$186,188 Funding for 30 Public Art Projects

Armory Center for the Arts (Photo – armoryarts, flickr).

Pasadena’s Arts and Culture Commission approved $186,188 in funding for 30 public art projects and cultural programs.

The Annual Grants Program supports the creative, artistic life of Pasadena and expands public access to the arts in a variety of forms and mediums.

The winners

• A Noise Within—$6,500, artist fees for Spring 2018 production of “A Raisin in the Sun.”
• About Productions—$6,240, Young Theaterworks “Through the Ages” residency at Marshall Fundamental where 30 sophomore students will participate in theater, writing and community building in a 13-session program culminating with two stage readings by professional actors and students.
• Armory Center for the Arts—$7,200, in-class delivery of “Artful Connections with Math,” a 12-week visual arts and math integrated curriculum for PUSD 2nd and 3rd grade students .
• Deborah Aschheim—$4,500, to support “Time Travel,’ a series of temporary public art pieces combining drawing and participant interviews on memories of civil rights activism in Pasadena.
• Boston Court Performing Arts Center—$7,200, for “Music@Boston Court” a 12-concert music series.
• Consejo Fronterizo de Arte y Cultura—$4,628 to “Poetry Within Reach,” an ongoing public poetry reading series by the Pasadena Rose Poets in City Council Chamber on four Wednesdays in 2018.
• Floricanto Dance Theater—$7,200 for Fiesta de Cinco de Mayo at ARC Pasadena May 5 & 6, 2018 with live music and dance concerts in partnership with ARC Pasadena and PasadenaLEARNS.
• Luis Ituarte—$2,316, cataloguing and documenting the artist’s work into a comprehensive database with an index to support work placement in museums, public spaces and publications.
• Kidspace Children’s Museum—$8,500, Free Family Night performance series 2017-18.
• Levitt Pavilion—$6,500, to support planning and production of the annual Summer Concert Series at Memorial Park of 50 free outdoor concerts July 1-September 3, 2017.
• Light Bringer Project—$7,200 for the 2018 Pasadena Chalk Festival, June 16-17, 2018.
• Lineage Dance Company—$8,500 for five performances of Stories that Move Us, a dance and theater piece combining storytellers with choreography.
• LitFest Pasadena—$4,400 towards community literary festival in Playhouse District, May 2018.
• Makoto Taiko—$1,440 to support classical Taiko drumming free event at Shumei Hall.
• MUSE/IQUE—$8,500 for live musical event “GLOW/TOWN” part of the 2017 Summer of Sound series.
• John O’Brien—$4,500 for “Gadzook” large-scale laser-cut metal and drawing of work to exhibit with Surrogate Gallery Projects.
• Parson’s Nose—$5,000 to help fund “Clearly Classic” production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
• Pasadena Community Orchestra—$7,114, Young Artist Competition & Winner’s Concert, May 11, 2018.
• Pasadena Conservatory of Music—$7,200 funding of Young Musicians Program at Jefferson Elementary with 32 weeks of sequential, standards-based music curriculum in the 2017-18 school year.
• Pasadena Master Chorale—$7,200 to support staff and artist salaries, plus composer-mentors for “Listening to the Future” which pairs composer-mentors with local youth to develop new choral pieces to be presented at a concert in Pasadena.
• Pasadena Museum of California Art—$6,500 to help underwrite exhibition “Feminine Sublime” bringing together the works of five contemporary women artists based in Los Angeles.
• Pasadena Museum of History—$7,200 for development and implementation of “Emerging From the Shadows,” exhibit that explores women artists working in California 1860-1960.
• Pasadena Photography Arts—$4,250 to support expanded marketing to increase attendance at Pasadena Photography Arts’ two free monthly programs.
• Pasadena Playhouse—$8,500 to help produce “Our Town,” classic American play by Thornton Wilder.
• Pasadena Symphony Association—$6,500 to help support five “Random Acts of Music” with interactive music events in unexpected public venues.
• Jamie Crooke Powell—$4,250 for meetings with community members interested in contributing to the culture of health the City. The project will focus on coalition building, outreach and drawing activities.
• Red Hen Press—$7,200 to support literary events around Pasadena; free books and writing workshops at Eliot Middle School.
• Side Street Projects—$8,500 to help bring the mobile youth education program, the Woodworking Bus, to La Pintoresca Library and Day One Pasadena.
• Susan Franklin Tanner—$4,250 covering production of “No Word in Guyanese for Me,” coming of age play about gay, immigrant, Muslim woman who struggles for acceptance in a post-9/11 America.
• TA’YER—$7,200 for “Chambeando en Pasadena” (Working in Pasadena), community workshops and six public performances based on the lives of migrant workers.

Winners were approved at the Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission’s July 12, 2017 meeting.

Next cycle

The next grant application cycle will begin in February 2018 for the 2018-19 fiscal year. If interested in applying, the Cultural Affairs Division will provide free technical assistance workshops each Spring to enhance grant writing skills for organizations and individuals.

Funded projects take place through June 30, 2018. Grant recipients range from individual artists and arts education partnerships to festivals, parades and arts and culture organizations.

The Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission works with the Cultural Affairs Division to make recommendations to the City Council on the needs, opportunities and strategies to support art and culture in Pasadena. The Commission approves the annual distribution of City General Fund and Cultural Trust Fund monies through the Annual Grants Program.

Source: City of Pasadena