The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Board of Directors approved $6,219 in new ArtsKC Fund Inspiration Award funding for eight projects by local artists. These awards mark the final round of Inspiration awards for the 2010 grant cycle, bringing the total of all Inspiration awards made this year to $19,969.
“We are very pleased to support work by another group of Kansas City’s talented and highly productive artists,” said Harlan Brownlee, President and CEO of the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City. “Their imagination and creativity brings an energy and vitality to this community that is irreplaceable, and we are lucky to have them here.”
Inspiration Grants are an investment in human capital, providing direct support to individual
artists and arts professionals for projects and activities that have the potential to advance their
careers and build their capacity for future work.
Artists Amount Awarded
Gustavo Adolfo Aybar $500
Nedra Bonds $1,144
Jeffrey Crowe $1,125
Diana Heise $500
Adam Long $850
Elena Wendt Michalski $600
Eugenia Ortiz $500
Linda Rodriguez $1,000
TOTAL $6,219
Third Round of Inspiration Grants, 2010
Gustavo Adolfo Aybar – ($500)
Funding for writer and poet Gustavo Adolfo Aybar will support for his Spanish language poetry show Murios en mitad de un verson (He died ‘Tween a Verse). The event will be interdisciplinary and showcase the text with use of music, dance and media components, all created by other local artists. The show is expected to take place in June of 2011.
Nedra Bonds – ($1,144)
Fiber artist Nedra Bonds will receive funding to conduct 2 quilting workshops at UMKC. Participants will create two 12” x 12” quilt squares with women’s history themes, one to keep and the other to become part of a collective quilt to be shown during the 2011-2012 academic year at UMKC for the Women’s Center 40th anniversary. Funding will pay for the cost of supplies and to keep the participant fees affordable.
Jeffrey Crowe – ($1,125)
Initially a sculptor, Jeffrey Crowe has shifted his focus to combining photography with kiln formed glass, and some of these pieces have been exhibited both locally and nationally. A grant from the ArtsKC Fund will be used to help him to attend a photography portfolio review conference in Portland, Oregon.
Diana Heise – ($500)
The funds will be used to produce 3 works at Diana Heise’s solo show at Review Studios in the spring of 2011. The works include an environmentally-themed sculpture and performance piece, a group of sculptures that use sound and living plants to promote non-violence, and a suite of video works created in response to physical and psychological violence.
Adam Long – ($850)
Photographer Adam Long will purchase an Epson V750 scanner and a fluid mount accessory adapter in order to produce a new body of work shot at the Osage River Bridge construction. He is scheduled to exhibit this work in multiple locations beginning in the early part of 2011.
Elaina Wendt Michalski – ($600)
Visual artist Elaina Wendt Michalski creates life size figurative sculptures and presents them in unique environments. Funds granted will assist her in setting up an in-house studio, specifically with the purchase of proper kiln wiring and ventilation, so that she can begin to use a donated kiln and increase her capacity for completing large-scale works.
Eugenia Ortiz – ($500)
An MFA student at KU, mixed media and fiber Eugenia Ortiz will receive funds to help her complete a massive installation piece for her thesis solo exhibition. Funds will specifically be used to rent a work platform for installation of the multi-story piece and to help with the cost of supplies and materials.
Linda Rodriguez – ($1,000)
Funds for this project by poet Linda Rodriguez will support travel for research to Tahlequah, Oklahoma to continue work on her new volume of works, Dark Sister. The book is inspired by Linda’s grandmother, a Cherokee Indian, and her mixed race ancestry. Linda will visit the Cherokee Nation capital, its museum, history and heritage venue and the local university library that specializes in tribal history.
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Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Business Partners:
UMB, ArtsKC Futurist Sponsor
Blue Cross Blues Shield, ArtsKC Visionary Sponsor
DST Systems, ArtsKC Visionary Sponsor
Truman Medical Centers, ArtsKC Investor Sponsor
Burns and McDonnell, ArtsKC Ambassador Sponsor
H & R Block, ArtsKC Ambassador Sponsor
McCown Gordon, ArtsKC Ambassador Sponsor
