Arts E-News: November 2019
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2019 Governor's Awards for the Arts
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The
2019 Governor’s Awards for the Arts
were held on Monday, October 28, at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. The presenters and award recipients pictured above are (L to R):
Paul Weagraff
(Director of Delaware Division of the Arts),
Matt Stehl
(representing
M&T Bank
, Recipient for Arts Patron—Corporate),
Debora Hansen
(Recipient of Peggy Amsterdam Award for Outstanding Achievement),
First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney
,
J. Mack Wathen
(Chair of Delaware State Arts Council),
Lisa Bartoli
from
Art Therapy Express
(Recipient for Community Engagement),
Raye Jones Avery
(Recipient for Arts Administration),
Charles J. Conway
(Recipient for Arts Education), and
Carla Markell
(Recipient for Arts Patron—Individual).
The Governor’s Awards for the Arts honor distinguished individuals and organizations that have had a profound and lasting impact on Delaware’s artistic and cultural life. The awards are typically held once during each 4-year term of the state’s Governor. The 2019 Governor’s Awards for the Arts were coordinated by the Delaware Division of the Arts in conjunction with the Delaware State Arts Council and the office of Governor John C. Carney.
For more information about the recipients,
click here
.
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Thank You for a Wonderful Arts Summit!
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The
2019 Delaware Arts Summit
was also held on Monday, October 28, at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. We had a great crowd, with approximately 250 attendees, not to mention all of our speakers, performers, and volunteers. We’re always so happy to see the arts community come together for this every-other-year event. We hope our attendees gained some valuable insights in the workshops and also caught up with their friends in the arts world!
Thank you to
Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long
for penning a
letter to welcome
our attendees, and to
Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock
for his remarks in the afternoon. Also, thank you to the
Delaware Business Times
for their coverage of the event;
click here
to read the article.
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2019
has been a year of celebrations for the Delaware Division of the Arts. Not only did we present the 2019 Governor’s Awards for the Arts and the 2019 Delaware Arts Summit, we also marked the following milestones:
- 50th Anniversary of the Delaware State Arts Council
- 30th Anniversary of the Delaware Division of the Arts
- 10th Anniversary of the Delaware Arts Alliance
The Delaware State Arts Council was formed following the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts. When Delaware’s legislature approved the creation of the Division of the Arts, the State Arts Council became our advisory body.
As part of the celebration, the Division of the Arts published a
50th Anniversary Report
this fall.
Click here
to view the report. Print copies are also available upon request.
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We just turned our clocks back. That extra hour hardly seemed like enough to catch up on all that October had in store for our staff. Reviewing more than 100 final reports from grantees, processing more than 130 artist fellowship applications, meeting with organizations new on the arts scene (or new to us), celebrating 50 years of public support for the arts in Delaware, a statewide Arts Summit, a Governor’s Awards for the Arts ceremony, and other duties as assigned!
While Thanksgiving doesn’t come until the end of the month, we eagerly await its arrival: a time to be thankful for family, friends, and the great fortune we have to serve Delawareans in partnership with artists and organizations committed to bringing the arts to life.
We invite you to do the same. Celebrate with family and friends. Take stock in the abundance of arts offerings available to you as we enter the holiday season this year. After the tryptophan crash, check out
DelawareScene.com
to see what you can do with your loved ones: see a show, a concert, an exhibition, a film, a recital. There will be so much to see and do during the holiday season. Time spent together with loved ones is the most valuable gift of all.
--
Paul Weagraff, Director, Delaware Division of the Arts
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Emerging Professional, Music: Solo Recital
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Guided by a wide array of interests, Kevin J. Cope always aims for perfection in his playing but never allows that goal to dominate his concerts. “I strive to embody my love for the instrument and its repertoire in every performance,” he says, and it’s always a goal that he communicates intimately with his audience.
Read more
.
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Established Professional, Visual Arts: Works on Paper
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From the onset, Susan Benarcik saw plants and the world of nature as metaphors of human experience and utilized them in her art. She began to appropriate images from books, encyclopedias, and magazines to understand “how humans and plants possess similar tenacious or yielding qualities.”
