|
|
Individual Artist Fellowship Application Deadline is August 2, 2021 |
The Fiscal Year 2022 Artist Fellowship application is open in smARTDE with applications due August 2, 2021. We have a new artistic discipline – Music: Contemporary Performance for hip hop, popular, and R&B artists.
Masters applications will be accepted in Literary and Media Arts from artists who have received an Established Fellowship prior to January 2015 in the same discipline.
|
|
Questions or problems with smARTDE? |
|
 |
Fellowship applicants can drop in during virtual office hours with Roxanne Stanulis, Program Officer, every Tuesday and Wednesday in July for one-on-one help. No appointments necessary!
The virtual office hours will be conducted using Zoom.
- Tuesday from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
- Wednesday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
National Endowment for the Arts
American Rescue Plan Grants
|
|
On June 23, 2021, the National Endowment for the Arts released guidelines and application materials for two programs to distribute American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds. These programs are open to nonprofit arts and culture organizations and local arts agencies, regardless of whether they have received NEA funding in the past. This is a change from previous emergency funding requirements at the NEA and significantly expands access to federal funds for the arts and culture sector. The NEA encourages applications from first-time applicants, and will offer workshops, question and answer sessions, and other resources for those new to federal funding.
Before applying for Arts Endowment funding, you will need to obtain a DUNS number and register at SAM.gov and grants.gov. Registration in SAM.gov and grants.gov can take several weeks, so you should begin the process as soon as possible. Here are resources that can assist you in the registration process.
|
|
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” For me, the seasons are changing. After more than 24 years at the Division, I have decided it's time for me to move on. Following my departure, I plan to take a step back, collect myself, reflect on where I’ve been, and figure out what’s in store. I know for certain I will not be retiring in the traditional sense of the word. It is not in my nature not to work! Even in my former life as a classroom teacher, I would confound my family by developing a “to do” list on the first day of summer vacation to keep myself busy until September!
It has been an honor to serve the arts community and the people of Delaware, first as the arts education program officer, then as deputy director, and most recently as director for the last 16 years. I owe a special thanks the staff and council members alike for their hard work, support, and inspiration. I am especially grateful to the secretaries of state and governors who have placed their confidence in me to lead the Division over the years. It has truly been an honor to serve an arts community whose passion, perseverance, and fortitude are without equal.
Delaware is fortunate to have leaders who understand the transformative power of the arts in our lives, our economy, and our schools. The Division could not have achieved what it has in its 32-year history without the support of its elected officials, corporate leaders. and private philanthropists. But there is still so much more to accomplish. With a new strategic plan in place, Cultivating Creativity: 2021-2025, the time is right for fresh vision and leadership to take the Division and the creative sector to new heights.
And whether we shall meet again I know not.
Therefore our everlasting farewell take:
For ever, and for ever, farewell,
If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
If not, why then, this parting was well made.
~Wm. Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
|
|
|
|
Have you gotten your COVID-19 vaccine yet? |
Members of the Delaware arts community encourage all patrons who have not done so to get vaccinated so arts venues can safely open up and do what they love to do, entertain you!
The Delaware Division of the Arts is proud to support Governor Carney’s COVID-19 vaccine initiative and would love for other Delaware arts and cultural organizations to do so too. If your organization would like to use this video, or one of the others produced in this series, please reach out to Kaitlin Ammon for more information. |
|
|
In September 2020, The Delaware Division of the Arts partnered with the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement to develop a new strategic plan for 2021-2025 that identifies and incorporates the ideas, issues, and initiatives of Delaware’s arts community including its artists, organizations, audiences, and educators.
A primary focus in the planning process was to identify ways in which the Division can better serve and elevate the arts sector in an equitable manner to cultivate expanded diversity and inclusion in programming, access, and allocation of resources.
Over the past several months, the Division, the Delaware State Arts Council, and planning consultants from the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement conducted individual interviews, focus groups, online surveys, and virtual town halls. The Division engaged more than 400 people, representing a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, to learn more about how the arts can help to enrich our communities and our state.
