January 2023 Newsletter Table of Contents

• Hello from Terrell
• Art Bank Spotlight
• Language Access
• General Operating Support Application
• Grantee Spotlights
• MLK's Beloved Community and the DCArt Bank
• Fragile Beauty Highlight in ArtsLink Fall/Winter Issue
• Non-CAH Funding Opportunities
• DC Among SMU DataArts' Top 40 Most Arts-Vibrant Communities of 2022
• Update Your Profile

I’ve embraced Washington, DC as my new home after living in Chicago for more than 20 years. I am originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin where I attended Marquette University and have a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication, and earned a Master’s Degree in Psychology from National Louis University. Before joining CAH I was the Manager of Workforce Development at the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation where I was responsible for managing federal grant programs across 6 states. Previous roles have included Executive Director at the Illinois Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and Director of Special Programs and Global Camps at Kendall College. Outside of my commitment to the arts, I create and participate in community service projects to support the DC Southwest Community with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Now that you know a little more about me, let me wrap up by just sharing that I look forward to continued collaboration with our commissioners, staff, and all the individuals and organizations working in the arts and humanities sector whom we serve and are a resource for. The commission awarded a record number of grants for this current fiscal year, and we look forward to exceeding that record again in FY2024! We have some exciting new initiatives on the horizon, so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to be among the first to learn about future programs. And I want to personally hear from you! Being in conversation, collaboration, and community with you is critical to all that we do.

I invite you to save my contact information and reach out to me directly if I and the Grants team can be of service or just to say hello: terrell.johnson@dc.gov or 202-724-1474.

In the meantime, cheers and here’s to a fantastic 2023!

January is a time of reflection, renewal, and celebration. 

In honor of the Lunar New Year, observed on January 22, 2023, we feature Anthony Le’s Oh Brother (2020). 

A first-generation Vietnamese American artist, Le investigates questions about the Asian American experience, sometimes returning to his own childhood memories. Here, the young Le and his brother hold a bunch of small bananas representative of their Southeast Asian heritage. Though challenging his sense of identity as a child, Le has come to realize that these symbols of difference represent power and distinction. 

Born in Chattanooga, TN, Anthony Le is a self-taught artist residing in Washington, DC. He is a co-founder of the Model Mutiny Art Collective with his artist spouse Ashley Jaye Williams. 

Anthony Le, Oh Brother, 2020

Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 16 in.

Art Bank, the District of Columbia’s fine art collection, includes nearly 3,000 works of art by DC metropolitan artists. Artworks are acquired through an annual grant program and are on view in government buildings throughout the District. The collection can be accessed at dcarts.emuseum.com.

This past fall, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer helped upgrade our site with a Google powered translator. This is one way we are working to increase language access to our programs and services, as informed by our I.D.E.A. work.

With this plugin, located in the upper right-hand corner, our site is available in Amharic, Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Please note, with translations powered by Google, Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement.

If you have any comments or questions about our I.D.E.A. work, please email us at DCArtsIDEA@dc.gov.

The General Operating Support Grant Program (GOS) offers general operating support to non-profit arts, humanities, and arts education organizations whose primary mission focus is in one or more arts or humanities disciplines referenced in Guide to Grants. 

GOS application for FY24 (Oct 1, 2023 to Sept 30, 2024) opens Mon, Jan 23rd.

Please note: If your organization has received at least one of the following in FY2022 or FY2023 you may be eligible for GOS:

• Arts and Humanities Education Project
• East Arts
• Facilities and Buildings
• Field Trip Experiences
• Projects, Events, or Festivals
• Public Art Building Communities

Additional eligibility requirements will be detailed in the RFA once open. Additional FY24 Grant Program opportunities will be released in mid to late Spring.

At Commission meetings last year, we started including Grantee Spotlights in the agenda. And so we wanted to share these most recent two with you.

