Arts Council awards over $40,000 to local artists and Arts Organizations

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is proud to announce that we have awarded over $40,000 to local artists and Arts Organizations in our most recent grant cycle. Our Art Builds Community grant, designed to promote Cultural Equity and provide arts and cultural programming to everyone, was awarded to four new projects: REEF and United Way have partnered to present “Arts & Sciences Celebration Series” with their award of $10,000; The City of Marathon was awarded $10,000 for their project “Beautiful Benchmarks” which will interpret climate change and sea level rise through public art;  The Red Barn Theater was awarded $7,500 for their project “Big Night Out” in which they will partner with 6 additional organizations to provide greater access to the arts, and Erica Heffernan’s project “Finding Inspiration through Isolation” which partners with MARC House to exhibit artwork influenced by the isolation of the pandemic. The Art Builds Community grants are among the largest such awards provided by Florida Keys Council of the Arts.  

Other awards include our Special Project grants, with a $2,000 award going to local artists Sally Binard, Molly Ross, and Franke Ashe for their “Moko Jumbie” project, to teach stilt walking; artist Jessica Wachs was awarded $2,000 for her work on “Bone Island- One Woman Musical”, and for our Artists in Schools awards the grantees are as follows: “Schools at the Studios 2023” Bria Ansara and TSKW; “Art/ Chalk against Hate” Jacqueline Patterson, Gloria Avner, and the Plantation Key School; and “Love, Shakespeare” Richard Ericson and Somerset Island Prep; each receiving a grant of $1,750. 
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The Florida Keys Council of the Arts Grant Program is funded entirely by donations, and membership contributions. Please consider becoming a member of the Arts Council on our website, at www.keysarts.com to support our grant programs. For more information visit, www.keysarts.com 

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