arts+entertainment
A Bright New Year for the Fund for the Arts By Nicholas Siegel Photos courtesy of Fund for the arts
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he Greater Louisville area is lucky to have a vibrant and exciting arts culture. This is in part, thanks to the Fund for the Arts, a regional non-profit that tries to bring arts access to every member of our community, especially for students, the working class and seniors. The fund’s emphasis is on working with resources to make sure everyone in our community has high quality arts access and works to ensure the arts have an integral role to play when it comes to fueling our regional economy. Through continued hard work and community support, the Fund for the Arts has plans to make 2017 an eventful year. Recently, the fund was excited to announce, along with the mayor, representatives from Churchill Downs and the ACA (Arts and Culture Alliance), that the Cultural Pass, presented by Churchill Downs, will be returning this summer. “We’re most excited about that because this is an opportunity to make sure students are engaged with the arts and culture community year round,” says Eric Gurevich, Director of Communications and Engagement. “We know that summer learning loss really adversely affects students.”
us to serve even more people and create more experiences that possibly affect the community,” Gurevich says. “Hopefully it gives folks just a little bit more of an incentive to participate and get engaged.” April 29, the Saturday before Derby, will be opening night for Churchill Downs. During this celebration, the Fund for the Arts will be showcasing Louisville’s arts community. Last year, the fund was able to bring over 200 artists and performers around every corner of the track, bringing the best of Louisville’s arts scene to horse racing fans. The event will also provide compensation and support for the participating artists. A separate event that will happen on the same night will be the second annual Awards in the Arts that’s co-hosted by the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation and Churchill Downs. “Last year we sold out the stakes room,” Gurevich says. “We had about 750 guests, and we were able to recognize six different artists and arts organi-
zations for the impact that they’re making in our arts community. Over just about 30,000 dollars was granted to those artists and arts organizations.” Through the same event last year, the Fund for the Arts was able to net over 240,000 for the then newly created Jennifer Lawrence Arts Fund. This year, they’re hoping to build on that momentum and celebrate the artists for what they bring to the community, while also making sure they continue to raise funds for the foundation. Through the crowdfunding platform ArtsMatch, the fund is currently raising money for nine different arts based projects that are specifically intended to reach new and underserved audiences. It’s also the second year of the Arts for Kosair Kids, which brings weekly arts residencies to special needs Kosair agencies. “We’re able to partner some of our culture partners and some of the arts groups in town here in making sure our special needs students
Through the single largest charitable gift from Churchill Downs to the Fund for the Arts, they are able to ensure that students have transformative arts experiences and that they remain endeared to the arts community from a young age. This is achieved through partnerships with the mayor’s office, the ACA and the Louisville Free Public Library. The fund was also proud to announce, with the leadership of their campaign chair, President of LGE and KU Energy Paul Thompson, that LGE has issued a 100,000 dollar challenge grant. This means that any new, individual donation between one and five thousand dollars will be matched. “That doubles the impact, and it allows
2016 Awards in the Arts Yum! Brands Foundation Arts Education Award went to StageOne Family Theatre. StageOne Executive Director Peter Holloway accepting the reward on behalf of the children’s theatre organization.