2024 Delaware State Competition State Finalists | |
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Join us for the annual Poetry Out Loud State Final Competition at Smyrna Opera House. The competition encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance and competition. The state winner will represent Delaware and advance to the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, National Finals in Washington, DC on April 30-May 2, 2024, where $50,000 in awards and school stipends will be distributed.
Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation, and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies.
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Congratulations to this year's Delaware State Competition participants! | |
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Jono McGarvey
Grace Sullivan
Olivia Stevens
Maiss Hussein
Hunter Brown
Abigail Ehemann
Perrin Brown
Joelle Caternor
Harrison Dabbs
Nife Anawo
Caliana Velasquez
Jamie Feldman
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Delaware Valley Classical School
MOT Charter High School
Mount Sophia Academy
Paul M. Hodgson Vocational Technical High School
Red Lion Christian Academy
Saint Mark's High School
Sanford School
Smyrna High School
Sussex Academy of Arts & Sciences
Sussex Central High School
Sussex Technical High School
Wilmington Friends School
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2024 Poetry Out Loud State Finals
Thursday, February 29 at 6:00pm
Smyrna Opera House
7 W. South Street, Smyrna, DE
Tickets are FREE and general admission
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Final Reminder: FY2025 Grants Due March 1 | |
The Delaware Division of the Arts will close its annual online application process for grants for arts programming and projects taking place during fiscal year 2025 (September 2024 – August 2025) on Friday, March 1, 2024 at 4:30pm. The guidelines for all grant programs are available online at arts.delaware.gov/grant-overview. | |
Office Hours for the March 1st deadline
Do you have questions about FY25 grants to organizations? Do you need help navigating the grants portal, smARTDE? New and returning applicants can register for virtual office hours for one-on-one help via Zoom.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays
through Feb. 29
Drop-in between 3-4 p.m.
Click here to Register >>>
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Welcome Briana Henry to the Division's team! | |
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The Division of the Arts is excited to welcome Briana Henry as our new Community Engagement Program Officer. Born in Delaware and raised in Kent County, Briana is passionate about increasing access to the transformative power of the arts for Delawareans, particularly those from underserved communities.
Briana is a graduate of the University of Delaware where she studied Fine Arts and Community Engagement. During her studies there, she focused on using photography and videography to amplify voices, foster understanding, and celebrate the richness found in the everyday.
Most recently, Briana was the Learning & Engagement Coordinator at the Delaware Art Museum. There, she developed programs and partnerships focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access, as well as engagement through museum education. She is an artist actively involved in community collaboration through visual arts.
At the Division, Briana will work with Division staff and community partners to identify and develop grants, programs, and services that expand access to arts programming and resources. She will also research and administer community-based arts grants and initiatives for Delaware's historically underserved, rural, and low-income populations.
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Five Delaware Arts Organizations
Receive NEA Funding
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As the only funder in the country to support arts activities in all 50 states and five U.S. jurisdictions, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that five Delaware organizations will receive a total of $105,000 in federal grants. This is the first of the NEA’s two major grant announcements each fiscal year and includes grants to organizations through the NEA’s Grants for Arts Projects, Challenge America, and Research Awards categories.
The Biggs Museum of American Art will receive a Challenge America grant in the amount of $10,000 to support Spanish language and bilingual arts programming.
The State Education Agency Directors of Education (SEADAE) will receive a Grants for Arts Projects – Arts Education grant in the amount of $40,000 to support professional development activities for a network of arts education directors in state departments of education across the United States.
The University of Delaware will receive a Research Grants for Arts - Research grant in the amount of $35,000 to support a secondary data analysis concerning the relationship of arts and cultural assets to rural community sustainability.
The Four Youth Productions will receive a Challenge America grant in the amount of $10,000 to support a visual arts program for students that connects art to nature and the environment.
The Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education (DIAE) will receive a Challenge America grant in the amount of $10,000 to support arts learning professional development for early childhood educators.
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Apply for the 2025-2026 Mezzanine Gallery
Exhibition Season
The Mezzanine Gallery features one-person exhibitions of Delaware artists in disciplines including painting, photography, sculpture, crafts, folk, and media arts.
Eligibility guidelines:
- Delaware residents, at least 18 years of age and not enrolled in a degree-granting educational program, may apply.
- Division staff and their families or DSAC members and their families are not eligible to apply.
- Artists are eligible to exhibit their work in the gallery every three calendar years.
Artists who submitted a 2024 Fellowship application do not need to complete this application as they have already opted into this process.
To be considered for an exhibition, artists may submit a Mezzanine Gallery Application before the March 15, 2024 deadline.
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Love the Arts? Serve as a Grant Review Panelist for our Spring Grants Cycle
The Delaware Division of the Arts engages Delaware-based community members to review and make recommendations on grant applications for state funding of the arts. The Division selects these grant review panelists based on various considerations, such as volunteer experience, familiarity with business or nonprofit management, or knowledge of certain artistic disciplines. One does not have to be an artist or arts professional to serve.
