Young girl painting a mural as part of a Young Audiences residency in a public school.
The following list of grants are those made or renewed in the Arts program area in 2007. Descriptions of approved grants will be added to the site after each of the Fund's 2008 board meetings. Click on any grantee to view the details.
Future funding [denoted in italics] for multi-year projects is contingent upon fulfillment of the terms of the grant and review by the Fund. The list is divided into sections by goal area.
(What are the goal areas?)
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Arts Education To increase creative opportunities for children and youth who otherwise have limited access to studying the arts or to interact with working artists.
Third World Majority -
$20,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Agape Foundation
Third World Majority uses digital storytelling as a tool for community organizing. Run by youth leaders, its work focuses on young people of color involved in various social justice causes. The Fund's grant supports a free digital storytelling workshop for young people in the Bay Area. An estimated 10 to 20 participants will be selected for the three-day training and follow-up program. This project makes a clear connection between arts learning and contributing one's digital media skills to nonprofit work and community causes. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 04/10/2007 through 04/10/2008
Project Web Site:
www.cultureisaweapon.org/mainframe.php
Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership -
$60,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Alameda County Office of Education
The Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership, based in the Alameda County Office of Education, is recognized for thoughtful, groundbreaking work in arts education, including its broad-based partnerships, engagement of parents and families, and consistent models for evaluating its work and communicating its vision. The Fund's grant enables the Alliance to further build its Arts Active Parents group and spread quality arts education to classrooms, schools, and districts throughout the county. Grant Amount:
$60,000
[2007], $60,000 [2008] Project Dates: 07/09/2007 through 07/09/2009
Project Web Site:
www.artiseducation.org/
Brava! for Women in the Arts -
$40,000
Brava's theater academy primarily serves youth from low-income families and its Mission District neighborhood. The Fund's grant is helping Brava to make a cluster of successful workshops into a conservatory-style training program, instituting new rigor and structure through staff support, faculty training, and curriculum development. Grant Amount:
$50,000 [2006],
$40,000
[2007], $30,000 [2008] Project Dates: 06/14/2006 through 06/14/2009
Project Web Site:
www.brava.org
California Alliance for Arts Education -
$35,000
The California Alliance for Arts Education brings together key constituents to support and advocate for visual and performing arts education for preschool through post-secondary students in California schools. Its Web site and e-mail newsletter communicate up-to-date information, and its programs foster policy discussion and development. The Alliance has grown rapidly and taken on new responsibilities over the last two years; a general support grant helps it to remain stable, nimble, and effective through a period of expansion. Grant Amount:
$35,000
[2007], $35,000 [2008] Project Dates: 03/29/2007 through 03/29/2009
Project Web Site:
www.artsed411.org
California Shakespeare Theater -
$15,000
California Shakespeare Theater is placing teaching artists in classrooms in five or more Oakland public schools, where they will develop lesson plans and team-teach arts-based lessons with classroom teachers. The theatre also is providing professional development for classroom teachers and teaching artists. It seeks to help underserved students discover connections between Shakespeare's work and their own lives, deepen their interest in theater, and explore new learning styles. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 02/12/2007 through 02/12/2008
Project Web Site:
www.calshakes.org
Center for the Art of Translation -
$35,000
Since 2000, the Center for the Art of Translation's Poetry Inside Out program has introduced children in bilingual classrooms to great Spanish language literature, coached them through translations of short poems, and invited them to write their own poems in Spanish and English. Its rigorous, 15-week curriculum serves 800 third- to eighth-grade students. The Fund's grant helps it to continue this work, honoring the cultural heritage of the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants, and to develop new curricula. Grant Amount:
$35,000
[2007], $25,000 [2008] Project Dates: 03/29/2007 through 03/29/2009
Project Web Site:
www.catranslation.org
Arts Education Funders Collaborative -
$60,000
Fiscal Sponsor: CIF of the San Francisco Foundation
