Alabama Arts - News & Features

State Arts News

Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Photography by Mark Gooch. To view this publication and read more about these honored artists, click here.

ALABAMA AL DIA: A Report On Hispanic Cultures. For more information about this report, click here

Grants Awarded at September Council Meeting The Council awarded 184 grants totaling $2,276,390 at its recent meeting in Fort Payne, Alabama. For information on grants awarded, please click here.

Educational Resources Available. For more information, click here

Alabama Arts Education Summit

The Alabama Alliance for Arts Education hosted Alabama Arts Education Summit 2008 – Essential Links: Creating Partnerships to Ensure Quality Arts Education at Troy University, in Troy, Alabama. The Summit was held February 21 - 23, 2008. Future Summit are planned and will be announced later.

This exciting venture put arts education front and center in Alabama. Major speakers Jonathan Katz, (Executive Director, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies), Karen Erickson, (Executive Director, Creative Directions, Evanston, IL), and Martha McKenna, (Provost, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA) attended and presented. During the 3-day Summit, the importance of arts education in Alabama was considered and how it impacted the future of our children. It also explored how to form connections between K-12 schools/ systems/ administrators, after school arts programs, higher education, teacher training programs, teaching artists, cultural arts organizations, businesses and community members in order to advance the Alabama Arts Education Plan.

To view APT's Capitol Journal video about the Education Summit, click here.

Alabama Students compete in the National Poetry Out Loud Competition For more info, click here.

Pietrasanta, Italy Mayor Massimo Mallegni and Al Head initiate Alabama & Pietrasanta's Cultural Exchange, August 2007

ALABAMA ESTABLISHING INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL

EXCHANGE WITH PIETRASANTA, ITALY IN JUNE 2008

Al Head, Executive Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts announced the establishment of an international cultural exchange with Pietrasanta, Italy and Alabama beginning June 2008. According to Mr. Head, “Even though separated by great distance, language and history, the State of Alabama and the City of Pietrasanta, Italy have much to share and celebrate. Our people appreciate great art; know the arts elevate the joy of living and value culture as an essential element of community life. Our common threads bring us together and our differences present opportunities to learn from one another.”

Over the years numerous Alabama sculptors have traveled to Pietrasanta to have their work cast at the world famous foundries that are so much a part of the city’s history. It was through these artists, in particular Nall, the Alabama State Council on the Arts was introduced to Pietrasanta and conversations about cultural exchange first began. The dedication of Nall’s “Peace Frame” in August 2007 was part of ceremonies officially declaring a cultural exchange relationship between Alabama and Pietrasanta.

To read more about this international event, click here.

Alabama Masters: Artists and Their Work was produced in conjunction with the Alabama Year of the Arts, an initiative of the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Alabama Masters: Artists and Their Work features forty-two artists and is a partnership publication between the Alabama State Council on the Arts and six major art museums in the state. The full color paperback features an essay and images of each artist’s work, with the goal of honoring the individual artists and highlighting museum collections. The selection of artists was based on guidelines determined by the museum directors. Al Head, executive director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Gail C. Andrews, the R. Hugh Daniel Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art, contributed essays. Georgine Clarke, visual arts program manager at the Alabama State Council on the Arts, coordinated the publication.

The National Endowment for the Arts has funded a series of projects throughout the country under the broad heading of American Masterpieces, and this publication is Alabama’s contribution. It is a major step toward compiling the state’s visual arts history, cultural fabric, and national contributions of its artists.

The six participating museums are Birmingham Museum of Art, Huntsville Museum of Art, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art at Auburn University, Mobile Museum of Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, and Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan. Featured master artists range from turn-of-the-last-century painters John Kelly Fitzpatrick, Anne Goldthwaite, Louise Lyons Heustis, John Roderick Dempster MacKenzie, and Clara Weaver Parrish to contemporary artists Kerry James Marshall, Frank Fleming, William Christenberry, and Dale Kennington.