The Division is grateful to everyone who participated in focus group meetings, interviews, and town halls and who responded to our online surveys. Their input was essential to the process of creating this plan.
The resulting strategic plan, Cultivating Creativity: 2021-2025, reinforces and recognizes the value of the arts as it relates to economic prosperity, education, strong communities, and individual health and wellbeing. It was formally adopted by the Delaware State Arts Council at their June 2021 meeting, for implementation beginning July 1, 2021.
You can read Cultivating Creativity: 2021-2025 and its corresponding appendix on the Division's Strategic Plan page . A printed version of the new strategic plan will be available in the fall.
|
|
Creative Aging Added to Delaware Artist Roster |
|
As part of the Division's Access Creative Aging initiative, twenty-three teaching artists have completed training on the creation and delivery of meaningful arts programming for older adults.
To feature these trained artists, a new Creative Aging category was added to the Arts Service heading in the Artist Roster.
The training sessions were presented by Lifetime Arts, a national leader in creative aging program development.
|
|
List of Trained Artists (*indicates artists in Roster to date)
- JoAnn Balingit*
- Melissa Berman
- Kathryn Canavan*
- Benjamin Cannon
- Kizzie Cobb
- Tracie Currie
- Ashley Davis
- John Donato*
- Michael Fleishman*
- Emie Hughes*
- Stefanie Jaye Griffin
- Elizabeth Kelly*
- Linda Majewski*
- Amanda Moore
- Joshua Nobiling*
- Gary Oberparleiter
- Ethel Olson
- Stephanie Przybylek*
- Catherine Samardza*
- Johanna Schloss
- Delona Seserman*
- George Tietze*
- Lisa Vaupel*
|
|
Racial Justice & the Arts Seminar |
|
Delaware arts education teachers, teaching artists, and arts organizations education staff are invited to register for the upcoming Racial Justice & the Arts seminar on Wednesday, July 28 and Thursday, July 29, presented by the Delaware Department of Education and the Maryland State Department of Education.
Explore anti-racist classroom strategies that elevate student achievement and deepen learning in the arts with the Maryland and Delaware arts education community. National experts will lead courageous workshops exploring decolonizing music, theatre, dance, and visual and media arts.
To receive full credit, Delaware arts education teachers must register and attend the morning sessions from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and the afternoon sessions specifically for Delaware arts educators from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. The morning breakout sessions will be discipline-specific. Educators can choose from:
- Music led by Decolonizing the Music Room
- Dance led by the Delaware Department of Education
- Theatre led by Baltimore Center Stage
- Visual and Media Arts elf by Anti-Racist Art Teachers
The afternoon sessions, funded by the Delaware Division of the Arts, will feature teaching artists from the Delaware Institute for Arts in Education.
The seminar is course #29893 in the Delaware Department of Education's Professional Development Management System. Non-public arts educators should email Lauren Conrad to reserve their spots if they wish to attend the seminar.
|
|
Daybreak
by Howard J. Eberle
|
Daybreak, 2018, transparent watercolor, 11" x 30"
|
|
The Journey, an exhibition of watercolor paintings by Howard J. Eberle, will be on view in the Mezzanine Gallery through July 30, 2021. Eberle is the recipient of a 2021 Artist Fellowship in Painting from the Delaware Division of the Arts.
The majority of works in this exhibition span his journey of the last decade of a professional career that has lasted over 25 years. Included are award-winning paintings that have been exhibited in public museums in the U.S. and abroad.
|
|
Eberle describes himself as a portrait painter of objects. He is drawn to the peeled paint of an old barn, the rusty patina of an anchor, or the weathered wood on an old workboat. He carefully balances his compositions and eliminates some details that might distract the eye.