For 15 years, the San Francisco Arts Education Funders Collaborative, managed out of the San Francisco Arts Commission, has addressed information, networking, and professional development needs of elementary schools and child development centers in the San Francisco school district. The Fund's grant supports completion of a cycle of professional development workshops for all district elementary schools, distribution of publications for schools and parents, and improvement of the Collaborative's www.sfinsideout.net Web site. Grant Amount:
$60,000
Project Dates: 07/09/2007 through 07/09/2008
Project Web Site:
www.sfartscommission.org/CAE/arts_education/index.htm
Dance Brigade -
$15,000
Grrrl Brigade, a project of Dance Brigade, offers San Francisco girls, 9 to 18, opportunities to study multicultural dance and drumming and to create dance and theater pieces that reflect their experiences. It performs in dozens of community settings. Dance brigade will increase Grrrl Brigade from 41 to 55 members, at least a third of whom will be low-income, scholarship recipients. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 03/23/2007 through 03/23/2008
Project Web Site:
www.dancemission.com
Destiny Arts Center -
$25,000
Destiny Art Center offers a distinctive youth program that combines dance and theater training with teaching principles of nonviolence and conflict resolution. The Fund's grant supports two free programs involving approximately 50 of the Center's more experienced students—a youth performance company and youth leadership program. Both programs illustrate the organization's success at bringing together young people of different cultural, neighborhood, school, and socio-economic backgrounds for shared experiences and its commitment to offering young people challenging opportunities that advance their confidence and leadership abilities. Grant Amount:
$25,000
Project Dates: 12/05/2007 through 12/05/2008
Project Web Site:
www.destinyarts.org
DrawBridge -
$30,000
Drawbridge provides art-making workshops led by professional artists and trained volunteers in Bay Area sites serving homeless and formerly homeless children and their families. Eleven of its current workshop sites are in San Francisco and Alameda County. Drawbridge's founding director is retiring and the Fund's grant helps to sustain Drawbridge's program at its current size while focusing attention on strategic planning and its leadership transition. Grant Amount:
$30,000
Project Dates: 12/05/2007 through 12/05/2008
Project Web Site:
www.drawbridge.org
East Bay Center for the Performing Arts -
$50,000
Following a period of evaluation and re-organization, the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts is launching a new initiative, Community Leadership Through Arts Study and Service (CLASS), which provides middle and high school age youth with in-depth training in performing arts alongside cross-cultural studies and community service projects. A biannual conference will bring together CLASS students with other Bay Area youth who are involved in arts and social change efforts. Grant Amount:
$30,000 [2005],
$40,000 [2006],
$50,000
Project Dates: 06/24/2005 through 06/23/2008
Project Web Site:
http://www.eastbaycenter.org
Note:conditional
Flyaway Productions -
$10,000
Aerial dance company Flyaway Productions is working with two other nonprofits to present an eight-week summer program for girls who have limited opportunities to study dance. Five Flyaway Productions company members will teach 18 young women from Oasis for Girls apparatus-based aerial dance, general composition, and performance skills. The young women and their mentors will create an original piece on the theme of truth-telling, which they will perform at CounterPULSE. Participants also will design and implement an advocacy project related to the truth-telling theme. Grant Amount:
$10,000
Project Dates: 12/05/2007 through 12/05/2008
Project Web Site:
www.flyawayproductions.com
Frameline -
$20,000
Frameline, producer of San Francisco's International LGBT Film Festival, is working with the youth media program Teaching Intermedia Literacy Skills to bring together 15 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders and 15 LGBT youth through filmmaking. A first semester of classes will teach elders and youth filmmaking skills separately; a second 10-week program will bring them together to work in teams. This Generations Film Project addresses the Fund's goal of using the arts to develop shared understanding across culture, age, and other differences. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 04/26/2007 through 04/26/2008
Project Web Site:
www.frameline.org
Galería de la Raza -
$20,000
