Delaware Division of the Arts

Arts E-News

April 1, 2015 
 
Paul Weagraff, Director 

April is National Poetry Month


Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996,
National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world, with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry's vital place in our culture. In April, we focus attention on living poets, on our complex poetic heritage, and on poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concerns. Some Delaware Poetry Month activities include:

  • Delaware's Poet Laureate, JoAnn Balingit, will host a weekly "On Poetry" series in The News Journal.  This series will run each Sunday in April.  The Division will feature a link to her article and to the "poem of the week," selected by Balingit, on its website homepage throughout the month.
  • Join Balingit on April 4 at the Old State House in Dover for free poetry readings and a panel discussion. 
  • On April 18, the Old State House in Dover is hosting The Spring Storm: A Celebration of Spoken Word, a free program featuring Delaware's own spoken word artists: Amillion the Poet, the Twin Poets, SuiteFranchon, Gemelle John, and an appearance by Hannah Sturgis, Delaware's Poetry Out Loud champion. Music and open mic opportunities round out the afternoon.

  • Find more poetry events during April on www.delawarescene.com.
  • Celebrate Delaware's 2015 Poetry Out Loud Champion, Hannah Sturgis, a sophomore at Polytech High School, as she prepares for the national Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington DC on April 27-29, 2015. View the live webcast or host a viewing party. Click here for a WDDE91.1FM interview with Hannah.
  • Visit the Division's Facebook and Twitter feeds for Poetry Month highlights, including biographies and photos of the 2015 Delaware Poetry Out Loud Finalists, and links to poetry-related events and information
Hannah Sturgis

Images: l-r - Hannah Sturgis, JoAnn Balingit.  Photos by Kathleen Buckalew. 

2015 National Scholastic Writing Awards:

Four Delaware Winners!


Delaware Poet Laureate JoAnn Balingit with Katie Hauser of Ursuline Academy

Twenty-three creative teens received the Delaware Writing Region's highest honor, a Scholastic Gold Key. Their works were sent to the national Scholastic office to be adjudicated by a panel of notable authors and leaders in the literary world. All works were blindly judged based on originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal vision or voice. Four of the Delaware Gold Key winners were selected for national Scholastic Medals! 

The 
Delaware national medalists are:

  • Katherine Alberta, Ursuline Academy, Gold Medal in Personal Essay/Memoir
  • Katie Houser, Ursuline Academy, Gold Medal in Poetry
  • Emily Lugg, Ursuline Academy, Gold Medal in Poetry
  • Kyna Smith, Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Silver Medal in Poetry and American Voices Medal 

Kyna Smith, Cab Calloway School of the Arts Their teachers are Heather Doudna, Frances Marshal, and Tammie Sylvia of Ursuline Academy; and Jill Protokowitcz of Cab Calloway School of the Arts. Delaware's medalists, along with winners in Art and Writing from across the U.S., will be honored during a special awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 11, 2015.

 

The Delaware Scholastic Writing Awards program is managed by the National League of American Pen Women, Diamond State Branch, as an affiliate of AYAW, in partnership with the Delaware Division of the Arts.

 

Images: top - JoAnn Balingit and Katie Houser; right - Kyna Smith.  Photos by Kathleen Buckalew.

 

April is Jazz Appreciation Month


 

April is Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), a global celebration to advance recognition of jazz as America's original music. JAM pays tribute to jazz as both a historic and a living American art form through festivities in all 50 states and 40 countries. JAM was launched by the National Museum of American History.  

  • Be sure to check out the JAM website  and Facebook page for details on the 2015 national celebrations! 
  • On April 20 at 7:30 p.m. there will be a live webcast of the 2015 NEA Jazz Masters Awards
  • April 30 is International Jazz Day with a live webcast of the celebration. 
  • In Delaware, check out www.delawarescene.com for upcoming jazz events.

Meet the 2015 Artist Fellows


Each month, we introduce two of
Delaware's 2015 Individual Artist Fellows. We'll also provide information about upcoming public events where you can experience their work.

 

Kevin J. Cope

Established Professional

Music: Composition

Newark

 

Guitarist and composer Kevin J. Cope teaches guitar at several institutions, including the University of Delaware Community Music School. His compositions have been performed by ensembles in California, Delaware, Florida, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas as well as in Austria and Poland. Another of Cope's commissioned pieces inspired by aspects of cosmology will be performed during the Salisbury Guitar Festival on April 25.

 

Karoline Wileczek 

Emerging Professional

Visual Arts: Works on Paper

Newark

 

Visual artist Karoline Wileczek has shown work in group and solo shows throughout Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania and the Midwest during her career.  She has taught art at summer camps; the Center for Creative Arts in Yorklyn, DE; and St Paul Academy in MN, and taught drawing as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota.  Wileczek has received multiple grants and scholarships. The public can view her works on paper in an exhibition titled, "From the Quiver: Recent Works by Karoline Wileczek" at The Gibby Center for the Arts in Middletown from May 14-June 13 with a reception on May 15 from 6-8 pm.

On the Mezzanine


The Delaware Division of the Arts Mezzanine Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of work by realist figure sculptor Harold Kalmus (Arden) from May 1-29, with an opening reception on May 1, 5-8 p.m. Kalmus' work incorporates a modernist sensibility with an adherence to the figurative traditions of the past. His work has been shown in numerous galleries and museum exhibits and is included in many private collections.

 

Work by wood craft artisan Michael Quattrociocchi will be on display in the Mezzanine Gallery, April 2-24, with an opening reception on April 10, 5-8 pm.

 

The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located in the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington. The Gallery will be closed on April 3 due to a state holiday.

Sign up here to receive Mezzanine Gallery email invitations for upcoming exhibits.

State of the Arts Podcasts


Do you want to learn more about the people behind the arts in Delaware? Interviews are conducted weekly by the Division's Deputy Director Kristin Pleasanton or Delaware Arts Alliance's Executive Director Guillermina Gonzalez. Recent interviews have featured 2015 Masters Fellow Kimberly Reighley and Mark Fields, executive director of The Grand Opera House and the Playhouse on Rodney Square.  Upcoming interviews include Delaware's Poet Laureate JoAnn Balingit and Tom Tauber of the Delaware Photographic Society. The interviews air on
NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV on Sunday mornings and the podcasts are archived weekly on the Division's website. Do you have a suggestion for someone who would be great to interview?  Email us.

4th Annual State Employee Art Exhibit 

People's Choice Award Winner! 

 

Guardian Angel, by Rebecca Malmstrom
Rebecca Malmstrom (Newark) won the People's Choice Award for her work titled
Guardian Angel at the 4th Annual State Employee Art Exhibit, selected through a Facebook contest. 
 

View work from all the
winners and all exhibitors on Flickr.

Upcoming Grant Deadlines and Webinars

 

NEA Challenge America Grants

  • Application deadline: April 16, 2015

MAAF USArtists International

  • Application deadline: April 17, 2015

MAAF Mid Atlantic Creative Fellowships - VCCA

  • Application deadline: May 15, 2015

NEA Art Works

  • Application deadline: July 23, 2015

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Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.