The artist likes to name each painting before he begins work. He prefers one-word titles that reference the subject. For example, a painting with a sail, mast, and ropes was named Hemp, a reference to the material that makes up the rope. Watch Eberle's second Meet the Artist video to hear him speak about why naming the painting is important and his naming process.
|
|
The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington. Visitors must wear face coverings and maintain 3 feet distance from other individuals not in their household. |
|
Jason Jellick
2021 Emerging Professional Fellow, Visual Arts: Photography
|
|
|
|
Photographer Jason Jellick set out to become a writer, and he earned his MFA in Nonfiction from New York City’s Columbia University. He still keeps a regular daybook and journal, but “one day, relatively speaking, I put down the pen and picked up the camera and haven’t looked back.” Read more.
|
|
Harold Kalmus
2021 Established Professional Fellow, Visual Arts: Crafts
|
|
After an unexpected career change in 2009, Harold Kalmus was looking for both a new artistic challenge and a creative way to increase his income. At the same time, he found himself taking over the family’s cooking. “The first thing I looked to – and was disappointed with – were our knives . . . dull, abused and dangerous.” Read more.
|
|
|
Carrie Sz. Keane
2021 Emerging Professional Fellow, Literature: Creative Nonfiction
|
|
|
|
Carrie Sz. Keane grew up in Pittsburgh, dressing her cat in baby clothes and playing at birthing with Barbie dolls. The youngest of five children, she “always wanted to be a mom, [though] I never did become one.” But she did become a dedicated midwife and award-winning writer. Read more.
|
|
Award Winners XXI Exhibition
|
|
|
|
Award Winners XXI, the exhibition featuring the work of the 2021 artist fellows is open through July 24 at the Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover. The Fellows' artwork is installed throughout the galleries in the museum on the second floor. Selections from the Award Winners exhibition will travel to CAMP Rehoboth, Rehoboth Beach, and be on display August 7-31, 2021.
The Award Winners Concert Part II will be held outdoors at the Biggs Museum on Wednesday, July 21 at 6:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required for a seating assignment. Bring your lawn chairs and a picnic. Register here.
In June, Division Director Paul Weagraff acknowledged the artistic accomplishments of the 2021 Fellows and presented certificates to them. See the photos here. |
|
COVID-19 Updates and Resources |
|
For the most current news and information on COVID-19 in the State of Delaware, visit:
For up-to-date information on COVID-19-related funding opportunities, as well as general funding opportunities, follow the Delaware Division of the Arts on Facebook and Twitter. |
|
Shuttered Venues Operators Grant Portal is Open |
|
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is currently accepting online applications for more than $16 billion in grants for performing arts centers, movie theaters, and museums that have been shut down during the pandemic. Venues may qualify for grants valued at 45% of their gross earned revenue up to a maximum of $10 million. $2 billion in funding is reserved for applicants with 50 or fewer full-time employees.
Eligible entities include: live venue operators or promoters, theatrical producers, live performing arts organization operations, museum operators, motion picture theater operators (including owners), and talent representatives.
|
|
|
Delaware Community Foundation
Delaware COVID-19 Strategic Response Fund
Vision Grants Program
|
|
Application Deadline: Friday, July 23, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. EST |
|
The Strategic Response Fund Vision Grants Program seeks applications for innovative solutions to emerging and evolving needs arising from or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications to the program should identify investable strategies to strengthen the participating organizations' ability to serve the community. This grant round will focus on planning efforts and may support efforts to:
- build the capacity to innovate among organizations addressing social issues,
- create collaborative networks and promote scaling and sustainability of innovative programming approaches,
- design and test prototypes of promising, sustainable innovations.
The Vision Grants, ranging from $20,000 to $30,000, will support building and designing implementable, sustainable plans, typically by funding a consultant to the organizations to develop a full plan.
For more information and to apply, visit the Delaware Community Foundation's Vision Grants page. |
|
Grants for Arts Projects |
Application Deadline:
Thursday, July 8 at 11:59 p.m. EST
|
|
These grants support arts projects that use the arts to unite and heal in response to current events; celebrate our creativity and cultural heritage; invite mutual respect for differing beliefs and values; and enrich humanity. Applicants may request cost share/matching grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. Designated local arts agencies eligible to subgrant may request from $10,000 to $150,000 for subgranting programs in the Local Arts Agencies discipline. A minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount is required.
|
|
National Heritage Fellowships |
|
|
Nomination Deadline:
July 30, 2021
|
|
Application Deadline:
August 5, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EST
|
|
To honor and preserve our nation's diverse cultural heritage, the National Endowment for the Arts annually awards National Heritage Fellowships to master folk and traditional artists. These fellowships recognize artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation's traditional arts heritage.
|
|
Our Town is the National Endowment for the Arts’ creative placemaking grants program. These grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes.
