State Council on the Arts grants totaling $324,000 have been announced for various area organizations to help support local artists and cultural activities. New York sponsors over 1,600 groups statewide from a $222.5 million fund approved by the legislature. The council also manages a $132.5 million capital fund to repair and improve facilities for the many non-profits.
“I’m glad that the state is recognizing the excellent work of these groups and providing funding to help keep their programs going,” said Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano in announcing the grants. The council supports visual, literary, performing, and media arts, arts education, and individual artists, the Assemblyman noted.
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| Suffolk County Historical Society File Photo |
The Center for Environmental Education and Discovery, CEED, will receive $30,000 to further its mission to “connect our community to nature and science with the creative use of discovery, art, and education.” The group manages more than 60 acres of land entrusted to it by the Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County and is restoring and renovating the historic Washington Lodge, bringing it to life as a center of learning, art, and collaboration centered on love and respect for nature. The lodge is named for George Constant Washington, a Belgian-born English chemist well known as the inventor of the process to mass produce instant coffee.
The Performing Arts Center of Suffolk County, which operates the non-profit Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, will receive $30,000. Currently, the Playhouse is featuring a Holiday Spectacular on Ice starring Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan, and in January, they will stage Fiddler on the Roof.
The CoDanceCo Dancing Classes of Long Island in East Patchogue will get $49,500 for their efforts to spread the joy of dance to people of all ages. They are committed to the joyful art and practice of social dances with a vision of a world that values dance as foundational to every person’s well-being and joy, celebrates the beauty of diversity, and amplifies our shared humanity.
The Plaza Cinema and Media Arts Center in Patchogue will receive $40,000 to sustain its mission to celebrate the power and magic of film as an art form and as a medium for multicultural exchange and social responsibility.
The Arts Project of Cherry Grove was granted $25,000. Incorporated in 1948, the project has played a central role in the community life of Cherry Grove. Its Community House was nominated for inclusion in the New York State Parks and National Registers for Historic Places, one of three places designated for its seminal importance in LGBTQ history.
The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center received $40,000 to help with its programming, including shows from world-class performers, a Cinema Series, and the region’s finest year-round Arts Education Program. The organization maintains a popular theater, once slated for demolition, that was built in 1933.
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| Gateway Playhouse File Photo |
The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook received $30,000. The museum is dedicated to inspiring people of all ages with an understanding and enjoyment of American art, history, and carriages as expressed through the heritage of Long Island and its diverse communities. The museum has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1973 for excellence in exhibitions, programs, and collection care. In 2006, the museum joined a small group of institutions nationwide as a Smithsonian Affiliate.
Her Story Writers Workshop in Centereach received $40,000 for its mission to bring unheard voices, both near and far, into the public arena, as well as transform lived experiences into written memoirs powerful enough to change hearts, minds, and policy. “Through a quarter century of bringing people into small writing circles and providing the empathy-based tools to break silences together, we join hands to create a powerful grassroots literature that will champion a culture of equity, inclusion, and justice,” the workshop says. “Our facilitated writing workshops help people - no matter their level of education - break their silence, add their voices to the public discourse, and process the experiences that have shaped their lives.”