The Rockford Area Arts Council has many resources for the community and artists. WNIJ's Yvonne Boose follows up with Executive Director Mary McNamara Bernsten to find out how things are going. First up: art grants.
Mary McNamara Bernsten (MMB):
So, in a key collaborative relationship following the completion of the cultural plan, Winnebago County has offered what it calls technological service hours through Region 1 Planning Council to help us research grants relevant to the arts and culture sector.
So, those grants could be for performing artists, poets, capital projects or permanent collections. There are all types of grants out there, and the Arts Council is a small enough agency that we don't have anyone solely dedicated to finding and writing grants. That's just me. This partnership provides wonderful support while also strengthening the relationship between economic development and the creative sector.
Yvonne Boose (YB):
Now I know that the Arts Council has a newsletter, and you send out different things. How would people, who are not on that list, find out about the grants?
MMB:
Well, I always love to plug, Yvonne, that we are a membership agency, and my first thought is, please become a member of the Rockford Area Arts Council and support this type of work. But if you are from, the outside and not sure how to access it? One, we're very accessible through email, and we have all of that contact information at ArtsForEveryone.com. And then we have these resource groups for the different types of creatives. We also have our Arts and Culture Partner Group, which includes more than 130 organizations across Boone and Winnebago counties and those groups are the ones that receive these grants, as well as our round tables for those individual artist groups.
YB:
All right, now I want to switch gears and talk about the summer programs. Tell me about how things are being funded and tell me about what type of things the kids will be doing or able to do this summer when it comes to the arts.
MMB:
So, we have two divisions of our Spark program. One is Spark at Washington Park, which is a year-round arts enrichment for kids at the Washington Park Community Center. So, that's its own thing happening, and it has its own summer program, but it closely mirrors our summer program, which is open to the public where kids aren't part of Washington Park Community Center. And these are open to anyone, they're free camps, they're open to anyone in Boone and Winnebago counties, and these camps span three different age groups. We have a camp for elementary kids, and then we have two camps available for junior high and high school students.
So, we have something called Spark Mosaic for the junior high and high school, we have Spark Somnium, which is a multimedia camp where kids can be involved in creative writing and poetry, set design and construction, muralism, music, dance, movement, all sorts of ways students can engage with the arts, and that's junior high and high school as well. And then we have Spark in the Park, which is a wonderful program for elementary-age kids. Enrollment increased 56% last year. So, we are really committed to this feeder program to these other more specialized programs. So, it's Spark in the Park. When you have grade school kids, we just try to throw at them as many mediums, give them as much exposure to the arts as possible in ways that really matter to them, and they find a lot of enjoyment with.
YB:
Now the other thing I want to talk about is the civic center that you guys are working on. What's the status of that?
MMB:
The Armory is in an exciting phase. We are in a moment where we have begun the environmental remediation phase. We hired Fehr Graham, an engineering and environmental planning firm, in October of last year. Fehr Graham then helped with the bidding process to hire Husar Abatement Ltd., which will serve as the contractor for the environmental remediation beginning this month.
YB:
What's the date we're looking at as far as everything being ready for the artists to use?
MMB:
Okay, so if you're looking for end date, the big end date. I think it's safe to say that our goal would be three years from the end of this year. So, I would say 2030.
YB:
Now, is there anything else that I did not ask you about that you think our listeners need to know?
MMB:
I encourage people to become a member of things that really matter to them, and we see in the Rockford region arts and culture matter.
YB:
Well, Mary, thank you so much for taking the time out to speak with me today.
MMB:
Thank you, Yvonne. I love talking with you. Thanks.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
