CONGRESSMAN LIEU ANNOUNCES NATIONAL ENDOWMENT OF THE ARTS GRANTS TO EIGHT AREA ORGANIZATIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON – Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) announced that eight arts organizations from Los Angeles and Santa Monica received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts totaling $280,000. The grants will be used to fund a variety of arts exhibitions, performances and broadcasts that benefit the community.
The Awardees
Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA -T o support the development and presentation of "Memory Rings." The multidisciplinary work from theater company Phantom Limb will be presented at the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. Initially inspired by the "Methuselah Tree," a California bristlecone pine estimated to be more than 4,800 years old, the work will explore the evolving relationship between people and the environment from the perspective of the world's oldest living tree. "Memory Rings" will feature dance, puppetry, mask, music, sculptural set design, and projections. The center will present free educational and engagement activities, including lectures, discussions, workshops/master classes, interactive walking tours, and public art-making activities.
UCLA Fowler Museum - To support the exhibition, "African-Print Fashion Now! A Story of Taste Globalization, and Style." The Fowler Museum will mount the exhibition, which will explore the diverse and dynamic worlds of African-print fashion, from popular local styles to the international runway. The exhibition will reveal the creative vitality and global expansiveness of African fashion documenting the history of African-print fashion from its origins in the 19th century to its contemporary iterations, using a combination of fashion ensembles, textiles, videos, archival images, and studio photography. The project will include a component to be guest curated by African fashion experts Suzanne Gott, Kristyne Loughran, and Leslie Rabine. To accompany the exhibition, the Fowler will publish a scholarly, multi-author volume and develop public programming for people of all ages.
Mount Saint Mary's University Da Camera Society - To support the presentation of the Chamber Music in Historic Sites project by the Da Camera Society. The concerts and related engagement activities - with artists such as pianist Donal Fox and his jazz trio, violinist Mark O'Connor, Da Camera Players, Opus One, Sixth Floor Trio, and SYBARITE5 - will match musical programming from various cultures and periods with sites of architectural and historical significance in the Los Angeles area. The project will include community workshops, master classes, and mini-residencies.
Santa Monica Museum of Art - To support a performance project celebrating the legacy of American contralto Marian Anderson. The orchestra's annual MLK day concert, which honors the life and legacy of MLK and features the music of African-American artists, will be a salute to Americans historic 1939 concert preformed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in DC. The orchestra will be joined by guest artist soprano Caroline McKenzie and will be directed by Music Director Guido Lamell. the concert program will include works such as Samuel Francis Smith's "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee), Gaetano Donizatti's aria "O Mio Fernando", Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" and the spirituals "Gospel Train" "Trampin'" and "My Soul is Anchored in the Lord"
KCRW Foundation - To support the exhibition "Norm Laich: This Brush for Hire," and an accompanying catalogue. A survey of specific artworks that Laich executed as an assistant to such famed artists as Ed Ruscha, Michael Asher, Lawrence Weiner, Mike Kelley, and Jenny Holzer, the exhibition will explore the relationship between hired artists' assistants and the artworks they help create. Issues around authorship, execution, creativity, and labor will be central to public programming such as lectures, and community workshops conducted by Laich with artists with whom he collaborated such as Barbara Kruger, Alexis Smith, Paul McCarthy, Paul Schimmel, and Cesar Garcia.
18th Street Arts Complex - To support artist residencies and related activities. In addition, a cultural asset map will be created to identify community resources and document arts-friendly partners, such as schools, businesses, and individuals. Resident artists residing at the faculty will be provided living stipends.
Heidi Duckler Dance Theater (Collage Dance Theater) - To support the creation and presentation of "Fish Eyes" by Artistic Director Heidi Duckler. The project will encompass citywide, site-specific performances that will use a massive fish-like structure (The Fish), as a mechanism to raise issues of ecology and water preservation in Los Angeles and nationally. Architect Alex Ward will build the 20-foot steel Fish, which will serve as the staging ground for the performances and engagement activities.
Jazz Bakery Performance Space - To support concerts, conversations, a symposium, and workshops as part of the 2016 Jazz Masters series. NEA Jazz Masters Carla Bley, Paquito D'Rivera, and Bill Holman will perform concerts at venues in Culver City, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica, California. They also will participate in community and educational events. Plans include a symposium entitled "Improved US/Cuban Relations and Impacts on Jazz," as well as workshops and open rehearsals. Events will be video-recorded to make them accessible as educational resources and audience engagement tools at the new Jazz Bakery performance space.
TeAda Productions - To support the creation and production of "Masters of the Currents," a new work exploring recent immigration in Hawaii. Created through community-based story gathering and devised theater techniques, the work will explore issues facing Micronesian immigrants and their assimilation into Hawaiian culture. TeAda will partner with Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services and the T-Shirt Theatre of Hawaii to conduct interviews, story circles, and community engagement workshop.
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