Two Grant Opportunities for Cancer Survivors

Lilly Oncology on Canvas 2008 Art Competition
Deadline: June 30, 2008
The Lilly Oncology on Canvas: Expressions of a Cancer Journey Art Competition and Exhibition was developed by Eli Lilly and Company in 2004 as a way to honor the journeys people embark upon when confronted with a cancer diagnosis. Lilly Oncology presents the 2008 Lilly Oncology on Canvas Art Competition and Exhibition in partnership with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. More…
Capelli d’Angeli Foundation
Capelli d’Angeli Foundation is offering a limited number of fellowship grants of up to $500 each, for women artists who are in treatment or survivors of cancer and are creating art in all media. Grant recipients and award amounts will be determined after a thorough review of the artist’s work as shown by her images. More…

Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Accepting Applications for ArtsCONNECT Program

This may be of interest to those of you working with outside presenters and workshop instructors:

Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Accepting Applications for ArtsCONNECT Program
Deadline: March 24, 2008
The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation ( http://midatlanticarts.org/ ) serves the states and territories of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia. The foundation's ArtsCONNECT program supports collaborations among presenters to facilitate tours of artists involving all the performing arts disciplines across the mid-Atlantic region.
Only presenter consortia are eligible to apply to the program. For the purposes of the program, the foundation defines a presenter as an organization that selects and engages professional touring artists to perform work before audiences in their communities. Presenters manage all the local requirements for the performance and facilitate the interaction between artists and audiences. Producing organizations, which create artistic work or assemble artists to perform as ensembles for performances, are not eligible to apply.
Each presenter partner in the consortium must be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization or a unit of government. The presenter consortium must include at least three presenting organizations from at least two mid-Atlantic states.
ArtsCONNECT projects must utilize professional touring artists from performing arts disciplines, including dance, music, opera, theater, jazz, and folk/traditional arts, that have been touring at least two years. At least one complementary activity (exhibitions, lecture/demonstrations, master classes, residencies, workshops, etc.) must take place as part of the tour.
ArtsCONNECT grant amounts are determined as a percentage of the contracted artist's fee (including commissioning fees, if applicable). ArtsCONNECT grants require a one-to-one cash match. Presenters must apply for a minimum of $500 per engagement.
Visit the foundation's Web site for complete program guidelines, eligibility requirements, and application procedures.
RFP Link: http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10010973/midatlanticarts

SOCIETY FOR DISABILITY STUDIES "LOGO DESIGN" CONTEST

What does SDS mean to you? How do you see us represented? SDS is revamping its public image, and we are seeking a new logo to help define what SDS represents now and where you would like to see the organization headed in the future. Design a logo that captures the spirit and sensibility of SDS and help us build a consistent "brand" to be used across all SDS materials that truly represents your SDS!

Please circulate this flyer to artists, advocates, educators, web designers, etc, creative and non-creative people alike.

Submissions need not come from SDS members. But they should meet the following criteria:

* All designs must be original artwork.

* The logo should represent disability in a way that people from diverse communities and perspectives can identify with.

* The logo should not represent any singular disability; instead, it should illustrate a multi-faceted, cross-disability design.

* The logo should have high contrast and/or other considerations for blind and visually impaired access.

* Submissions should consider universal design objectives generally

* There are no size requirements, but design should be able to withstand scaling (up and down) to various sizes.

* All else being equal, SDS members will receive priority. (So if you are not a member already, please consider joining now!

Please submit the logo as a power point slide or jpeg attachment, and include a short paragraph about how the design represents SDS. (Photos will not be accepted.)

The new Society for Disability Studies logo will be widely used on both formal and informal items: letterhead, web pages, merchandise, etc. It is one way to have a lasting impact on SDS and the disability community at large. The winner, selected by the SDS Board, will receive widespread recognition and a free one-year membership to SDS (other prizes available.)

Please email submissions or further inquiries to Christine Komoroski McCohnell and Michele Friedner

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2007. The winner will be announced in mid-December.

Terry Lynn Smith

Our good friend Terry Lynn Smith recently announced that her website has been updated with new work and scheduled shows. Visit the site here.

Want to share your latest news with the VSA arts of Virginia community? Send your news to ehickey_at_vsava.org. (Please replace "_at_" with the @ symbol).

Performers Needed

Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts (formerly the Non-Traditional Casting Project) is expanding its Artist Files/Online (AFO) national database for performers with disabilities. Since 1986, the Alliance has been committed to helping meet the casting needs of networks, studios, theatres, artistic directors, and independent producers. AFO has received more than 5,000 consultations from producers, directors, and casting directors from across the country.

If you are a performer with a disability and would like to be included in their national talent database at no charge, please send one headshot and resume to:

Christine Bruno
Disability Advocate
Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts
1560 Broadway, Suite 1600
New York, NY 10036

To ensure proper classification in our database, please include the nature of your disability and any accommodations and/or assistive devices used, along with any union affiliations.

Please note: AFO accepts only professionally reproduced copies of headshots. No Xerox, fax, scanned, or email copies PLEASE. They also keep a hard copy of each headshot and resume on file in their office.

VSA National Call for Entries

"Driven" Call for Entries

Deadline: July 6, 2007 (midnight, MST).

Sponsored by VSA arts and Volkswagen of America, Inc.

