. They are now accepting applications in Emerging Fields, Literature and Performing Arts. 
Submission deadline: 
March 2, 2015.
Contemporary Forum Artists Grants Awards
This grant is intended to provide recognition and financial support for emerging professional Arizona artists focused on establishing their art career. The selection committee will award up to seven grants of $1500 each. 

Submission deadline:
March 31, 2015
Community Arts Gathering: International Sonoran Desert Alliance
The Community Arts Gathering is a coming together of artists diverse in culture, discipline, and practice, held at the intersection of three nations - the US, the Tohono O'odham Nation and Mexico. 
March 14-18, 2015
RESOURCES
TrendsWatch 2015, Center for the Future of Museums
TrendsWatch 2015 highlights six trends that CFM's staff and advisors believe are highly significant to museums and their communities, based on their scanning and analysis over the past year. 
Turnaround Arts Initiative Findings, President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities has released the results of an independent study that reveals substantial gains in student achievement at schools participating in its Turnaround Arts Initiative. 
 Click here to learn more

Important Dates

Feb 28Arizona Poetry Out Loud, Northern Region Semi-Finals

Feb 28 - Arizona Poetry Out Loud, Central Region Semi-Finals

March 5 - Online Grant Information Session

March 12 - Arizona Poetry Out Loud, State Finals

March 13 - Creative Aging: Arts Across the Aging Spectrum

March 19 - Application Deadline, Community Invesment Grants, Arts Learning Grants (Cycle A) and Festival Grants (Cycle A)

March 26 - Quarterly Commission Meeting

 

Click here to view the calendar of events
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