Atlanta well represented among Georgia Council for the Arts grantees

The Georgia Council for the Arts, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, has announced more than $795,000 in grants to 81 arts and cultural organizations across the state for for fiscal year 2016. Forty seven of the groups receiving funds are based in metro Atlanta.

The funding for arts projects (Project Grants) or operating support (Partner Grants) comes from the Georgia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.

GCA executive director Karen Paty said the organizations receiving grants "exemplify the role of the arts in community development, economic development and education."

State funding for the GCA has declined sharply since peaking in 2002 at $4.5 million. After years of cuts, Georgia has been ranked near or at the bottom in the U.S. in terms of its legislative appropriation to its state arts agency, according to National Assembly of State Arts Agencies figures.

In its preview of fiscal 2016 legislative appropriations to state arts agencies, the NASAA projects Georgia as spending 9 cents per capita, 48th in the country. The projected top state is Minnesota, at $6.47 per capita.

A list of Atlanta grantees for fiscal 2016:

Project grants

7 Stages: $5,000, for production of a new play, “The Boy Who Smiled”; plus $3,000 for arts education

Atlanta Master Chorale: $5,000, Alzheimer’s disease arts collaboration

Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta: $5,000, Sequential Art for Youth

Burnaway, $5,000, editorial program

Fabrefaction Theatre Company: $5,000, 2015 fall semester conservatory/show

Georgia Ballet Inc.: $5,000, “The Nutcracker” 2015

Marietta Chapter S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.: $5,000, “Real Men Sing”

Peach State Opera Company, $5,000, “Don Giovanni” tour

Sawne Artists Association: $5,000, Forsyth County Children’s Art Fair

The Essential Theatre, $5,000, 2015 Essential Theatre Play Festival

Theatre du Reve: $5,000, “Celles d’en Haut” (“Women From on High”)

Theatre-To-Go Inc.: $5,000, Senior Scenes

WonderRoot Inc.: $5,000, “En Route,” community-based mural project with MARTA

Zoetic Dance Ensemble: $5,000, Zoetic Mixtape: Women’s History Month

Partner grants

ART Station Inc.: $10,000

Alliance Theatre: $10,000

Atlanta Ballet Inc.: $12,500

Atlanta Boy Choir: $15,000

Aurora Theatre $12,500

Ballethnic Dance Company $10,000

C4 Atlanta Inc.: $10,000

Center for Puppetry Arts Inc.: $10,000; plus $4,800 for arts education

Clayton State University/Spivey Hall: $10,000; plus $4,800 for arts education

Cobb Symphony Orchestra, Georgia Symphony Orchestra: $10,000

Dad’s Garage Inc.: $20,000

Dance Canvas Inc.: $12,500

Flux Projects Inc.: $12,500

Full Radius Dance: $10,350

Georgia Ensemble Theatre: $20,000; plus $4,800 for arts education

Georgia State University, Rialto Center: $10,000

GloATL Inc: $12,500

High Museum of Art: $10,000

Horizon Theatre Company Inc.: $10,000

Moving in the Spirit: $25,000; plus $4,800 for arts education

Out of Hand Theater: $10,000

Out on Film: $10,000

Phoenix Theatre Academy Inc.: $10,000

Reforming Arts Inc.: $10,000

Serenbe Institute, Serenbe Playhouse: $20,000

The Atlanta Opera: $10,000

The Creatives Project Inc.: $20,000

The Michael O’Neal Singers: $10,000

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia: $12,500

The Wren’s Nest: $15,000

True Colors Theatre Company: $10,000; plus $4,800 for arts education

Voices of Note Inc.: $10,000

VSA Arts of Georgia Inc.: $15,000

THEATER

Georgia Ensemble leaders limit drama to stage

Georgia Ensemble Theatre Artistic Director Bob Farley and Managing Director Anita Allen-Farley began working together in 1968 at the the Pasadena Playhouse in California, marrying eight years later. Their creative union continued at the Alaska Repertory Theatre and has been cruising along in Roswell since 1992.

In a new story on American Theatre’s website, the two share secrets of their collaboration.

Anita: “At GET we work hard to achieve a consensus and present a unified front to the board, staff and our constituents at all times.”

Bob: “Theater is a gift. Every day you get to entertain, provoke, educate and explore the experience of being human. To share that gift with someone you love is amazing.”

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/1Rx69kD

VISUAL ART

Reveling in nature and paint at Poem 88

If the High Museum's exhibition of Alex Katz's expansive landscapes, "This Is Now," has whetted your appetite for paintings inspired by the great outdoors, Poem 88 could prove a rewarding next stop. The Westside gallery is hosting the exhibit "Brambles, Roads and Fields," featuring the fetchingly hued work of Micah Cash, Mark Leibert and Hannah Tarr.

"Each artist approaches the subject in decidedly different ways," Robin Bernat writes in her curatorial statement, noting Cash's modernist-style flattening of space to Tarr's "poetic interpretations."

Adds Bernat: “I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that all of these works reveal not simply ‘a landscape,’ but something more personal about the interior landscape.”

Through Aug 28. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays. Westside Provisions District, 1170 Howell Mill Road, Suite 106. 404-735-1000, www.poem88.net.