Galería de la Raza, based in the Mission District, has a distinguished track record for presenting Chicano and Latino artists. Responding to demand voiced in community meetings, it is creating a computer arts center in its former store. The center allows Galería de la Raza to expand a multi-generational arts mentorship program so that it serves 65-80 youth each year and to provide computer access to low-income children and adults from the neighborhood. Among other activities, participating youth will help their parents (many of whom are immigrants) create e-mail accounts, blogs, and web pages to connect with family members in Latin America. Grant Amount:
$35,000 [2006],
$20,000
[2007], $20,000 [2008] Project Dates: 12/11/2006 through 12/11/2008
Project Web Site:
www.galeriadelaraza.org
Imagine Bus Project -
$35,000
The Imagine Bus Project offers free and low-cost after-school visual arts workshops at 10 sites serving low-income San Francisco children. Instructors are professional artists trained in youth development and arts education standards. The Fund's grant will help a planned expansion to 25 sites over three years. Grant Amount:
$35,000
[2007], $30,000 [2008] Project Dates: 07/09/2007 through 07/09/2010
Project Web Site:
www.imaginebusproject.org
StageWrite -
$15,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Intersection for the Arts
Started by a public school teacher and a professional actress, StageWrite works to strengthen students' literacy through theater. Its curriculum leads elementary students through collaborative, interactive drama games and coaches them as they write short, original plays that are performed at their schools. StageWrite is based on a successful model developed at former John Swett Elementary School in San Francisco. The Fund's grant is helping it to grow to serve four schools in 2008. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 12/17/2007 through 12/17/2008
Project Web Site:
www.stagewrite.org/
Kid Serve Youth Murals -
$15,000
Kid Serve Youth Murals involves young people in both public art and community service. Through 14-week residencies in public school classrooms, Kid Serve artists work with teachers, students, and families to develop large-scale murals for the school sites. Its mural project curriculum is integrated with classroom studies in history, social studies, language arts, or sciences. The young participants in these classes also conduct community needs assessments that involve their schools' neighborhoods and broader communities in developing content for the murals, volunteer days, and unveilings of the finished works. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 12/17/2007 through 12/17/2008
Project Web Site:
www.kidserve.com
LEAP...Imagination in Learning -
$15,000
Leap...Imagination in Learning has been a significant provider of artist-led residencies in San Francisco public schools. After a leadership change, this grant supports re-starting Leap's arts education offerings in San Francisco public schools. Grant Amount:
$50,000 [2003],
$15,000
Project Dates: 11/05/2003 through 11/05/2004
Project Web Site:
www.leap4kids.org
Note:conditional
Loco Bloco Drum and Dance Ensemble -
$5,000
Loco Bloco Drum and Dance Ensemble introduces children and youth to Afro-Latino performing arts traditions, teaching them percussion, dance, theater, singing, and visual arts skills. It offers after-school classes and supports a performing ensemble. The Fund's grant helps Loco Bloco to serve young people from diverse cultural backgrounds, introduce them to multicultural traditions, form cross-cultural bonds, and contribute to their communities through free performances. A portion of the Fund's grant requires a match from new donors. Grant Amount:
$10,000 [2006],
$5,000
Project Dates: 10/17/2006 through 10/17/2007
Project Web Site:
www.locobloco.org
Note:conditional
Prescott Circus Theatre -
$10,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute
Based in a part of West Oakland that has been rife with violence, Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement (the Center) is building on its existing after-school and summer theater program by offering visual arts lessons at nearby PLACE@Prescott School (PLACE). The visual arts teacher for this project has created a resource center at PLACE where students can go to create art once a week with their classes or visit freely during their lunch hours. The Center focuses this project and all of its work on building partnerships and strengthening the neighborhood's sense of community. Grant Amount:
$10,000
Project Dates: 02/12/2007 through 02/12/2008
Project Web Site:
www.mafei.org
Mission Neighborhood Centers -
$20,000
Mission Neighborhood Centers produces San Francisco's annual Carnaval Grand Parade (Carnaval), which celebrates multiple traditions from throughout Latin America. Addressing the need for culturally appropriate arts education in San Francisco public schools, Carnaval offers a 16-week residency program that culminates with the schools' participation in the parade. Carnaval artists work with leaders and teachers at participating sites to adapt the multi-disciplinary arts program to their needs. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 07/25/2007 through 07/25/2008