Open to emerging artists with disabilities, ages 16 -25, living within the U.S.

No entry fee. "Driven" challenges artists to pinpoint the motivational force behind their artistic expression and to identify the catalyst that sustains their creative energy. Art must be an original work that has been completed in the last three (3) years. Eligible media includes: paintings, drawings, fine art prints, photography, computer-generated prints, and mixed media; must be presented in two dimensions. Artwork should not exceed 60 inches in either direction. Fifteen (15) finalists will be awarded a total of $60,000 in awards during an awards ceremony on Capitol Hill in September 2007, and artwork will be displayed in a nation-wide touring exhibition that debuts at the Smithsonian.

For additional information and to access the application, please visitor contact: http://www.vsarts.org/VWcall
Phone: 800.933.8721 x3885
Email: jenniferw@vsarts.org
Alternative formats of the application are available upon request.

Upcoming Workshop: Prepare to Include

Prepare to Include: A Workshop for Teaching Artists
Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen
Saturday, June 16, 2007 from 10am until 2pm

Are you actively including the diverse perspectives and approaches of learners with disabilities in your lesson plans? Why should we be offering inclusive arts instruction to learners with diverse abilities?

This short workshop and workbook are packed with practical information that will give teaching artists a clear understanding of how to:

~ Ensure general physical accessibility
~ Reach out to diverse audiences when marketing
~ Apply disability etiquette and establish a classroom culture that
promotes equality
~ Use state and local resources to ensure physical and instructional
accessibility and
~ Apply practical barrier-specific solutions to common challenges to
effectively including learners with unique needs

Fees are $10 for teaching artists who have disabilities and $15 for all others. Fees include workshop materials and snacks. The registration form can be downloaded in Word format by following this link:
https://vsava.sslpowered.com/Forms/Workshop%20Registration%206.16.07.doc

Artist Takes Inspiration from Amputation

"Lisa Bufano is an award-winning artist who recently performed her first major dance work to a packed house in New York. She is also a double amputee."

Listen to the story on NPR by by Andrea Shea and see video excerpts from the performance. Click here.

Opportunity to participate in a research study about careers in the arts

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT FREELY TO ALL WHO MAY BE INTERESTED:

If you are an American with a disability pursuing a primary career in the arts, or if you have been deeply involved in supporting careers in the arts for people with disabilities:

JOIN A "VIRTUAL FOCUS GROUP" ON THIS IMPORTANT TOPIC!

WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?
We are conducting a research project based at the University of Illinois at Chicago called, "Experiences of Individuals with Disabilities Pursuing Careers in the Arts: Creating a National Portrait" funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (PS 04-01). We are gathering data bearing on two primary research questions:

1. What are the barriers and facilitators mediating access to careers in the arts for Americans with disabilities?

2. What are the social, personal, and economic outcomes of training and work in the arts for Americans with disabilities?

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
Next month, we will open a 6-week e-mail discussion forum focusing on one question per week regarding careers in the arts for Americans with disabilities.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
You are eligible to participate in our "virtual focus group" if you are age 18 or over AND you are at least ONE of the following:

--a disabled or nondisabled resident of the U.S. with intensive involvement or experience in arts careers and disability.

--a U.S. resident with a disability working in or pursuing careers involving the arts (e.g., arts training, administration, program development), or a career artist with a disability in the U.S.

HOW TO JOIN:
For more information about participating, contact:

Terri Thrower
Graduate Research Assistant
tthrow1@uic.edu

Contact Ms. Thrower as soon as possible because the enrollment deadline is April 6, and the virtual focus group begins on April 16.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS: The researchers conducting this study are Carol J. Gill, Ph.D. and Carrie Sandahl, Ph.D. If you have questions, you may contact the researchers at:

University of Illinois at Chicago (MC 626)
(312) 355-0550 v
1640 W. Roosevelt Road, Room 236
(312) 996-1233 TTY
Chicago, IL 60608
(312) 996-0885 fax
E-mail: cg16@uic.edu

A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster

PORTLAND, MAINE.- The Portland Museum of Art presents A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr., on view January 25, 2007 - March 25, 2007. The first comprehensive exhibition on the important American painter John Brewster, Jr. (1766-1854), this show features 50 outstanding paintings illustrating the full range of Brewster’s long and successful career. Brewster was not an artist who incidentally was Deaf but rather a Deaf artist, one in a long tradition that owes many of its features and achievements to the fact that Deaf people are, as scholars have noted, visual people. The exhibition and companion book provide a major assessment of Brewster’s life and art within his four worlds: his artistic influences, his distinctive painting style and techniques, his elite clientele, and the world of the Deaf in early America. He is particularly noted for his portraits of children, who are depicted with an angelic innocence rarely achieved in portrait painting.

The exhibition was organized by the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York, and is funded in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the American Folk Art Society, Robert and Katharine Booth, and Jon and Rebecca Zoler. This exhibition has been made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Masterpieces program.

The Portland venue has been generously sponsored by Norton Insurance and Financial Services. Media support has been provided by WCSH 6 and Port City Life.

You can find more information about John Brewster's life and work by visiting Antiques and the Arts Online.

Image credit: John Brewster Jr, "One Shoe Off,” 1807, possibly Connecticut, 34 7/8 by 24 7/8 inches. Fenimore Art Museum.