News Flash

This announcement coincides with the selection of recipient organizations for the City’s annual arts and culture funding programs.

The City has invested $1,130,000 through three programs established by the Dubuque City Council. In all, $800,000 has been awarded to area arts and cultural organizations through the Operating Support Grant Program and $210,000 through the Special Projects Grant Program, with an additional $120,000 to fund the Art on the River, a temporary sculpture exhibition along the Mississippi RiverWalk in the Port of Dubuque.

Operating support is provided to established 501(c)(3) arts and culture organizations located in the City of Dubuque that primarily serve Dubuque residents with year-round arts and culture events, programs and services, and that can demonstrate a record of programmatic and administrative stability.

The Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission reviewed thirteen funding requests from Dubuque arts and culture organizations requesting $282,755 in funds from the FY 2010 Arts and Culture Funding Program for Operating Support. The following organizations were selected by the commission and approved by the City Council:
• Bell Tower Productions - $11,311
• Colts Drum and Bugle Corps – $40,000
• Dubuque Symphony Orchestra - $40,000
• Dubuque Museum of Art - $23, 871
• Dubuque Arts Council - $3,816
• Dubuque Chorale - $243
• Dubuque County Historical Society - $40,000
• Dubuque County Fine Arts Society - $3,003
• Dubuque Arboretum - $4,286
• Grand Opera House - $ 26,954
• Northeast Iowa School of Music - $6,044

The Special Projects Grant Program was designed to encourage the development of new or expanded arts and cultural programs in the Dubuque community. The Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission reviewed thirteen applications from Dubuque organizations requesting $110,400 in funds from the FY 2010 Arts and Culture Grant Program for Special Projects. The recipients are:

• Dubuque Arboretum: purchase of sculpture Germination - $3,500
• Dubuque Arts Council: Free Family Fun - $7,215
• Dubuque County Fine Arts Society - 2009 Voices from the Warehouse, $6,397
• Dubuque Museum of Art: Alfred Caldwell and Dubuque’s Eagle Point Park - $2,288
• Get Reel/Rotary: 2009 Student Film Competition and Festival - $10,000
• Northeast Iowa School of Music: New Horizons Band Pilot Program -$5,000

The Art on the River temporary sculpture exhibit recently opened the fourth annual exhibit, which will be on display at the Port of Dubuque until June of 2010. Artists submit proposals, submissions are evaluated by a jury, and the 10 selected are offered a $1,500 stipend for exhibiting a year. This year, 68 entries from 36 artists in 11 different states were received.

Arts and culture advocates in Dubuque worked for many years to educate the community about why our arts and culture organizations need City funding and why this financial investment is good for Dubuque. Due in part to their advocacy, the City Council appointed a seven-member Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission and established the special project grants with a $35,000 budget in 2004. In 2005, the operating support program was established with a $200,000 annual budget. In 2006, the Art on the River Program started with another $30,000 annual budget and the Council established one of the first cultural and entertainment districts in the state.

For additional information, please contact Jan Stoffel, arts and cultural affairs coordinator for the City of Dubuque, at 563-690-6064 or janstoff@cityofdubuque.org. More information about all of the funding programs can be found at www.cityofdubuque.org/arts&culture.

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