Project Web Site:
www.carnavalsf.com
Museum of Children's Art -
$40,000
The Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) is one of the largest East Bay agencies offering visual arts education. Working with Oakland public schools, MOCHA has developed a standards-based visual arts curriculum that works hand in hand with the district's chosen Open Court reading curriculum. With the Fund's support, MOCHA is expanding the scope of teacher professional development in this curriculum and offering another, more general, Art for Educators workshop series. Grant Amount:
$40,000
Project Dates: 07/05/2007 through 07/05/2008
Oakland Youth Chorus -
$40,000
Started as a vocal music training and performing group with a distinctive, culturally diverse repertoire, the Oakland Youth Chorus has evolved into a multifaceted music education program, providing in-school and after-school music training for children of all ages in the Oakland Unified School District. In the coming year, the Chorus will serve 1,000 students in 17 under-resourced elementary schools in Oakland-tailoring its program to meet the needs of each school's population and schedule. Grant Amount:
$40,000
Project Dates: 06/05/2007 through 06/05/2008
Project Web Site:
www.oaklandyouthchours.org
Peralta Parent Group -
$7,500
Grant Amount:
$7,500
Project Dates: 10/16/2007 through 10/16/2008
Performing Arts Workshop -
$35,000
Performing Arts Workshop (PAW) is one of the oldest San Francisco organizations advancing arts education for San Francisco children and youth. Its programs serve students in local public schools, transitional housing, and after-school programs; and it sponsors professional development in the arts for classroom teachers. The Fund's grant helps PAW pursue its strategic plan and extend the arts to more young people from low-income families, including English language learners and students with special needs. Grant Amount:
$35,000 [2005],
$35,000 [2006],
$35,000
[2007], $35,000 [2008] Project Dates: 10/07/2005 through 10/07/2010
Project Web Site:
www.performingartsworkshop.org
Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement -
$7,000
Based in a part of West Oakland that has been rife with violence, Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement (the Center) is building on its existing after-school and summer theater program by offering visual arts lessons at nearby PLACE@Prescott School (PLACE). The visual arts teacher for this project has created a resource center at PLACE where students can go to create art once a week with their classes or visit freely during their lunch hours. The Center focuses this project and all of its work on building partnerships and a stronger sense of community in the neighborhood. Grant Amount:
$7,000
Project Dates: 08/01/2007 through 08/01/2008
Project Web Site:
www.prescottjoseph.org
Young Musicians Program -
$30,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Regents of the University of California
Based within the Music Department at the University of California, Berkeley, The Young Musicians Program provides talented low-income youth, ages 8-18, with outstanding music training along with practical, social, and academic support that prepares them for higher education. Under new leadership, Young Musicians board and staff is strengthening its core program and fundraising capacity so that it may serve more youth with a stronger curriculum. Grant Amount:
$35,000 [2006],
$30,000
Project Dates: 03/13/2006 through 03/13/2008
Project Web Site:
www.ymp.berkeley.edu/
Richmond District Neighborhood Center -
$20,000
The Richmond District After School Collaborative, a robust program managed by the Richmond District Neighborhood Center, offers youth and their families affordable after-school programs at four public schools. Participating youth work with professional artists three days a week. Five artists representing different disciplines rotate each semester among the program's locations so that every child receives a semester-long focused experience in two artistic disciplines each year. The Fund's grant helps the Center retain the program's consistency and quality during a period of growth. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 03/23/2007 through 03/23/2008
Project Web Site:
www.rdnc.org
Root Division -
$7,500
Root Division offers artists opportunities to share affordable studio and exhibition space in exchange for community service work. Many artists with studios at Root Division choose to contribute their services through teaching six-week art classes at schools and after-school sites in the Mission District. The organization's associate director approves lesson plans, observes classes, trains, and gives feedback to the teaching artists. Root Division's focus on service matches the Fund's interest in supporting artists' giving back to their communities.