Want to be considered for service this spring? The next grant review cycle begins in early April 2024 with panel meetings taking place in early May 2024. Nominations are also accepted year-round. Simply submit this Nomination Form to get started.
Please sure to read the Panelist Fact Sheet for more information on the requirements, timeline, and benefits of serving. We look forward to hearing from you!
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On the Mezzanine - "The Knowing"
by Cony Madariaga
The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents Constanza (Cony) Madariaga’s exhibition, “The Knowing,” on view through February 24, 2024.
The title of Madariaga’s show is a reference to a Jay-Z quote that resonated with the artist. In an interview, Jay-Z said, “There’s a knowing in being an artist, there’s a knowing.” From a young age, Madariaga has possessed an unwavering belief in her identity as an artist.
The exhibition showcases the variety in Madariaga’s repertoire from portraits and still lifes, to abstracts and graphic work created by lines. Plants and flowers appear in much of her work, and she explains that they are a metaphor for life. The artist works in a variety of mediums from acrylic paint to pastels, and often incorporates other mediums such as markers and watercolors into her work.
The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.
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Meet the Fellows
The prestigious Individual Artist Fellowships from the Delaware Division of the Arts recognize a variety of disciplines and outstanding quality of work. From writers to visual artists to musicians, these award-winning creatives have unique stories and talents.
To see the full listing of 2024's Individual Artist Fellows, visit https://arts.delaware.gov/iafrecipients/
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Hagerty is an award-winning, highly individualistic composer who pursued classical training as an instrumentalist, singer, and composer and then determined his own path, outside of any tradition or institution. His music has found enthusiastic audiences from Carnegie Hall to Iceland to Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro. While much of his work is inspired by theoretical physics and chaotic systems, he is increasingly dedicated to using music in the service of social change, including ongoing collaboration with the urban spoken-word Twin Poets, Delaware’s Poets Laureate.
Hagerty studied composition at Oberlin and Brandeis. Early in his career he was awarded the prestigious Joseph H. Bearns Prize from Columbia University for his String Quartet: Formations. He received a past Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts for The Realm of Possibility, a multi-movement piano work of flexible form, the recording of which received 5-star ratings in Fanfare for its “revelatory new sounds,” “elements that are by turns dramatic, amusing, thrilling, and lovely,” and its “plateaux of great beauty.”
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Mark Hagerty
Masters Fellow
Music: Composition
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Winterthur Artisan Market Applications Now Open
Artisan Market reflects Winterthur's mission by showcasing local artisans through a variety of handmade crafts relating to art, textiles, ceramics, glass, woodworking, antiques, gardening, and artisanal and small-batch gourmet goods. Each of these categories connects to Winterthur’s past, and you are invited to make a bit of your own history during this special weekend July 19-21, 2024.
The application deadline is March 11, with acceptances sent by April 1.
Please review the Vendor Information and use the application that fits your wares best when applying. Please contact us at amiller@winterthur.org if you have additional questions.
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ArtsCONNECT supports performing arts touring projects collaboratively developed by presenters working together in the mid-Atlantic region. The tours include performances as well as complementary engagement activities designed to create greater understanding or connections between artists, audiences, and communities.
The deadline to apply is March 7, 2024.
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Special Presenter Initiatives support the presentation of professional performing artists/ensembles at small and mid-size arts and community organizations based in Delaware and other mid Atlantic partner states/jurisdictions.
Engagement support of up to 50% of artists fees. Minimum of $750. Maximum of $2,000.
The deadline to apply is March 14, 2024.
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Mid Atlantic Tours Now Booking! The 2024-25 Roster Artists are: 23 Andrés, Latin Music for the Family; Adam Booth, Storytelling; Alex & Olmsted, Puppet Theater; Debra Ann Byrd/ Harlem Shakespeare Festival, Theater; Long Point String Band, Folk Music; and Plena Libre, Plena, Bomba, and Son Music.
Booking Deadline: March 28, 2024.
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The Spring round application is open for the 2024 USArtists International® program!
USAI supports in-person performances by U.S. artists at engagements at international festivals and global presenting arts marketplaces outside of the United States. The program funds individuals and ensembles across all performing arts practices and disciplines.
The spring deadline is March 27, 2024.
Please visit our website for more information on the program timeline, guidelines, webinar info, and drop-in info sessions.
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Through Iber Exchange, presenters in our region can receive grant support to book international music ensembles from Latin America that have been selected for the program roster. By contracting one of the artists below for a public performance and community engagement activity, eligible presenters can receive up to 50% of the artist fee as a grant. The booking deadline is April 15, 2024.
Iber Exchange Roster Artists
- Heloísa Fernandes Quartet | Touring February 2025
- •Rancho Aparte | Touring July 2024 and Fall 2024
- Pascuala Ilabaca y Fauna | Touring July 2024 & March 2025
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Each month we feature arts and community-based organizations and their programs and projects funded by the Delaware Division of the Arts. | | |
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University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series
Justin Austin & Howard Watkins
Newark, Project Support
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The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278. | | | | |
