Congratulations to Southeastern CT’s Regional Initiative Grantees from CT Office of the Arts 

 

 

The Regional Initiative (REGI) grant program encourages and supports small community arts projects that are aligned with COA’s READI (Relevance, Equity, Access, Diversity, and Inclusion) framework.  REGI is a good fit for applicants that intend to use small arts-based projects to engage in a specific community matter, reflect on personal experience, and/or projects that bring neighborhoods together.

Mystic Film Festival – Film Festival, Mystic $4,000

Mystic Film Festival is an annual event showcasing independent feature length and short form narrative films and documentaries from all over the world. Through events, community engagement, industry panels, workshops, and film screenings by acclaimed and up-and-coming talent, Mystic Film Festival aims to create a special experience for both filmmaker and audience.

The 1st Annual Mystic Film Festival will take place from October 18 to October 21, 2018 in Mystic, Connecticut. Opening night will be an exciting red carpet cocktail event for press, filmmakers, cast, festival partners, sponsors, distributors, and ticket holders to the festival’s opening night film. The festival will close with a gala awards ceremony for filmmakers and invited guests. Mystic Film Festival will screen a variety of films over the course of 3 days and 4 nights, including Q&A’s with filmmakers in attendance, industry panels, networking events, and workshops.

Mystic River Chorale – Beatitude for the homeless, New London $2,000

The proposed project is a performance of San Francisco-based composer Henry Mollicone’s Beatitude Mass (For the Homeless). The performance will be part of the Mystic River Chorale 2019 winter concert, scheduled for Janary 20, 2019 at Connecticut College’s Harkness Chapel in New London, CT. This piece juxtaposes text from the Latin Mass with the Beatitudes and a contemporary English text drawn from interviews with men and women living in homeless shelters. The piece was composed in 2006, and requires a chorus, six instrumentalists, and two vocal soloists.

New London Main Street – Youth Community Pride Storefront Public Art Project, New London $4,000

New London Main Street will partner an artist with student youth groups to grow community pride by creating public art displays in downtown New London windows and cleaning up sidewalks surrounding the storefronts. They will work with New London-based artist Amy Hannum to teach students about the design process, how to create and construct window displays through art-based instruction. Vacant and underutilized storefronts will be filled with a thought provoking and visually engaging display to make New London feel more welcoming, encourage people to stay longer and explore what makes New London’s historic waterfront district a great place to visit.

Reliance Health, Inc. – The Art of Healing, Norwich $4,000

The Art of Healing is a collaborative project initiated by seven (7) social and community service organizations to create a traveling exhibit to demonstrate the role art plays in fostering health and wellness. Participants are members of the Cultural Coalition’s Arts in Health Roundtable that meets monthly to promote awareness, activism and advocacy for arts in health in Southeastern, CT. The group chose the common topic of “coping with/healing from trauma” to explore during this project.
Partner organizations: Artreach (Norwich), Child and Family Agency (New London), Horses Healing Humans (Stonington), Our Piece of the Pie (New London), Sound Community Services (New London), The Light House (New London and East Lyme sites) and Reliance Health (Norwich).

Salt Marsh Opera – Kids Love Opera! 2019 present The Magic Flute $4,000

Salt Marsh Opera presents an all-inclusive, participatory opportunities to experience music, engaging in unfamiliar cultures and exploring the lessons learned to today’s world. Kids Love Opera! is a free project to local schools, fully funded through grants and donations. Almost 1,000 Groton and Norwich students will participate, together with other students located throughout New London County. The program’s effectiveness is drawn from the four-prong approach of Study Guide, two in-school visits and final performance, combined with teacher involvement. Collaboration between Salt Marsh Opera and local schools provides a rare opportunity for students to experience a totally unfamiliar art form, all presented in glorious song.

Southeastern CT Cultural Coalition serves as a Regional Service Organization for our region to support the CT Office of the Arts and conducted the grant panel for our region.

REGI Grant Panel Team: (From L-R): Deb Mathiasen, Cultural Coalition; Jane Clukay, Make Music Day Volunteer; Shiela Hayes, Sankofa Education and Leadership; Catherine Young, Groton – New London Airport’s Art in the Airport Program; Nishant Sahoo, Cultural Coalition Board Member; Adriane Jefferson, CT Office of the Arts; Wendy Bury, Cultural Coalition