The book is available for a $25 donation to the Alabama Craft Council. For information, contact Georgine Clarke at georgine.clarke@arts.alabama.gov

Links:

http://www.800alabama.com/

http://www.arts.state.al.us/

http://www.arts.endow.gov/

Art Exhibitions

Alabama Artists Gallery

The Alabama State Council on the Arts is proud to showcase the work of

Alabama artists in its Montgomery gallery in the RSA Tower.

Hours are Monday - Friday 8 a.m - 5 p.m.

Exhibition: “Cultural Exchange/Alabama to Italy”

July 9, 2008 - September 12, 2008

This exhibition includes works sent to Pietrasanta, Italy for exhibition June 1-15, 2008:

Story quilts, “Stitching History,” Yvonne Wells, Tuscaloosa.

Photographs, “Selma to Montgomery: A March for the Right to Vote,” Spider Martin.

Letter-press posters, Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., York.

Also included are text panels about Alabama community and folk traditions.

In addition to these exhibitions, artists Charlie Lucas and Bruce Larsen travelled to Italy to create works using discarded materials found in the city. Their exhibition, “Brothers: An Art Collaboration, was created during two weeks and was left as a gift to the City of Pietrasanta.

Georgine Clarke, Visual Arts Program Manager, Gallery Director,

Phone: 334-242-4076, ext. 250

To view information on past exhibitions, click here.

The Alabama delegation of 34 people featured The Birmingham Sunlights presenting Gospel music, Bobby Horton with historical and traditional music, and Kent DuChaine performing blues. Programs also included Alabama literature (“To Kill a Mockingbird”) and a film series screening five films adapted from Alabama writers’ books, or written by Alabamians.

Governor Bob Riley expressed, “As Governor of the State of Alabama, I share the enthusiasm of our arts community and a broad range of public officials regarding the establishment of a cultural exchange with the City of Pietrasanta, Italy. Our state is rich in the arts and diverse cultural resources. In June of this year we are eager to share some of our best artists with the fine people of Pietrasanta. As well, we are looking forward with great anticipation to hosting a group of Italian artists and officials to Alabama in 2009.”

State Legislative News

Regional & National News

Alabama Legislative Audio Services
Listen to live internet audio feeds when the Senate is in session.

Alabama Legislature
Site contains a variety of information about the Alabama Legislature including pages for each Member of the House and Senate and current bills. A zip code look-up feature enables you to find the names of your Representatives and Senators.

AlaWeb
The Alabama Information Network. Visit the State of Alabama's Official Web Site. AlaWeb is your portal to Alabama state government information.

National Endowment for the Arts

Many of the programs and services of the Alabama State Council on the Arts as well as those of local arts groups in Alabama are made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. (Listing of most recently awarded NEA grants in Alabama.)

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Current national arts news including coverage of the Congress and NEA as well as features on arts activities in various states.

Arts Wire Current News
Current news and events reported by Arts Wire.

National Government Links

FirstGov
Guide to the U.S. Government
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
Legislative Information at the Library of Congress
White House

Features

License Tag Committee

Donna Russell, (Chairman) Montgomery

Julie Friedman, Fairhope

Wayne Greenhaw, Montgomery

Representative Jay Love, Montgomery

Rep. Tommy Sherer, Jasper

Sara Wright, Montgomery

Next Scheduled License Tag Committee Meeting:

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Montgomery, Alabama

Alabama State Council on the Arts Conference Room

PLEASE NOTE: Applications must be received no later than 5:00 P.M. on January 5th to guarantee review. If you have questions, please call (334) 242-4076, ext. 248.o

"Support the Arts" License Plate

The Alabama Legislature has approved the issue of a new Support the Arts auto tag. Proceeds from the sale of the tag will be used to fund a variety of school and community projects. Buy one the next time you renew your auto plate or exchange your current plate for one of the new Support the Arts plate at your county Probate Judge's Office.

For an application for funding your project, please click here.

If you have already received a tag grant and need to complete a final report form, please click here.

Grant Awards List

click here for list!
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Click here for info about the Arts Award Program and how to nominate