Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association Announces Recipients of Zone Arts Grant Awards

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jan. 12, 2015

For more information, please contact:

Jason Carnes, Assistant Director Small Business Relations, City of Bloomington Economic and Sustainable Development Department, 812.349.3419

Miah Michaelsen, Assistant Economic Development Director for the Arts, City of Bloomington Economic and Sustainable Development Department, 812.349.3534

Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association Announces Recipients of Zone Arts Grant Awards

Bloomington, Ind. - The Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association (BUEA) has announced support for seven projects this spring through its BUEA Zone Arts Grant Awards, funded in partnership with the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District (BEAD). The grant program supports arts projects located within the boundaries of the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Zone or that provide documented direct benefit to Urban Enterprise Zone residents. The recipients of this cycle's awards are the Bloomington Clay Studio; Ledge Mule Press; The Warehouse; Gather Shoppe; Tanguero, Inc.; Your Art Here and Studio Cypher, LLC.

The Bloomington Clay Studio will be offering "Satur-clay" classes; a seven-week long, full-scholarship ceramic class sessions on Saturdays for three age groups: fourth- and fifth-graders, middle schoolers and adults. Students will be provided with all the instruction, materials and equipment needed, and after six weeks of classes, an exhibit at the Clay Studio will feature the completed ceramic pieces.

Ledge Mule Press is partnering with Fairview Elementary School and Girls, Inc. for the Ledge Mule Press Poetry Project, a project to provide access to creative writing instruction and book arts activities for youth. The project will consist of youth poetry workshops for students taught by Indiana University Master of Fine Arts students and faculty, the Ledge Mule Press Reading Series at the I Fell Building and the creation of a poetry chapbook in partnership with Bloomington Atelier for Book Arts (BABA).

Tanguero, Inc. will be offering students at Fairview Elementary School opportunities to learn about Argentine Tango through the Fairview Tango Project. The project will include a commissioned composition of age-appropriate Tango music for students to perform by a Bloomington-based composer, a series of workshops and rehearsals for Fairview String Project violin teachers on Argentine Tango musical styles, a workshop with the students on tango performance practice in the month before the performances and weekly Argentine Tango Dance classes for fifth-graders. The project will conclude with a performance by the students from Fairview Elementary School for parents and students in the school's gymnasium, Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center and Indiana University.

Gather Shoppe will be supporting emerging artists and makers through the Gathering Emerging Makers Project, which will offer new artists space in which to show their art and craft; provide mentoring in the areas of product design, product cohesion, branding, packaging, pricing, display, fixtures, hanging and pricing; and provide an exhibition and retail sales experience.

The Warehouse will be producing the Global Youth Service Day Mural Project. The Warehouse will create a large exterior mural on their building, located along the B-Line Trail. This project will involve a large number of community participants in design and execution.

Your Art Here will create "Property," an artist-run, site-responsive public art billboard mural project located at Sixth and Walnut Streets. The project will consist of four art billboards generated by artists curated by Your Art Here staff. The first artist will respond to the site and subsequent artists will respond to the then-altered mural.

Studio Cypher will create a custom-built, two-player arcade cabinet that showcases games developed by local designers. The Bloomington Indie Game Arcade (BIG Arcade) will provide an accessible way for game designers to showcase their work to the public and inform and educate the public on the economic opportunities provided by the technology and gaming community.

About the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association (BUEA)

The Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association provides the means to improve the economic, physical, and social environment for Zone residents and businesses and contributes to economic development efforts in Bloomington's urban core. The Enterprise Zone operates in accordance with Indiana State Code and has created or retained hundreds of jobs and spurred millions of dollar in increased investment.

For more information on the BUEA, contact Jason Carnes at 349.3419, or [visit the website|/buea].