Urbana Arts Grants

The City of Urbana Public Arts Commission offers the Urbana Arts Grants Program to support projects in the arts occurring in Urbana. The Urbana Arts Grants Program makes funding available to artists, artist teams, organizations, businesses, and festival presenters for eligible projects that enrich the lives of residents and visitors.  Applicants need not be Urbana residents for all grant categories. 

The Urbana Arts Grants program is sponsored in part by a generous donation from the Urbana Business Association through the Business Backs the Arts Initiative.

The recipients of the 2012 Urbana Arts Grants are listed below. Guidelines and application materials for the 2013 grants cycle will be available in October of 2012.

For updates on events and activities related to this year's grant projects, please subscribe to our e-mail newsletter or follow the Urbana Public Arts Program on Facebook or Twitter.

 Here and Now:

• Paper Architectures, Hugh Swiatek/Office for Paper Architecture, UBA sponsorship of $2,000.
  A multi-stage temporary art installation throughout Urbana, composed of a central architectural sculpture in Lincoln Square mall and smaller indoor “satellite” constructions occupying spaces inside local businesses. Primary building materials will be paper and cardboard in conjunction with computer aided construction techniques to create an engaging, three-dimensional urban narrative. The project goal is to provide a persistent and interactive experience where viewers are encouraged to seek out and identify the various manifestations of the project throughout town, encouraging public engagement, outside tourism, promotion of local businesses, and discovery by current residents.
• Summer Sew Fun Club, Janelle Pleasure, City sponsorship of $1,000.
  A class designed to expose youth to the art of sewing to be held at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Different topics will be covered through different sewing projects, including learning to operate a sewing machine, create a tote bag, quilt, and a set of pajamas. Finished projects will be shown to the community through a free art display.
• ILL POET SOCIETY, Raymond Morales/ The Show, City sponsorship of $1,500.
  The production and presentation of a film titled “ILL POET SOCIETY,” addressing the issues facing marginalized communities in their own voices through original pieces by artists from Urbana and the greater Illinois community. Three free screening events will be held with live performances and discussions following the film’s completion.
• Celebrate Urbana Champaign Peoples' History - Phase 2, Elizabeth Simpson, City sponsorship of $1,500
  This project celebrates unrecognized citizens and organizations in Urbana who have made significant contributions to the community through the design and distribution of posters in their honor. Community input will be solicited to identify at least two individuals or groups to be the subjects of posters. The finished product will be distributed as digital prints and screen-printed posters, and will be posted around town,  on view as an advertisement on the CU-MTD, and as a booth at Urbana’s Market at the Square.

Envision 365:

• Elements/Evidence, Meredith Foster, City sponsorship of $2,200.
  The creation of a thematic exhibition titled, Elements/Evidence, predicated on an investigation into the chemical components that comprise the human body, the landscape, and the significance of these elements in a larger capacity. Interest in this particular theme is inspired by the circumstances of Urbana, IL as a landscape of large-scale commercial farming. Using the iconographic image of the periodic table as an aesthetic guide, the exhibition shall culminate in a multi-disciplinary display that includes locally derived field samples, animation, and diagrammatic drawings that poetically express the microscopic connections between cultural processes, the human body, and landscape as seen through the lens of the region.
• Outta the Mouths of Babes Radio Project, Outta the Mouths of Babes Radio Project Group, City sponsorship of $2,500.
  A 12-week radio project inviting Urbana-area youth to become “youth correspondents” on a WRFU radio show where kids comment on social, political, and cultural happenings in the Urbana-Champaign area. The project will create a digital archive of reviews of local arts culture, increase youth access to the arts through participatory media, and expose local youth to a diversity of artistic and cultural work while encouraging critical thinking and cultural learning.
• Colombiana: Colombian Music in Urbana, Colombiana, City sponsorship of $2,300.
  Columbiana presents a series of concerts and workshops given on Afro-Colombian music. Music workshops will be lead in Urbana elementary schools with an emphasis on celebrating and teaching cultural diversity through hands-on experience with the instruments and sounds of Afro-Colombian music. Additionally, a six-member group will present two concerts and a free community workshop of Afro-Colombian music, celebrating Colombia in its diversity and the influence of African music, as well as providing family-friendly, educational entertainment.
• Resonance. Touch Here. Listen., Grant Bowen, City sponsorship of $650.
  Is hearing a prerequisite for listening? This project is an interactive multimedia art installation that sheds light on the differences between the engaging process of listening versus the physical ability of being able to hear. REsonance will create an immersive environment allowing participants to experience other forms of listening, cultivating an appreciation for all the ways in which we listen to the world.

