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click here for pdf listing of grant awards, Oct 2006 - Mar 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- October 10, 2006
Contact: Scott Hirko, Public Relations Officer
(517) 372-7770 -- shirko [at] mihumanities.org

$27,934 AWARDED FOR ARTS & CULTURE PROGRAMS

Program funded include: Westland’s No Bully Club/Science Circus on October 12, Teen Halloween at Kalamazoo Institute for Arts on October 28, the Nutcracker at Ferris State University on December 2

(LANSING)-----The Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) recently awarded $27,934 in Arts and Humanities Touring Program grants to Michigan organizations in support of 141 artistic and cultural presentations between October 1, 2006, and March 31, 2007. The touring program, funded by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), consists of a wide variety of cultural programs from school assembly musical performances to library storytellers. MHC administers Michigan’s Arts and Humanities Touring Program in partnership with MCACA.

“These grants bring some of Michigan’s best arts and humanities presenters to communities across the state,” stated Jan Fedewa, MHC executive director. “These programs demonstrate how arts and cultural programs add quality to our lives.”

Examples of the programs funded by Michigan’s Arts & Humanities Touring Program include:

• This Thursday, October 12, at 6:30 p.m., the Bailey Recreation Center and the Thomas Brown Central City Park in Westland will host puppeteer/ventriloquist Richard Paul for two programs as part of its “No Bully Club,” and Marcey Walsh: Highly Contagious Education for an interactive science program as part of its “Science Circus.”

• The Missing Lynx, a string and vocal harmony band, will perform at the Grayling Holiday Inn, in the Evergreen Room, at 7:30 pm on October 19.

• bLue daHLia will perform Edgar Allan Poe’s Dreams and Nightmares at the Kalamazoo Institute for Arts (KIA) on October 28 as part of the KIA’s “Teen Halloween 2006” celebration.

• The Grand Rapids Ballet will perform the Nutcracker at Williams Auditorium on the campus of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, on December 2.

• The Farmington Players Barn Theatre in Farmington Hills will host a holiday brass concert by the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings on December 12 at 7:30 p.m.

• Rosie Chapman will present a storytelling program on African folk tales with African instruments at The Art Center in Mount Clemens on February 21, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

• The State Theater of Bay City will host the Paul VornHagen Quartet on March 24, 2007, at 7:30 p.m.

A complete listing of touring program events can be accessed by linking here.

Touring program grants support live presenters – musicians, storytellers, theater companies, tradition bearers, and dancers – and visual arts programs from the 2006-2009 Arts & Humanities Touring Directory. The programs are hosted and sponsored by community schools, libraries, museums, festivals, art councils, and other nonprofit organizations. Grants are awarded to support up to 35 percent of the performers’ fees and expenses. The next round of grant applications will be accepted February 25, 2007, through March 10, 2007, for programs scheduled April 1, 2007, through September 30, 2007.Applications are available on the MHC website, www.michiganhumanities.org/touring, and in the printed directory. The directory, a joint project of MHC and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, is sponsored by LaSalle Bank. The printed version can be ordered for $5 at the bottom of each page of the online touring directory, accessed by linking here.

The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is the state’s independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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