Successful Our Town projects ultimately lay the groundwork for systems changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into local strategies for strengthening communities. These projects require a partnership between a nonprofit organization and a local government entity, with one of the partners being a cultural organization. Cost share/matching grants range from $25,000 to $150,000, with a minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount.
For more information, visit the National Endowment for the Arts' Our Town page.
Important: Applicants should finalize their Grants.gov/SAM registration by at least July 15, 2021 and submit to Grants.gov by at least July 26, 2021.
|
|
Summer Writers' Conferences |
|
Wilmington Writers Conference
July 24, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Delaware Art Museum’s fifth annual Wilmington Writers Conference will be free and virtual this year. The conference will take place on Saturday, July 24, 2021 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Registration is required and can be made on the Delaware Art Museum’s website.
This year’s keynote speaker is award-winning poet Chet’la Sebree, who will read from her recently released second book, Field Study, and lead a workshop for writers. Sebree, a former Delaware Artist Fellow, is the winner of the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She is also the author of Mistress, selected by Cathy Park Hong as the winner of the 2018 New Issues Poetry Prize and nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work-Poetry (2020). She is the Director of the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts and an Assistant Professor at Bucknell University.
|
|
Lewes Creative Writers Conference
August 14, 2021 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The Lewes Public Library is holding the 14 th Annual Lewes Creative Writers Conference on Saturday, August 14, 2021 from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. The conference will be virtual this year, and, as always, free, but participants can make donations to help defray conference expenses here.
Workshops on a variety of writing-related topics will be held throughout the day. Registration for the conference is required. For more information on how to register, workshop descriptions, and presenter bios, visit the Lewes Public Library’s website. Please note that if you want to participate in an afternoon Roundtable session, the material submission deadline is July 10.
In addition to the conference on Saturday, there will be a virtual Evening of Readings on Friday, August 13 starting at 5:00 pm. For more information on the Evening of Readings and to register for it, visit the visit the Lewes Public Library’s website. |
|
Each month we feature a handful of arts and community-based organizations and their programs and projects funded by the Delaware Division of the Arts. Funding for Division of the Arts grants is provided by the Delaware General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. To view past grants awarded (2000 to present), please visit our Grants Awarded page.
|
|
Rehoboth Summer Children's Theatre
Hansel and Gretel Summer Tour
|
|
Milford Community Band
Milford Community Concert Band, Smooth Sound Big Band, and Downtown Dixieland Band
|
|
Delaware Shakespeare
Summer Festival
|
|
Cab Calloway School Fund
SMArtSummer
|
|
University of Delaware Community Music School
Wind in the Willows summer camp music theatre production
|
|
The Division has embarked on a year-long digital advertising campaign to increase reach and engagement on DelawareScene.com. We remind and recommend that organizations, businesses, and individual artists submit their 2021 events as soon as they are scheduled, and no later than the recommended deadlines below. Submit now
|
|
Event Date
July - October
November & December
January & February 2022
March & April 2022
May & June 2022
|
|
Submission Deadline
As soon as possible
September 1
November 1
January 1
March 1
|
|
Delaware State of the Arts Podcast |
|
Do you have an exciting arts program, project, or story to share? Are you interested in being interviewed, either to promote an upcoming event, your work in the arts, or an issue relevant to Delaware’s arts and entertainment sector? Send an email to delarts@delaware.gov with "DE State of the Arts Podcast" in the subject line.
|
|
Ongoing Division Grant Deadlines |
|
Arts Access Grants: rolling deadline, submitted at least 6 weeks prior to project start date
Artist Opportunity: deadline 10/1/2021, for activities occurring between 11/15/2021-2/15/2022
|
|
Please note: All applications for grants must be submitted through smARTDE. |
|
|
|
The 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. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
