Arts Foundation of Cape Cod Awards Nearly $115,000 to 41 Grant Recipients

Funding goes to support a variety of projects which increase access to the arts,

address social justice issues, and strengthen community

April 16, 2024 (Cape Cod, MA) – For the second straight year, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod (AFCC) has invested more than $100,000 in arts programming that will bring joy, foster meaningful connections, address important issues including social justice and climate change, and expose more people to the power of arts and culture.

The AFCC received a total of 91 applications. It awarded $114,951 in funding to 41 organizations. The AFCC will add to this amount as it recently closed applications for individual artist grants and will distribute another $60,000 which includes $30,000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“We are incredibly proud of the strides we have made to bolster the region’s cultural landscape. Not only have we been able to increase our annual grants, but we’ve made strategic efforts to ensure our giving has a widespread impact and focuses on relevant community issues,” said AFCC Executive Director Julie Wake. “We’re grateful to our donors, sponsors, and AFCC patrons for understanding the importance of the arts and giving us the resources we need to elevate the sector throughout the region.”

Grants ranged from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $10,000 which was awarded to both the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers and Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Jr. Theatre.

In partnership with the Nutahkeemun Artist Collective, the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers will use their funding to bring “We Are The Land” to the Tilden Arts Center at Cape Cod Community College in the fall. The play, which originally premiered at Theatre Royal Plymouth in Plymouth, UK, in the spring of 2023, is a direct telling of the Wampanoag experience.

“Wampanoag audiences will be emboldened and will walk away from this play with a sense of pride in their heritage and culture,” said the play’s Director Siobhan Brown. “Non-native audiences will have a clearer sense of the land under their feet. Whether audience members are on vacation or live here year-round, knowing the history of this land will invigorate their experience on our shores.”

At Cape Cod Theatre Company, the grant will fund an apprenticeship program for teens and young adults to work alongside professionals in directing, stage management, costume design, lighting design, set design, sound design, box office management, house management, and marketing during the summer production of “Romeo & Juliet.”

“What we want to do is give teens and young adults, who are excited about theatre, more support and direct mentorship behind the scenes,” said the theatre’s Producing Artistic Director Jenn Pina. “This is multigenerational job training that creates a pipeline of theatrical production staff, not only for us, but for the greater Cape. I literally have goosebumps. It is pretty exciting, and we are so appreciative of the Arts Foundation for helping us make this happen.”

The following art projects have been funded by the Arts Foundation through its latest round of grants:

• ArtsFalmouth ($1,000) — Arts Alive, a three-day festival of the arts, taking place June 14-16, that features over 30 diverse music and theatrical performances, an artisan’s market, and family-friendly activities in Falmouth Village.
• Band Parents Organization of Dennis-Yarmouth ($1,750) — A two-day Percussion Camp in June for middle school students who will be entering Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in the fall.
• Cape & Islands Workforce Development Board ($3,000) — ArtWorks, a program which pairs working artists as mentors to high school students throughout the Cape, helping them build self-esteem, confidence, and soft skills while exploring possible career paths in the arts.
• Cape Cod Museum of Art ($5,000) —The Cape Cod Open Sculpture Invitational, taking place from May 18 through November 16, which will feature 30 works from sculptors located on Cape Cod and throughout New England.
• Cape Cod Poetry Review ($1,504) — The production of the 10^th issue of the Cape Cod Poetry Review’s print journal. When finished, a staged reading will be held at The 204 in Harwich.
• Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Jr. Theatre ($10,000) — An apprenticeship program for teens to young adults (ages 15-25) to work side-by-side with professional production staff during the theatre’s summer performance of “Romeo & Juliet.”
• College Light Opera Company ($1,000) — Five free family-friendly community shows, featuring College Light Opera Company’s orchestra and vocalists, in Falmouth, including a Juneteenth concert at Arts Alive.
• Cotuit Center for the Arts ($7,500) — The addition of a fully-accessible mobile creative classroom to Cotuit’s Marjorie Lynne Art Bus which was purchased in 2021.
• Downtown Hyannis Community Development Corporation ($2,000) — First Fridays, which brings live outdoor music to Hyannis’ Main Street, during the summer.
• Falmouth Art Center ($2,000) — An exhibition of art by Wampanoag tribe members in June that will include performances by the Wampanoag Singers and Dancers and the Neeshla dancers as well as a day of hands-on craft demonstrations by Wampanoag crafters.
• Falmouth Chamber Players ($1,750) — A series of rehearsals for year-round, seasonal, and student musicians of all ages, culminating in a performance open to the community during the summer.
• Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown ($5,000) — A summer series of free talks and readings by renowned artists and writers.
• First Night Chatham Art Installation Committee ($1,000) — An installation, open to the public from December 29, 2024, through January 3, 2025, at Kate Gould Park in Chatham, featuring chairs and other commonly found materials, as public art.
• Harbor Stage Company ($2,000) — The theatre’s Beacon Reading Series, a season-long program of staged readings which introduce a variety of challenging, original texts to local audiences.
• Heritage Museums & Gardens ($5,000) — “Alfred Glover in the Garden,” an outdoor exhibit featuring whimsical, folk-art style trees, trellises, and planters created by Cataumet sculptor Alfred Glover.
• Historic Highfield ($2,000) — An exhibition of work, panel discussions, and lectures exploring the connection between science and art, featuring the work of four visiting artists from the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Woods Hole.
• Hyannis Public Library ($3,000) — The production of a graphic novella that highlights the origins of the library. The piece will be created in partnership with the Hyannis Historical Society and artists Craig Florence and Gabriel Ribeiro.
• JFK Hyannis Museum ($2,100) — A live, one-person performance by two-time TEDx presenter Antonio Rocha who will tell the historical tale of the ship Malaga, built in Maine in 1832, which was part of the illegal transatlantic slave trade.
• Latham Centers ($900) — Over the course of six months, students will participate in a monthly line dancing program to promote physical wellbeing, rhythmic movement, communication skills, and self-expression.
• Mashpee Public Schools ($4,500) — A two-day arts-in-education residency (June 6-7, 2024), featuring Alex Torres & His Latin Orchestra, giving students the opportunity to perform alongside professional musicians, culminating in a whole-school concert.
• Nauset Regional Middle School ($2,997) — Earthkeepers class in which students are exposed to nature while learning about the Wampanoag and colonized versions of local history. As part of the class, students will create fiber art and practical items for the school’s wetu.
• Open Mic Classical ($700) —An Open Mic Classical performance, featuring musicians from the LGBTQIA+ community, at the United Methodist Church in Provincetown, on Sunday, May 19.
• Outer Cape Health Services ($5,000) — In partnership with the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), Outer Cape Health Services will give behavioral health patients access to two separate 7-week art therapy workshops, one in the spring and another in the fall.
• Payomet Performing Arts Center ($2,000) — Payomet will bring its performances on the road to public spaces and community venues, exposing art to new audiences across the Cape.
• Peregrine Theatre Ensemble ($2,500) —A celebration of the ensemble’s 10^th season, featuring a concert series with current and past members, as well as a production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
• Provincetown Art Association and Museum ($3,000) — An inaugural art history symposium, taking place in November 2024, that will allow graduate student scholars to present their research on American and Native American art.
• Provincetown Jazz Festival ($2,000) — The Jazz in Schools Program in which students learn about the history of jazz music and hear various styles of the genre.
• Sandwich Arts Alliance ($1,000) —The 8^th Annual Sandwich PorchFest which will take place on Saturday, October 5 in Sandwich Village.
• Song Keepers ($5,000) —Wamptronica, an experiential dance music installation that includes streaming video and music displays at art galleries, museums, and pop-up, underground dance music parties and performances in public spaces.
• The Awareness Project ($1,000) — The Mindfulness Arts Festival, an all-day festival at the Sandwich Public Library on Saturday, May 18, which will feature workshops in visual art, poetry, yoga and sound, mindful meditation, drumming, and mindful walking.
• The Cape Community Orchestra ($750) —The orchestra’s free fall concerts, which will take place at Monomoy Regional High School and the Yarmouth Senior Center.
• Town of Harwich ($1,000) — Creative Collaboration, a program in which professional artists and counselors support teens by providing them a safe space to develop self-awareness and interpersonal skills by creating art.
• Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill ($1,000) — The annual Provincetown Dance Festival, scheduled for Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24, will bring artists and dance companies from throughout the world to perform on the Cape.
• Truro Concert Committee ($2,000) — A free weekly outdoor summer concert series in July and August behind the Truro Public Library.
• Truro Playwright Collective ($2,000) — Free staged readings from local playwrights, held on the third Saturday of each month, from October through April, at the Truro Public Library.
• Twenty Summers ($2,500) — Twenty Summers’ 11^th season which will feature an expanded arts festival and three new satellite programs that focus on climate change and environmental justice.
• Veterans for Peace ($500) — The 29^th Annual Voices of Peace Poetry Contest in which Cape students write poems about the concept of peace.
• Vinegrass ($3,000) — The nonprofit’s 10^th annual music festival to be held on Sunday, October 6, at Truro Vineyards.
• Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers ($10,000) — The Cape Cod premiere of “We Are The Land”, a play about the Wampanoag experience, that will take place this fall at the Tilden Arts Center at Cape Cod Community College.
• Woods Hole Diversity Initiative ($1,500) — A free community event at Highfield Hall & Gardens commemorating Juneteenth on June 19, that will feature dance, music, poetry readings, an art installation, food, and other family-friendly activities.
• Woods Hole Film Festival ($3,500) —A series of 8-10 year-round community screenings which will feature artists, panel discussions, and community conversations.

Funding for the Arts Foundation’s annual grant giving is made possible with support from William Raveis Real Estate, South Shore Playhouse Associates, the Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod, RogersGray, the Donald C. McGraw Foundation, the Arts Foundation’s generous Prelude to Summer Gala gift-a-grant donors, and the AFCC Patron program.

About the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod

Founded in 1987, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod’s mission is to support and strengthen a vibrant arts and cultural sector for everyone in the region. It fulfills its mission by funding grants; by increasing access to arts and culture in the region for all on Cape Cod; by advocating for more awareness on the impact the Cape’s creative economy has on our region and beyond; and by building a strong arts community network through membership as well as professional development opportunities that fall under its Creative Exchange program.