Elena Lacayo, of the group Elena & Los Fulanos, joined our regular full commission meeting on November 21, 2022. Elena Lacayo (vocals, guitar, banjo) grew up in Managua, Nicaragua. She moved to the US to attend college in Indiana in 2002 and moved to Washington, DC to pursue a career in advocacy upon graduation. After building a career centered on the passage of just national and state immigration laws, she transitioned to focus on music in 2012. You can view Elena's performance at our Commission Meeting below.

Hayley Cutler, founder and Artistic Director of darlingdance, a project-based dance company in its eleventh season and co-founder of artist neighbor collective, a curatorial performance project born in the pandemic and growing in the new year, joined our regular full commission meeting on December 19, 2022. As a maker and performer, Hayley pushes the boundaries of intimacy and comfort and encourages her audience to expand their notions of what dance making is; she aims to portray what total autonomy looks like for female and femme-identifying bodies in public spaces. There were some technical difficulties during her presentation at the meeting, and so we're sharing the performance Hayley discussed and planned to share an excerpt of with us below. 

Saturday, Feb 11, 1 to 4 pm ET

Produced in partnership with the DC Public Library

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. extolled the promise of the beloved community. As the result of a world committed to non-violence, the beloved community would be an integrated global society in which all citizens would share in prosperity; where justice and peace would reign; and where bigotry and prejudice would fall away. This panel explores how the Art Bank pieces on the walls at the MLK Library, from DCPL’s inaugural Art Bank Collection Loan program, might bring Dr. King's teachings to life.

Moderator: Melanee Harvey, PhD, Associate Professor & Coordinator of Art History, Howard University

Panelists: Carol A. Beane, Imar Lyman [Hutchins], Eleisha Faith and Tonisha Hope McCorkle, Curtis Woody, Helen Zughaib

Images, left to right: Imar Lyman [Hutchins], Banna-Ka (Benjamin Banneker), 2019, Acrylic, serigraph and collage on canvas, 72 x 54 in.; Helen Zughaib, Out of the Box, 2018, Gouache on archival pigment print, 60 x 45 in.

Our 2022 Fragile Beauty exhibition and programming were featured in Americans for the Arts' Fall/Winter issue of their Arts Link magazine.

Arts Link provides insight and expertise on the latest trends, resources, tools, and ideas in the field of local arts agencies and arts professionals. And it is available as a free download.

Image, left to right: Elizabeth Casqueiro, A View From Every Window, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 in. | Werllayne Nunes, Celeste, 2015, Oil and gold leaf on canvas, 60 x 72 in. | Patrick McDonough, 2121011-solar panel painting, 2021, Oil paint on salvaged solar panel, 59 x 27 in.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced in December that grant guidelines and application materials are now available for Challenge America and Grants for Arts Projects (GAP). These grants to organizations support specific projects in any part of the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. jurisdictions. 

The Challenge America application deadline is April 27, 2023 for projects taking place beginning in 2024. The Grants for Arts Projects application Deadlines are February 9 and July 6, 2023 for projects taking place beginning in 2024. 

The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF) is committed to expanding the storytelling pipeline, amplifying the voices and supporting the work of emerging BIPOC filmmakers with a commitment grant. The $12,500 DCEFF Vantage Grant will be bestowed to an emerging BIPOC filmmaker, working on a short film or their first feature, addressing a timely environmental issue at any stage of pre-production through post-production. The grant will be the culminating award given to a winning pitch, presented live at the 31st Annual DCEFF on March 26, 2023

The Southwest BID and Lowe Enterprise Real Estate are looking for a one-of-a-kind, site-specific, 3D artwork or sculptural installation. It must be highly durable, structurally sound, damage resistant, and of an appropriate scale. They encourage artwork that is playful and engaging. The artwork should be reflective of the Southwest community.

Washington, DC Among SMU DataArts' Top 40 Most Arts-Vibrant Communities of 2022

After a brief hiatus, SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research, released the seventh iteration of its Arts Vibrancy Index Report. Washington, DC was ranked among the top 20 large communities!

You can check out the Executive Summary and full report on their website.

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