Area arts organizations receive NEA funding

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded monetary grants to arts organizations in Boulder and Lafayette as part of the national organization’s Our Town program.

The  Lafayette Arts and Cultural Resources department received a $50,000 grant to enhance programming at The Collective Art Center. The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in Boulder received $25,000, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder received $20,000 and EcoArts in Boulder received $15,000.

The NEA chose 89 organizations out of 274 applications nationwide for Our Town grants totaling $6.9 million.

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Lafayette will use the money for programs about business-training workshops for arts entrepreneurs, professional development for local nonprofit arts administrators, networking sessions and art exhibitions and events featuring local talent. These activities will be developed and implemented by the city of Lafayette’s Cultural Arts Division in partnership with the Boulder County Arts Alliance and ARTS!Lafayette.

“This grant is a game-changer for our programming for the community and artists,” said Susan Booker, director of the Lafayette Arts & Cultural Resources department.  “As a newly created department with a new venue to manage, the funding will allow us to begin serving city artists and community members with exhibits, art displays, educational programming, networking and other enriching opportunities.”

The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in Boulder will use its grant to support exhibitions, catalogs and educational programming associated with the national conference for the ceramic arts in Pittsburgh. Exhibitions, lectures, discussions and workshops will be curated and hosted by organizations throughout the city and region to showcase work by established and emerging ceramic artists.

The Colorado Music Festival based in Boulder will put the money toward its summer festival celebrating the group’s 40th anniversary. The festival will feature a retrospective of past programming with a performance by the festival orchestra conducted by founder and original artistic director, Giora Bernstein. In addition, the current music director, Jean-Marie Zeitouni will conduct a series of concerts of rarely performed classical French works. The festival also will include a family and community series, an orchestra and chamber orchestra series, and a guest artist series.

EcoArts Connections in Boulder, known as EcoArts, will spend the money in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and other arts and nonarts collaborators. EcoArts will convene virtual and in-person meetings of performing and visual artists, scientists, association leaders, curators and funders, resulting in report on the collaborations.