FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT
Carabeth Connolly
carabeth_connolly@town.brookline.ma.us

BROOKLINE COMMISSION FOR THE ARTS AWARDS OVER $10K

FOR LOCAL ARTS PROGRAMMING

JANUARY 17, 2008–The Brookline Commission for the Arts (BCA) has announced the award of 11 grants totaling $10,320, for cultural programs in the Town of Brookline. The grants were awarded from a pool of funds distributed to Brookline by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency that supports public programs and educational activities in the arts, sciences and humanities.

Grant recipients cover a wide range of arts and cultural activities including both visual and performing arts as well as individual artists and organizations. Supported activities include a string music concert series, a youth theater program, a visual arts installation at the Brookline Public Library, several community performing arts events, and an exhibition at the Brookline Arts Center.

"We were thrilled by the large number of exciting proposals this year," said Brenda Sullivan, Co-chair of the Brookline Commission for the Arts. "It was a very competitive year and we are proud to help these talented individuals and worthy organizations to bring their artistic initiatives to the Brookline community."

The Brookline Commission for the Arts will be hosting a public reception to recognize all recipients on May 7, 2008.
A complete list of recipients and grant amounts can be found below.

Artist / Group	Project	Amount
Afternoon Concerts Boston	Afternoon Concert 14 and 15	$1,000
Artbarn Community Theater, Inc.	Split Hares Traveling Troupe	$1,000
Brookline Arts Center	Artist NOW Exhibition and Panel	$750
Richard Clark	Shakespeare, Lunatic Lover and Poet - Brookline	$350
Coolidge Corner Community Chorus	Gala Spring Concert	$1,070
Bette Ann Libby	Brookline Town-Wide Mosaic Column Project Exhibition	$1,000
Performing Artists at Lincoln School	Spring Performance Outreach Project	$1,000
Puppet Showplace, Inc.	National Day of Puppetry	$1,500
John Root	Popular Music of the Gaslight Era	$400
Wendy Soneson	Brookline Women	$500
Studios Without Walls	Not-Books: Exhibition of Site-Responsive Art in the Library	$1,750

The Brookline Commission for the Arts is part of a grass-roots network of 329 local councils that serve every city and town in the state. The program is the largest, most decentralized one of its kind in the United States. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which then allocates funds to each local council. Decisions about which activities to support are made at the community level by a board of municipally appointed volunteers.

Statewide, local cultural councils will distribute more than $2.65 million in 2008. Grants will support an enormous range of grass-roots activities: concerts, exhibitions, radio and video productions, field trips for schoolchildren, after-school youth programs, writing workshops, historical preservation efforts, lectures, First Night celebrations, nature and science education programs for families and town festivals. Nearly half of LCC funds support educational activities for young people

The BCA will seek applications again in the fall. Information and forms will be available at Town Hall in late summer and on our website www.brooklinearts.org

For more information about these projects or about the ongoing efforts of the BCA, please contact Carabeth Connolly, carabeth_connolly@town.brookline.ma.us