Grant Amount:
$7,500
Project Dates: 04/27/2007 through 04/27/2008
Project Web Site:
www.rootdivision.org
Ruby's Clay Studio and Gallery -
$15,000
Ruby's Clay Studio gives ceramic artists shared access to studios, materials, equipment, and exhibition space. Its assistant manager has completed several ambitious projects with young people in Africa and the Bay Area. With the Fund's grant she has created an experimental Mud Bus to transport raw materials and ceramics to be fired to and from three after-school sites in San Francisco. The Mud Bus, modeled on a successful program in Philadelphia, will enable Ruby's Clay Studio to offer clay arts classes to an estimated 60 disadvantaged youth in its pilot year. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 05/22/2007 through 05/22/2008
Project Web Site:
www.rubysclaystudio.org
San Francisco Camerawork -
$25,000
San Francisco Camerawork's First Exposures project pairs professional photographers as mentors to very low-income teenagers, teaching them to shoot, develop, and exhibit photographs. Students are referred to the program from social service and youth programs, therapists, and concerned teachers. The Fund's grant is helping Camerawork develop a digital photography lab in its new gallery for advanced First Exposures students, thereby expanding the range of techniques taught, deepening the educational value, and serving more students. Grant Amount:
$25,000
Project Dates: 09/13/2007 through 09/13/2008
Project Web Site:
www.sfcamerawork.org
San Francisco Center for the Book -
$5,000
The San Francisco Center for the Book fosters and celebrates the artistry, history, and role of handmade books as a medium for self-expression. Its Art of the Book in the Classroom project places book artists in public elementary schools, where they teach students methods for creating innovative, handmade books. Frequently, the Center offers family book arts workshops at school events-inviting parents and other family members to create books. In 2007-08, the Center will serve a minimum of three schools on a regular basis. Grant Amount:
$5,000
Project Dates: 07/12/2007 through 07/12/2008
Project Web Site:
www.sfcb.org
San Francisco Mime Troupe -
$15,000
Each spring, the San Francisco Mime Troupe offers an intensive program for youth from varied ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Eight weeks of classes are led by seasoned Mime Troupe teachers assisted by local college theater students. Annually, youth select a theme and then develop original works that address it. In 2008, the Mime Troupe is creating an advanced level workshop and increasing the number of participants from 30 to 45. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 09/13/2007 through 09/13/2008
Project Web Site:
www.sfmt.org
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art -
$50,000
Through SFMOMA Matches, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) connects 60-100 teenagers from five San Francisco and Oakland public schools that have large low-income student populations with young professional adult mentors. Together youth and adults create art projects, view and discuss exhibits, volunteer for family art days, and participate in a culminating dinner and tour with the teens' family members and friends. MATCHES creates a mutually supportive exchange across generations by focusing on participants' shared interests in visual arts. Grant Amount:
$50,000 [2005],
$50,000 [2006],
$50,000
Project Dates: 03/31/2005 through 03/30/2008
San Francisco Performances, Inc. -
$40,000
San Francisco Performances, a leading presenter of touring artists, works with artists-in-residence who spend two or more weeks per year in the San Francisco Bay Area over a three or four year period. By combining repeated visits by these touring artists and the teaching/mentoring skills of Bay Area artists, San Francisco Performances has built ongoing arts education programs benefiting some 2,500 elementary, middle, and high school students each year. The Fund's grant help San Francisco Performances launch its third group of resident artists, building on a successful model program. Grant Amount:
$60,000 [2005],
$50,000 [2006],
$40,000
Project Dates: 03/31/2005 through 03/30/2008
Project Web Site:
www.performances.org
San Francisco Symphony Association -
$83,333
The San Francisco Symphony has a long history of serving the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and encouraging students' enjoyment of and participation in classical music. Through Opus, a new program, Symphony musicians will work closely with middle and high school music teachers, shaping their contributions to meet the classrooms' needs. Activities include coaching students, special workshops, advising music teachers, instrument repair, and free concert tickets for students and their teachers. Beginning in seven schools, over three years Opus will expand to serve 16 campuses. Grant Amount:
$83,333 [2006],
$83,333
[2007], $83,334 [2008] Project Dates: 07/15/2006 through 07/15/2009
Southern Exposure -
$15,000
