The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Office of Culture and Heritage have announced more than $180,000 was awarded to local arts groups through the 2016 County Support Grant Program for the Arts.
This program supports both established and emerging arts groups from various disciplines such as dance, folk arts, media arts, music, photography, theater, visual arts and festivals.
“The Board of Chosen Freeholders is committed to enhancing arts and cultural programing in the county, and that is illustrated in the fact that we have the largest County Support Grant Program in the State of New Jersey,” said Middlesex County Freeholder Director Ronald G. Rios. “The Local Arts Grants awarded in 2015 brought arts and culture programming to an audience of over 500,000 people. That is quite an accomplishment.”
The following is a list of the recipients of the 2016 County Support Grant Program for the Arts:
Dance, total amount granted $34,292 – 10 Hairy Legs, Agraj Seva Kendra, Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre, Casa de Educacion y Cultura Latina, CoLab Arts, Csurdongolo Folk Ensemble, Edison Arts Society, Hungarian American Athletic Club Folk Dance Group, King’s Academy of Dance, Metuchen Arts Council, Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School of the Arts and Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance.
Multi-disciplinary/festivals, total amount granted $33,550 – Indo-American Festivals, Hua Xia Chinese School at Plainsboro, Main Street Highland Park, Metuchen-Edison Area Branch NAACP, North Brunswick Township Heritage Day Committee, Perth Amboy Business Improvement District, Puerto Rican Association for Human Development and Woodbridge Township Cultural Arts Commission’s Barron Arts Center.
Music, total amount granted $65,350 – Association of NJ Chinese Schools Youth Orchestra, Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, Cantabile Chamber Chorale, Carnatic Music Association of North America, Edison Chinese Chorus, First Reformed Church, Highland Park Community Chorus, Hub City Jazz Festival, Makhelat Hamercaz Jewish Choir of Central NJ, Metuchen Recreation Commission, Monroe Township Cultural Arts Commission, Monroe Township Patrons of the Arts, Music Association for the Visually Impaired Students of NJ, New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, Philomusica Choir, Sayreville Public Library, Saint Mary Church’s Music at Saint Mary’s, South Brunswick Public Library, University of the Philippines Alumni & Friends Rondalla and Who Is My Neighbor?
Photography/ media arts, total amount granted $11,100 – City of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Free Public Library and New Jersey Media Arts Center/Rutgers Film Co-op.
Theater, total amount granted $26,250 – Elijah’s Promise, City of Perth Amboy’s Office of Parks & Recreation, East Brunswick Community Players, Epic Actors’ Workshop & Choir, GB Productions, Middlesex County Parks & Recreation/Plays-in-the-Park, New Jersey Institute for Disabilities and Township of Edison Health & Human Services EMA/BRIDGES.
Visual Arts, total amount granted $12,300 – Alfa Art Gallery, Piscataway Public Library, Carteret Business Partnership, Carteret Public Library, Raices Cultural Center and the South Brunswick Arts Commission.
This year, Middlesex County received two Citations for Excellence from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, one for Major Arts Organizations and one for Service Organizations.
“The Office of Culture and Heritage has a long tradition of bringing educational and entertaining events to the people of Middlesex County. One of the best things about their mission, and this grant program, is finding contributors who enable audiences to enjoy quality experiences from a variety of different perspectives,” said Freeholder Kenneth Armwood, chair of the Business Development and Education Committee.
The 2016 Local Arts Grants are made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by funds from the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.