Total of $260,000 awarded for visual arts initiatives during third quarter

Milwaukee, WI - Sept. 23, 2013 - After several years of limited arts programming due to budgetary constraints, the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee will reintroduce regular visual arts programming, thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Mary L. Nohl Fund.

The YMCA will partner with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Peck School of the Arts, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and Milwaukee Area Teachers of Art community program on the programming, which will engage teaching artists to offer two six-week visual art sessions at John C. Cudahy, Rite-Hite, South Shore, Feith and Tri-County branches.

The Foundation awarded a total of $260,000 to 23 visual arts programs during the third quarter from the Nohl Fund with co-investment from other Greater Milwaukee Foundation funds. Additional grants include:

Milwaukee Public Library: $25,000 to support a piece of public art for the exterior of the new East Side library branch, which is set to open in October 2014.

Arts@ Large: $25,000 to fund artist residencies at eight K-8 Milwaukee Public School sites during the 2013/2014 school year. The residencies will feature internationally acclaimed artist Faith Ringgold, whose artistic explorations over many decades have focused on issues of race, civil rights and inclusivity, and Andrea Skyberg, a local illustrator and bookmaker.

Grand Avenue Club: $15,000 to expand its Gallery Grand and Portrait Project programs to include mentoring for member artists by GAC's gallery director/resident artist and creation of a third publication featuring the work of member artists.

Artists Working in Education: $12,000 to support artist-in-residence programs at Samuel Clemens Elementary and at the Academy of Accelerated Learning that will center on science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Historic Mitchell Street Preservation Corporation: $12,000 to support the visual art component of a public art project inspired by the Mitchell Street neighborhood on Milwaukee's south side. The project will be led by Milwaukee-based artists Adam Carr and Sonja Thomsen, a 2011 Mary L. Nohl Fellow.

Marquette University: $12,000 to support Picasso Across the Curriculum, a program that teaches first through twelfth graders about the famed artist, and Water Across the Curriculum, a program that teaches first through eighth grade teachers how to weave water-related issues into their teaching. Last year the workshops reached more than 2,000 students at 15 Milwaukee-area public and private schools.

Skylight Music Theatre: $12,000 to support the creative participation of Indian-born artist Raghava KK, who is designing the sets and backdrops for the theater company's fall production of Fidelio, Beethoven's only opera.

UWM Foundation: $12,000 to support a two-week residency with Seattle-based artist Leo Saul Berk at UWM's Institute of Visual Arts. Berk's first major national exhibition will debut in Milwaukee in June 2014.

In Tandem Theatre: $10,000 in support of the 2013/2014 cycle of its artists-in-residence and high school workshop program featuring four Milwaukee artists who will conduct art-making sessions with local students and exhibit their own artwork in individual and group shows at the 10th Street Gallery.

Latino Arts: $10,000 to support its 2013/2014 visual arts season that centers on four cultural themes: Hispanic Heritage Month, Day of the Dead, Holiday and Carnaval. This season's exhibitions will feature the work of three Latino artists representing diverse backgrounds and artistic expression: Carlos Duran, Antuco Chicalza and Martin Soto.

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design: $10,000 to cover shipping, installation and exhibition costs for a program focused on contemporary art from Cuban-born emerging and established artists. The exhibition will open in conjunction with Gallery Night in January 2014.

RedLine Milwaukee: $10,000 to support Contemporary, one of three components of its teen programming. The program is offered monthly and introduces high school students to different visual art media and socially-relevant art practice.

Urban Ecology Center: $10,000 to support the creation and installation of a sculpture by local artist Richard Taylor to recognize donors to the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum.

Walker's Point Center for the Arts: $10,000 to support its 27th exhibition season and youth art educational programming, including its Hands On Youth Program that partners with 18 MPS schools and 17 other local private schools and organizations.

Danceworks: $10,000 for continued support of its Intergenerational Multi-Arts Project. The 15-week arts residency program, now in its ninth year, pairs low-income older adults with urban kindergarten through eighth grade students and incorporates dance, visual arts, storytelling and music.

Diverse and Resilient: $10,000 to create a formal artist-in-residence program that will work with LGBT youth. Public showcases of the art created through the project will culminate each artist-in-residence program.

First Stage Children's Theater: $8,000 to support a collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum that will include joint teacher and student workshops in conjunction with the museum's Thomas Sully: Painted Performance exhibit.

Radio for Milwaukee: $8,000 to cover the artist fees for the individual artists who will create a permanent donor recognition wall inspired by Radio for Milwaukee's commitment to the local artistic community at its new location in Milwaukee's Fifth Ward.

TRUE Skool: $8,000 to support the agency's 2013 Canvas Project, a visual arts program that is part of its Urban Arts Program serving at-risk 14 to 19 year old youth.

Riverwest Artists Association: $8,000 to launch an artist-in-residence program for the Riverwest neighborhood with the goal of further developing the artistic identity and resources of this neighborhood.

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra: $8,000 to continue and strengthen a collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum that adds a visual arts component to its Arts in Community Education program.

North Shore Academy of the Arts: $5,000 to expand its Saturation program by adding an artist-in-residence component. The program will coincide with the Ozaukee County Covered Bridge Art Studio tours.


About the Mary L. Nohl Fund

The Mary L. Nohl Fund was created in 1995 to support local visual arts and arts education programs. Mary L. Nohl, the renowned local artist who died in 2001, enlarged her fund with a $9.2 million bequest, one of the largest individual gifts in the Foundation's history. Since 2001, the fund has made grants of $5.9 million in support of visual arts and arts education in the metropolitan area.

About the Greater Milwaukee Foundation

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation is a family of more than 1,100 individual charitable funds, each created by donors to serve the local charitable causes of their choice. Grants from these funds serve people throughout Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. Started in 1915, the Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the world.

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