Read more
.
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The Goldberg Variations
by Gregg Silvis
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Image:
Goldberg Variations #10
(detail), 2019, mixed media, 8” x 8”
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The Goldberg Variations: 32 Miniatures Based on Bach’s Keyboard Masterpiece
, an exhibition of mixed media works by Gregg Silvis, will be on view in the Mezzanine Gallery through November 27. Silvis, a Newark resident, received a
2019 Fellowship in Sculpture
from the Delaware Division of the Arts.
The exhibition is a series of 32 miniatures based on a composition for harpsichord by J.S. Bach, the
Goldberg Variations
. Silvis created an 8 x 8 inch work for each of the variations using a range of techniques and materials in the panels.
Prior to his 30-year career as an academic librarian, Silvis received undergraduate and graduate degrees in music performance and played French horn professionally for a number of years. In the past few years, he began to pursue his long-dormant artistic impulses and retired early to pursue his artistic career full-time. “I realized that this was what I really wanted and needed to do full-time,” Silvis said. “I view it as a return to the right side of my brain.”
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The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, is located in the
Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.
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Visitors to the Gallery should enter via the main doors on 9th and French Streets.
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Artist Roster Seeks Teaching Artists
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The Division’s
Artist Roster
is a resource for anyone looking for artistic talent in Delaware. You can find visual, literary, and performing artists available to create, exhibit, perform, or present programs in venues across the state and throughout the region.
We are currently seeking more artists to register or update their profile to include “Teaching Artist” under the Arts Services category. Organizers of events and programs regularly seek artists to lead art projects and workshops in a variety of disciplines and media. If you like to help people create, let us know!
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Participation in Cultural Assets Survey Requested
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In support of the greater Wilmington Arts, Culture, and Heritage Coalition (ACH), the Division of the Arts encourages you to participate in their
Cultural Assets Inventory Survey
,
created by Renata Kowalczyk of the Wilmington Alliance.
This initiative will compile and map all of northern Delaware’s cultural assets in two concentric circles: 20 minute-walk and 30 minute-drive from Rodney Square. This effort builds on the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau’s model [a similar map in their annual visitors’ guide focuses on major attractions] by defining the two circles and going for critical mass with every possible cultural asset (group and individual practitioner) in both circles.
Organizations and individual artists practicing within the geographic scope of the survey are invited to participate, in order to create as full a picture as possible of the cultural landscape of northern Delaware.
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NEA Big Read Grants Due January 29
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Are you a nonprofit organization interested in increasing community engagement, creating new partnerships, and celebrating great books? The 2020-2021 guidelines for National Endowment for the Arts Big Read grants are now available. This National Endowment for the Arts initiative, in partnership with Arts Midwest, supports community reading programs across the country, each designed around a single NEA Big Read book.
In honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, the 2020-21 list of NEA Big Read books will include classic literature by four female authors: Willa Cather, Emily Dickinson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Carson McCullers.
The application deadline is Wednesday, January 29, 2020
. In addition to libraries, eligible applicants include colleges and universities, arts organizations, museums, humanities councils, school districts, historical societies, and more—read the
guidelines
for complete eligibility information.
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Ongoing Division Grant Deadlines
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Artist Opportunity
:
deadline 1/1/20, for activities happening between 2/15/20 - 5/15/2020.
Artist Residency
:
rolling deadline, submitted at least 6 weeks prior to start of scheduled residency.
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Please note:
All applications for grants must be submitted through
smARTDE
.
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The Division has embarked on a year-long digital advertising campaign to increase reach and engagement on
DelawareScene.com
.
We remind and recommend that organizations, businesses, and individual artists submit their 2019-2020 events as soon as they are scheduled, and no later than the recommended deadlines below.
Submit now.
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Event Date
November & December
January & February
March & April
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Submission Deadline
As soon as possible
November 15
January 15
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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.
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