[March 8, 2017] Fourteen artists have been awarded grants totaling nearly $40,000 by the Arts Council of Hillsborough County as part of its 2017 Individual Artist Grants program. The grant program is designed to provide support projects that help further the career of accomplished, local artists. The artists applied for funds in January for specific projects that would take place this year.
“We’re honored to award grants to these artists representing a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines,” said the Arts Council’s Executive Director Martine Meredith Collier. Each proposal was reviewed and scored in February by a six-member panel of arts professionals. This year, panel members were Sheree Greer, Rebecca Sexton Larson, Pat Mitchell, Michael Ross, Robert Terri and David Warner. To date, the Arts Council has awarded 440 grants to local artists totaling more than $767,000 through this program.
The fourteen artists receiving awards include:
• Dennis Amadeus of Tampa, $3000 for a 13-track spoken word audio recording ‘Waiting on the Bus’
• Windell Campbell of Dover, $1025 for portable audio equipment for storytelling performances
• Kyaien Conner of Tampa, $3000 to produce West African Dance and Drum Conference in Tampa
• Stephen Crompton of Tampa, $2967 to produce 30 min film documentary on The Villages
• Georgia Guy of Tampa, $3000 to stage production of James and the Giant Peach
• Karla Hartley of Tampa, $3000 for sound design equipment
• Lonni Hopkins of Tampa, $2110 for a residency with Master Metalsmith, Arrowmont School of Craft, TN
• Karen Tucker Kuykendall of Tampa, $3000 for materials to complete “Shout Hallelujah” painting series
• Linda McGee of Temple Terrace, $2174 for studio equipment, materials and supplies for a new body of work
• Lauren Murphy of Tampa, $3000 for a specialized, professional violin bow
• John O’Leary of Tampa, $3000 for the recording, post-production, publishing of a jazz piano CD and LP with related marketing materials
• Michael Parker of Ruskin, $3000 for a new body of work, studio equipment, material, supplies
• Selina Roman of Tampa, $3000 for framing and exhibition preparation of her “Please Disturb” large format photography series next fall
• Stacy Rosende of Tampa, $3000 for a new body of multimedia printmaking work, a three-week artist residency at Scuola di Grafica (Venice, Italy) coinciding with Venice Biennale
Visual artist Michael Parker also received the 2017 Carolyn Heller Visual Arts Award, providing him with an additional $1,000 unrestricted gift. Carolyn Heller was a popular visual artist in Tampa and upon her death in 2011, her family established a fund in her name with an annual award of $1,000 designated for the highest scoring visual artist from the Arts Council’s Individual Artist Grant program.
Funding for the Individual Artist Grant program is made possible by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners and the Arts Council’s annual FIVE by FIVE event.
Contact: Terri Simons, Director, Program Services
813-276-8250, TSimons@TampaArts.org
Artists’ Work Samples, Images Available – https://goo.gl/3oMUUE