In Southern Exposure's Arts in Education Program, gives youth opportunities to exercise leadership skills and participate in their communities by exploring social and personal issues through the visual arts. The program pairs local artists with teens in year-long, in-school, and after-school programs and an intensive summer program. In 2007, an estimated 150 youth will work with 18 artists. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 04/02/2007 through 04/02/2008
Stagebridge -
$15,000
Stagebridge uses storytelling to bridge relationships between seniors and children and create positive attitudes towards aging. The Fund's grant supports Stagebridge's two-day summer storytelling institutes for classroom teachers that then places senior storytellers and professional teaching artists in residence in Oakland and Berkeley public schools for six to eight weeks, helping classroom teachers incorporate stories into their teaching or directly leading activities. This Storybridge Program will be offered in 12 East Bay public schools. Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 06/21/2007 through 06/21/2008
Project Web Site:
www.stagebridge.org
Streetside Stories -
$40,000
Started with a focus on serving sixth- grade classrooms, Streetside Stories has become an extensive in-school and after-school program for first- through eighth- graders that leads them through writing and performing their own stories. In the last three years, Streetside Stories doubled the number of students served. The Fund's grant helps it to hire a deputy director for programs who will oversee teaching staff and manage relationships with new and current program sites, making possible continued program growth. Grant Amount:
$40,000
[2007], $30,000 [2008] Project Dates: 11/27/2007 through 11/27/2009
Project Web Site:
www.streetside.org
The Crucible -
$10,000
The Crucible provides an artists' foundry and studio spaces. Its growing education program for youth emphasizes serving its West Oakland neighbors. The Fund's grant is helping The Crucible to reorganize, strengthen, and expand after-school and summer programs for youth and hands-on tours for school groups. Grant Amount:
$10,000
Project Dates: 07/25/2007 through 07/25/2008
Project Web Site:
www.thecrucilble.org
Out of Site -
$30,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Tides Center
Out of Site is filling an important role in arts education for public high school students in San Francisco by providing rigorous, multi-disciplinary arts classes after school. Because of student need and its positive reputation among teens, Out of Site is challenged to address growing demand for programs. The Fund's grant which includes a $10,000 matching challenge strengthens Out of Site's infrastructure, positioning it to increase the number of youth served to 400 or more. This program draws students from high schools across San Francisco. Grant Amount:
$30,000 [2006],
$30,000
Project Dates: 12/11/2006 through 12/11/2008
Project Web Site:
http://www.outofsite-sf.org/
Note:conditional
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
$25,000
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' Young Artists at Work program serves 30 talented, motivated youth from high schools across the city with an emphasis on low-income teenagers. Three professional artists work alongside the teens, who are divided in small groups to focus on different artistic disciplines. The program emphasizes the idea that the arts can create social change and deepen civic engagement. After six months of artmaking at the Center, participants are placed in summer-long internships at art and community-based organizations. Grant Amount:
$25,000
Project Dates: 01/05/2007 through 01/05/2008
Project Web Site:
www.ybca
Young Audiences of Northern California -
$35,000
Young Audiences of Northern California is part of a national network of arts education organizations. While it is piloting a new, nationally developed, Arts4Learning curriculum at a public school in San Jose, the Fund's grant is helping it to introduce artist residencies and the Arts4Learning framework in underserved San Francisco and Oakland public schools. Grant Amount:
$35,000
Project Dates: 01/26/2007 through 01/26/2008
Project Web Site:
www.ya-nc.org
Youth Movement Records -
$20,000
Through Youth Movement Records, East Bay teenagers manage their own recording studio-from creating products to marketing and selling them. The program attracts and involves young people considered hard to reach by schools and other youth programs. Participants have been writing and singing original songs and accompanying them with downloaded music or layered electronic tracks. They now are requesting music classes, and the Fund's grant helps Youth Movement Records to develop a music education curriculum designed for and with its participating youth. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 04/30/2007 through 04/30/2008
Project Web Site:
www.youthmovementrecords.org
Preservation of Cultural Heritage
To support preservation of cultural heritage, particularly among recent immigrants.
