Local Artists Receive More Federal Grants
By Howard Weiss-Tisman, Brattleboro Reformer, August 19, 2009
BRATTLEBORO -- In a tough economy, as more artists compete for fewer and fewer dollars, state and federal grant money continues to flow into Windham County.
The Vermont Arts Council this week awarded almost $47,800 to artists and art groups in the county, about 20 percent of the $245,000 that was spread throughout the state.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program also announced that it would give the Brattleboro Arts Initiative $86,000 in loans and grants to help the group complete its Latchis 4 project.
Brattleboro Arts Initiative Managing Director Gail Nunziata said the USDA money will help the organization renovate the downtown landmark, and give residents and visitors one more venue to enjoy film, music and performances.
"BAI embraces arts outreach and the effect on downtown’s economy when Latchis ventures are successful," Nunziata said. "USDA understands both our arts and business missions."
BAI has been raising funds to renovate the 93-seat Latchis 4 space, which will give the group a smaller theater for film festivals, literary readings and other events.
About $150,000 has been raised for the project and Nunziata said it would have been hard to go back to supporters for more money.
"The USDA money was a miracle. It was a lifeline," she said. "It helped us fill this gap and allows us to start work in the fall."
The money will go toward risers and theater equipment and the group hopes to start construction in October.
"The local USDA office was wonderful to work with," she said. "We wanted to keep this room available for the community and we didn’t want to put the project on hold."
"As great as the interim Latchis 4 has been, we had big dreams that will now become reality for Latchis 4," BAI President Ben James said.
The Vermont Arts Council money was not stimulus funding, but instead was part of the state’s annual dedication to individual artists, schools and community arts projects.
The Windham County portion includes everything from Building a Better Brattleboro’s $2,500 for the Brattleboro Literary Festival, to Marlboro Elementary School’s $4,000 for six winter workshops on arts instruction, to $3,000 to support Guilford poet Verandah Porche’s creation of a play entitled "The Broad Brook Anthology."
Marlboro Elementary School Principal Francie Marbury said this is the third year the Arts Council has supported the school’s winter program, which brings six artists into the school to work with students.
"We are very, very grateful for the Arts Council’s support," Marbury said. "With school budgets being what they are now, this money is very important for us to bring these artists in to work with the kids."
And Friends of Music at Guilford Administrative Director Joy Wallens-Penford said the $1,750 the group received will help it collaborate with the Windham Orchestra and the Brattleboro Union High School drama department in the production of three, one-act operas.
"It cost quite a lot to put on something like this," Wallens-Penford said. "It is wonderful they have decided to support this project."
Across the state, 77 artists and organizations were awarded the grants, and more than 22 percent of the money ended up in Windham County.
Earlier this month, Windham County was awarded almost 30 percent of the $606,000 that Vermont got through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for arts programs.
Vermont Arts Council communications and development director Diane Scolaro said competition for funding is getting tougher and tougher in the arts community.
The arts community is expanding across Vermont while at the same time art supporters have fewer dollars to spend. State and federal pots of money are also shrinking.
She said the group was only able to fund one out of every four requests during this cycle.
"We had many, many, many more requests this time than in the past," Scolaro said. "Across the board, in every category, there were fewer funds than worthy applicants."
Scolaro said it was hard to say if the arts council was doing a better job of outreach or if there are simply more artists in Vermont.
But she said it was clear that artists are having a tougher time finding the resources to produce their work.
"They are denying the need is greater and the economy is playing into it," she said. "We hear it all the time that it is tough across the state, but artists are used to living on a shoestring budget and they are good at scrimping to make ends meet. And I think people are finding that even though they have less money, art is still important to them. We need art in our lives."