Friday Funds!

Are you a filmmaker with a documentary in production?

Don't miss next Friday's deadline for the ITVS Open Call. Open Call provides completion funds for single nonfiction public television programs on any subject, and from any viewpoint. Projects must have begun production as evidenced by a work-in-progress video.

More info at the ITVS site here >>

Steve Brudniak's Exhibit Closes This Saturday

Want to see actual outer-space art?

Through the month of July, Blue Star has been featuring Austin-based sculptor Steve Brudniak's artwork, including Neumenon (pictured here).

"These sculptures appear to be machines or ritual objects operating in some bizarre institution but are in fact, assemblages of found objects imbued with science elements including: samples of the oldest life ever discovered, lenses which reflect 3-dimensional images, inorganic "specimens" in fluid and fiber optic projections. Most take months to finish, some as long as a year. This new body of work reflects upon the principal/condition Noumenon; the emptiness from which all things emerge.

The show will also include Brudniak's, Astrogeneris Mementos which were launched into outer space and exhibited on the International Space Station for the first ever art show in outer space."

Steve Brudniak's site is here >>

The Blue Star Contemporary Art Center is one of 27 affiliates of theFund. Donations to theFund help provide financial operating support to qualified arts and cultural organizations.

Cool Glass Art @ the McNay

Need a creative respite from the height of summer? Cool off in the glow of the Mathews Glass Art collection in the sublime glass pavilion of the Stieren Center at the McNay Art Museum.

"Focused on the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods in France, one of the most creative chapters in the history of glass, the Mathews collection superbly complements the McNay’s strengths in French painting and sculpture of this same period. The great glass producers of the time are included, from Daum Frères and Emile Gallé to René Lalique, as well as rare works by Gabriel Argy-Rousseau, François Decorchement, and Jacques Gruber."

The exhibit runs through August 29 and is located at the Garden Level of the Stieren Center for Exhibitions.

The McNay is one of 27 affiliates of theFund. Donations to theFund help provide financial operating support to qualified arts and cultural organizations.

Friday Funds!

Every Friday, we share links and information on funding opportunities for arts and cultural organizations.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) are jointly sponsoring two new funding opportunities for the arts community:

1. the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant (SCRPG), deadline August 23, 2010. Read the full program guidelines.
2. a combination of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program and the Sustainable Community Challenge Grant program, pre-application deadline is July 26, 2010 and the full application deadline is August 23, 2010. Read the full program guidelines.

Local arts agencies are encouraged to work with our city and county governments to apply for these new funding opportunities to create more livable communities through the arts.

For more information, checkout this powerpoint >>

If you’re applying for one of these grants for San Antonio, keep us in the loop and let us know how we can support you.

San Antonio's United Art Fund: the Only UAF in Texas

You might wonder what distinguishes a United Art Fund (UAF) from other funding organizations. A UAF connects workers and artists in a specific community. Through workplace-giving campaigns, a UAF provides employees of a campaign partner the opportunity to learn more about the arts in their community and to easily contribute to funding for their community arts and cultural programs. A campaign partner can be a corporation or a small business, a school or a university; it can also be a fellow arts, science, or cultural organization.

As Americans for the Arts tells it:

The UAF movement began in 1949, when civic leaders in Cincinnati, OH, and Louisville, KY, determined that community-wide campaigns, loosely based upon the United Way model, could raise substantially more money to provide ongoing operating support to their major arts institutions. Over the past 54 years, more than 100 communities across the country—both large and small—have established UAFs with more than 60 currently operating in the United States.

Based on his experience with United Art Funds in other cities, Dennis Cuneo of Toyota Motor Manufacturing introduced the idea to County Judge Nelson Wolff in 2003. That year, an area wide survey indicated that 70% of those surveyed would make a payroll deduction gift to a United Art Fund if given the opportunity.

To date, theFund has received donations from employees through over 60 campaign partners and provides financial operating support to 27 affiliate organizations.

"The Music Man" Opens Friday @ San Pedro Playhouse

Meredith Willson’s brilliant exploration of turn-of-the-century America where, before the advent of television or the internet, a con-man with a heart of gold might outrun his reputation. Harold Hill, sells uniforms, instruments and lessons to a small town in Iowa even though he doesn’t know a sharp from a flat. When he falls hard for the local music teacher, Marion the Librarian, he dallies long enough for his reputation to catch up with him and, well…”you’ve got trouble, my friends, right here in River City!” “76 Trombones”, “My White Knight”, “Gary Indiana”, “Shipoopi” and “Till There Was You” are but a few of the hits from this beloved American musical classic. The whole family will want to sing along.

"The Music Man" runs July 23 through August 22.

Learn more and purchase tickets at the Playhouse website here >>

San Pedro Playhouse is one of 27 affiliates of theFund. Donations to theFund help provide financial operating support to qualified arts and cultural organizations.

2 to Watch: Ken Little & Trey Moore

This collaborative program between Artpace and Gemini Ink pairs Artpace WindowWorks artist Ken Little with poet Trey Moore for an evening of words and images. 2 to Watch gathers literary and visual arts audiences for a critical discussion and examination of crossovers between the genres.

This image is courtesy of Ken's website here >>

Trey Moore and his book of poetry, Some Will Play the Cello, here >>

When: Thursday, July 22, 6:30 - 8:00.

Where: Artpace, 445 N. Main Ave. San Antonio TX 78205.

Feel the Heat! Raul Servin’s exhibition, Puro Chile Series@ Galeria Expresion

Centro Cultural Aztlan is delighted to present local artist Raul Servin’s, solo exhibition Puro Chile Series at Galeria Expresion.

A native to Acapulco, Raul Servin came to San Antonio in 1968 to help paint various murals for the Flying Indians Pavilion at HemisFair, commemorating the 250^th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio. Ever since, Servin has been an active contributor to the San Antonio art scene.

About his Puro Chile Series, Servin, asserts that –-

the purpose for this series wasn’t to paint the different kinds of ‘chiles’ but to make visible the struggles and celebrations of my people on both sides of the border. For this series, I try to blend my hybrid Mexican culture and American experiences into a single entity. I combine history, mythology, religion, politics and struggles, past and present, real and contrived. At the end of this series I have a sense of fulfillment in my purpose of adding more color, and spice to the series as well as identity.

Centro Cultural Aztlan/Galeria Expresion

1800 Fredericksburg Rd., Suite 103 in the Historic Art Deco Building.

The exhibition runs through the end of July and is free and open to the public.

Centro Cultural Aztlan are among the 27 affiliates of theFund. Donations to theFund help provide financial operating support to qualified arts and cultural organizations.

Tonight: Free Screening of Award-Winning Documentary, LIBBY, MONTANA

Gemini Ink, in partnership with SAY Sí, kicks off an ongoing PBS POV (point-of-view) documentary series with a screening of Libby, Montana. Previously aired on PBS’ popular P.O.V. series, this documentary follows the tumultuous and shocking struggle of a small town whose health and security was sacrificed by the mining company that fueled their economy. Summer faculty member and the film’s director and producer, Doug Hawes-Davis, will be on hand to take questions following the screening. The event is free and open to the public.

7pm, Friday, July 16
SAY Sí • 1518 S. Alamo

Watch the film’s trailer here >>

P.O.V. is broadcast on public television station KLRN, Tuesday evenings at 10:00. Check out the P.O.V. line-up here >>

Gemini Ink, SAY Sí, and KLRN are among the 27 affiliates of theFund. Donations to theFund help provide financial operating support to qualified arts and cultural organization.