Alliance for California Traditional Arts -
$120,000
California is home to some of the country's and world's most accomplished traditional artists, many of them not part of formally structured nonprofit organizations. The Alliance for California Traditional Arts supports these artists' work. The Fund's grant furthers three programs benefiting Bay Area traditional artists: Living Cultures grants to foster learning and sharing of arts forms, apprenticeships to pass down skills, and mentorships to strengthen management practices. The Alliance conducts outreach in several languages, convenes statewide panels, documents recipients' work, offers technical assistance, and builds networks among peers in the vital yet fragile traditional arts field. As many of its grantees and apprentices are recent immigrants, its work addresses the Fund's cultural heritage goals. Grant Amount:
$120,000
[2007], $120,000 [2008] Project Dates: 07/09/2007 through 07/09/2009
Cambodian Community Development, Inc. -
$20,000
Cambodian Community Development, Inc helps Cambodian immigrants address the barriers they face to finding living-wage jobs, adequate social services, and opportunities to participate in decisions that affect them. One key goal is promoting cultural awareness and preservation of Cambodian arts. Its emerging arts program builds cross-generational understanding between elder immigrants and youth born in the United States. The Fund's grant enables the organization to build upon a successful Cambodian dance program with classes and apprenticeships in other traditional arts and crafts. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 03/23/2007 through 03/23/2008
Project Web Site:
www.ccdi.org
Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company -
$40,000
Building on the success of the 2006 Kathak at the Crossroads festival, Chitresh Das Dance Company & Chhandam School is undertaking a project to build an individual donor program, work with a consultant on assessing its development capacity, and expand staff—all in order to serve its mission of passing down the rigorous South Indian tradition of Kathak to a growing cadre of students and audience members. Grant Amount:
$40,000
[2007], $30,000 [2008] Project Dates: 03/29/2007 through 03/29/2009
Project Web Site:
www.kathak.org
Note:conditional
Kitka -
$25,000
Kitka is a professional women's vocal ensemble dedicated to producing concerts, recordings, and educational programs that develop new audiences for music rooted in Eastern European vocal traditions. Its Song Routes in a New Land project features five expert performer-creator-teachers and seven accompanying instrumentalists as artists-in-residence, participating locally in education, outreach, and public radio programming along with workshops, repertoire development, and performances. Artists featured in 2007-08 will represent Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, and Polish/Ukranian music. Grant Amount:
$25,000
Project Dates: 11/19/2007 through 11/19/2008
Project Web Site:
www.kitka.org
Manilatown Heritage Foundation -
$20,000
The new International Hotel, constructed at the site of a protracted eviction resistance effort in the 1960s and 70s, includes a small cultural center dedicated to the history of San Francisco's Manilatown. The Fund's grant supports workshops, screenings, and panel discussions to be produced in conjunction with three exhibits focused on the local, national, and international Filipino Diaspora—emphasizing efforts to engage families and members from all generations of the Filipino American community. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 02/12/2007 through 02/12/2008
Project Web Site:
www.manilatown.org
San Francisco Chinese Arts Foundation -
$8,000
Like many volunteer-run Cantonese opera companies in local Chinatowns, San Francisco Chinese Arts Foundation (whose studio is based in Oakland), attracts and incorporates teenagers and young adults in its productions and audiences. The Fund's grant helps the company involve a younger generation in Cantonese Opera by offering free after-school classes to elementary, middle, and high school students in Oakland's Chinatown. Grant Amount:
$8,000
Project Dates: 02/01/2007 through 02/01/2008
Project Web Site:
redbeancantoneseopera.com
Slavonic Cultural Center -
$20,000
One of the oldest nonprofit cultural organizations in San Francisco, the Slavonic Cultural Center—now operating as the Croatian American Cultural Center—serves immigrants from the Balkans, a community divided by ethnic, political, and religious differences. It is home to a community chorus and folk dancing classes, and sponsors five major cultural festivals annually. Having paid off its mortgage, the Center is moving beyond being volunteer-run; the Fund's grant supports its organizational development goals during this transition. Grant Amount:
$20,000
Project Dates: 09/14/2007 through 09/14/2008
Project Web Site:
www.croationamericanweb.org
Spanish-Speaking Unity Council of Alameda County -
$5,000
Established in 1964, the Unity Council is a nationally recognized community development organization based in Oakland's Fruitvale district. Focusing on a neighborhood with a large immigrant population from Mexico, the Council believes in sustaining Latin American cultural traditions in Fruitvale-including Mexican Dia de los Muertos. With assistance from the Fund, neighborhood artists are offering workshops on traditional altar-making for adults and youth. Semi-weekly workshops will culminate in the creation of 20 Dia de los Muertos community altars for display at the Fruitvale event. Grant Amount:
$5,000
Project Dates: 09/24/2007 through 09/24/2008
Project Web Site:
www.unitycouncil.org
The Translation Project -
$10,000
Poetry and literature are among the most universally recognized art forms of Iran. The Translation Project seeks to celebrate Iranian culture for its immigrant community and introduce the broader Bay Area public to contemporary literature from Iran and a more accurate view of who Iranians are. W&EHF's grant is supporting the Project's November 2007 festival at Project Artaud in San Francisco, which will include scholarly panels, literary readings, film screenings, and a cross-cultural multimedia theatrical presentation based on Iranian poetry. Grant Amount:
$10,000
Project Dates: 09/14/2007 through 09/14/2008
Project Web Site:
www.thetranslationproject.org
Cultural Commons
Fostering shared understanding and a stronger sense of community through participation in the arts.
