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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2010
Contact: Greg Liakos,
Communications Director 617-727-3668 x343
Rob Watson, Communications
Coordinator 617-727-3668 x268
State Fellowships Honor Exceptional
Artists
MCC Announces Grants in Drawing, Painting, Traditional Arts
(Boston, MA) -- The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) has recognized
30 Massachusetts artists for creating work of exceptional quality
in the disciplines of drawing, painting, and traditional arts. The
MCC’s Artist Fellowship Program will award $7,500 unrestricted grants
to 15 artists, and distinguish 15 others as finalists with $500
grants.
MCC’s Artist Fellowships recognize the unique contribution made
by artists to the cultural vitality of the Commonwealth. The fellowships
provide direct assistance to Massachusetts artists to recognize
excellence and creative ability, and to support further development
of their talents. MCC chronicles the impact of these awards in the
Fellows Notes section of its ArtSake blog. Over the years, many
artists of national and international prominence have won MCC fellowships.
“Massachusetts has a large and thriving community of working artists,”
said MCC Executive Director Anita Walker. “For these 30 individuals,
the fellowships provide some of the financial support that is needed
to compete in the global cultural marketplace.”
- Drawing fellow Evelyn Rydz of Jamaica Plain was also just announced
as a nominee for the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston’s James
and Audrey Foster Prize 2010.
- Traditional Arts fellow Balla Kouyaté of Medford is a virtuoso
player of the balaphon, the ancient West African ancestor of the
xylophone. He carries on an 800-year-old musical tradition that
has survived in his family for generations.
- Drawing fellow Daniel Ranalli of Cambridge has won two awards
from the National Endowment for the Arts. His work is included
in the permanent collections of New York’s Museum of Modern Art,
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and the San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art, among others.
- Chris Faust of Boston holds degrees from Mass. College of Art
Design, Art Institute of Boston, and the School of the Museum of
Fine Arts. A Painting fellow, Faust also creates works on paper
and Super 8 films.
- Painting finalist Scott Listfield of Somerville is known for his
paintings featuring a lone exploratory astronaut lost in a landscape
cluttered with pop culture icons, corporate logos, and tongue-in-cheek
science fiction references.
A full list of the artists selected since 2003, along with digital
images and video clips of their work, is available online at the
Gallery@MCC at http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/gallery.asp.
The MCC Artist Fellowship Program awards grants in specific artistic
disciplines on a biennial cycle. Applications are accepted from
any artist who lives and works in Massachusetts. Later this year,
MCC will award fellowships in choreography, fiction/creative nonfiction,
and poetry. Next year, fellowships will be awarded in crafts, film
& video, music composition, photography, playwriting, and sculpture/installation.
Artist awards are based on recommendations by independent panels
of experts who practice in the disciplines they review.
About the Massachusetts Cultural Council
The Massachusetts Cultural Council promotes excellence, access,
education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive
sciences, in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts
residents and contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.
MCC is a state agency committed to building a central place for
arts and culture in the everyday lives of communities across the
Commonwealth. It pursues this mission through a combination of grants,
services and advocacy for cultural organizations, schools, communities
and artists. MCC receives an annual appropriation from the state
Legislature and funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and
other sources.
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Massachusetts Cultural Council 2010 |
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