3rd I South Asian Film -
$6,500
Responding to rapid growth of the South Asian community in the San Francisco Bay Area, 3rd I South Asian International Film has developed an annual festival and monthly screenings of films from numerous South Asian countries as well as by South Asians living in Europe, Canada, and the United States. The Fund's grant supports 3rd I's efforts to increase numbers served through new children's programming and partnerships with more churches, temples, mosques, professional associations, and commercial enterprises. While promoting interactions among South Asia's different ethnic and religious groups, 3rd I also provides a vehicle for the South Asian community to better represent itself to the broader public. Grant Amount:
$6,500
Project Dates: 05/29/2007 through 05/29/2008
Project Web Site:
www.thirdi.org
Arab Film Festival -
$7,500
San Francisco's Arab Fim Festival, Cinemayaat, has grown over nine years to become the largest showcase for Arab filmmakers in the United States. The Festival promotes conversation among and deeper understanding of culturally, linguistically, and religiously diverse Bay Area residents of Arab descent. The Fund's grant enables it to increase its Festival at the Schools program in San Francisco, Berkeley, or Oakland public schools; and to enhance its educational partnerships with other organizations—thereby strengthening the cross-cultural dialogue that is intrinsic to its mission. Grant Amount:
$7,500
Project Dates: 12/13/2007 through 12/13/2008
Project Web Site:
www.aff.org
Mission Community Council -
$15,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Arriba Juntos
This coalition of neighborhood residents, business owners, and non-profit staff, is organizing community-enriching cultural and commercial activities in the newly remodeled Plaza at the 16th and Mission BART station. Rotating art exhibits, weekly events and performances and a small group of commercial vendors are transforming the plaza into a positive gathering place for Mission neighborhood residents.
This grant is joinly funded by the Haas Fund's Arts and Economic Secuirty programs Grant Amount:
$15,000
Project Dates: 12/14/2006 through 12/14/2007
Project Web Site:
www.micocosf.org/
Asian Art Museum -
$15,000
One of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art, the Asian Art Museum is both a repository for ancient art and a venue for contemporary work. It created the AsiaAlive program to connect visitors and residents to working artists through live demonstrations and hands-on activities. AsiaAlive also is a means of passing down traditions in recent immigrant communities and the Fund's grant addresses both cultural commons and cultural heritage goals. Grant Amount:
$35,000 [2006],
$15,000
Project Dates: 06/14/2006 through 06/14/2008
Project Web Site:
www.asianart.org/
Ballet Afsaneh Art & Culture Society -
$5,000
A professional dance company whose repertoire is based in Persian traditions, Ballet Afsaneh Art & Culture Society is working with the Persian Art and Culture Society to coordinate an annual celebration of Norooz, the vernal equinox and Persian New Year, at San Francisco's City Hall. The celebration recognizes the contributions of immigrants from Iran and other countries that celebrate Norooz, and increases public awareness of their cultural traditions. Grant Amount:
$5,000
Project Dates: 02/05/2007 through 08/05/2007
Project Web Site:
www.dancesilkroad.org
Community Music Center -
$50,000
A leading source of affordable music lessons for people of all ages, the San Francisco Community Music Center is expanding its scholarship program, opportunities for students to play together in groups, and free concerts by student ensembles. The Fund's grant supports implementation of the Center's new five-year plan in which, among other goals, the Center seeks to serve more low-income students and advance a 'Creating Community: Making Music Together' initiative. Grant Amount:
$50,000 [2004],
$50,000 [2005],
$50,000 [2006],
$50,000
[2007], $50,000 [2008] Project Dates: 12/14/2004 through 12/13/2009
Project Web Site:
www.sfmusic.org
Bay Area National Dance Week -
$5,000
Fiscal Sponsor: Dancers' Group
Bay Area National Dance Week is a 10-day festival of free events held each April. Using the 'open studios' model, it promotes and celebrates dance in all its forms and encourages curious but reluctant participants to take part in classes, workshops, and performances. The project addresses the Fund's cultural commons guidelines by making the arts accessible to people of all ages, economic backgrounds, skill levels, and abilities.