Creative Mix:

• Blues In the Schools After-School Enrichment Program, Prairie Crossroads Blues Society, City sponsorship of $1,300.
  After School Enrichment Program for grades 3 and 4 will teach children the history of the Blues, as well as to play simple Blues and the harmonica. The program will kick off with an all-school assembly and after school program will culminate in a performance of 1-2 Blues songs for other students and/or parents. 
• C-U Symphony Orchestra In-School Concerts, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, City sponsorship of $2,700.
  During 2012, CUSO will offer in-school concerts to elementary schools in the City of Urbana and throughout Champaign County. CUSO hopes to hold at least one in-school concert in each of the nine Urbana schools, bringing the experience of watching musicians play, hearing sounds of specific instruments, and the opportunity to ask questions to every student.
• Art in Space, Urbana School District #116 Yankee Ridge and Thomas Paine Elementary Schools, City sponsorship of $250.
  Urbana School District #116 Yankee Ridge and Thomas Paine elementary school third graders will visit the Wandell Sculpture Garden in Meadowbrook Park to view and discuss the sculptures on display. Students will then create sculptures of their own, increasing their understanding of three-dimensional forms that will also extend to their math curriculum.
• Urbana Pops Orchestra 2012 Season, Urbana Pops Orchestra, City sponsorship of $2,500.
  Urbana Pops will perform a free public concert at Lincoln Square and one to two additional concerts in Urbana at a modest ticket price. The UPO consists of talented students (grades 6-12 ) and professional players including Urbana music teachers, college students, and experienced local musicians.
• C4A Summer Community Arts Programs & Performances, Community Center for the Arts, City sponsorship of $1,400.
  C4A will offer a comprehensive summer program allowing community members to explore the arts through multi-disciplinary arts culminating in free public events. Founded in 2006, the Community Center for the Arts (C4A) is a non-profit organization dedicated to making the arts accessible to students of all ages and skill levels through education, presentation, and community collaborations.
• CU Film Society PRESENTS, Champaign-Urbana Film Society, City sponsorship of $3,000.
  The CU Film Society PRESENTS promotes the art of filmmaking by offering film screenings and discussions, as well as offering filmmaker workshops for local residents. The project includes the 2012 New Art Film Festival, the 2012 Independent Media Center Film Festival, a 2012 Visiting Filmmaker Series, and the 2012 RED Camp for Youth, a summer youth film camp offer training on RED cameras.
• Urbana Young Composers Concert Series, Urbana Composer’s Orchestra, City sponsorship of $1,200.
  Through free concerts of new, exhilarating, and accessible music, the Urbana Composers Orchestra aims to enrich Urbana’s cultural and artistic offering. Three concerts will present new work by emerging local composers, engaging the community and increasing awareness of new orchestral music.
• NatureCulture: Curating the Heartland, Urbana Land Arts, City sponsorship of $1,400.
  The project will be a series of public exhibitions that explore the relationship between local natural and cultural environments through sound, object making, and artifact. Urbana Land Arts’ goal for is to activate art in the service of prairie maintenance and preservation, letting the prairie serve as a framework for exploring connections between local natural and cultural heritage.
• Urbana Winks: An Experimental Theatre Lab Culminating in Performance, Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman Duo, City sponsorship of $1,000.
  An experimental theatre lab open to adults of all experience that culminates in community performances, lead by renowned movement-based theatre artists Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman. The four week project is designed to engage a diverse array of inquisitive community participants in the experience of an intensive Experimental Theatre Laboratory, moving through the process of originating and producing experimental theatre work.
• Creative Collaborations: Workshops for Performance and Production, School for Designing a Society, City sponsorship of $400.
  A series of workshops and performances facilitated between the Urbana-based School for Designing a Society and The Curious Theatre Branch, a Chicago theatre company that curates the annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival. The workshops and performances will occur November 18-20 at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center and will be open to the public.
• The Urbana Dance Company Presents!, The Urbana Dance Company, City sponsorship of $1,000.
  The project will be the first performance of the newly found Urbana Dance Company which seeks political action and social transformation through dance.  Auditions for the company will be open to adults of all ages and abilities. Through a partnership with the Urbana Park District rehearsal space will be donated in-kind and the final performance will take place at the Phillips Recreation Center.

Urbana Festivals:

• 3rd Annual Iron Post Jazz Fest, 120 Race, City sponsorship of $2,000.
  Four days of live jazz bands at the Iron Post, open to the public. The event will bring people to downtown Urbana as well as expose people to the talents of quality jazz musicians both local and national.
• Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration 2012, Asian American Cultural Center, City sponsorship of $2,000.
  The Asian American Cultural Center will host an interactive, collaborative, family-friendly, and cross-cultural showcase of the rich Asian American and Pacific Islander cultural and traditional arts represented in East Central Illinois. The main celebration will occur in the Lincoln Square Village, and promote diversity, awareness, and unity among the Urbana community. 
• CU Folk and Roots Festival 2012, CU Folk and Roots Festival, City sponsorship of $2,500.
  An all-ages participatory and multi-disciplinary (story-telling, arts, dance, and music) festival in downtown Urbana featuring local, regional, and national artists and hands-on events.  Festival locations include: The Urbana Free Library, Community Center for the Arts, various downtown Urbana businesses, the Independent Media Center, and several outdoor locations such as the Iron Post patio and street corners.
• Boneyard Arts Festival 2012 (10th Anniversary), 40 North | 88 West, City sponsorship of $2,500.
  Presented annually by 40 North | 88 West, the Boneyard is a unique four day event showcasing the broad range of creative activity flourishing in the Champaign-Urbana community. Artists partner with local businesses, organizations, nonprofits, schools, and offices who host performances or art displays. The festival will occur April 19-22, 2012.
• Read Across America 2013, City sponsorship of $1,700.
  Read Across America 2013 will be enhanced by an increased number of local storytellers and a reading by a professional children’s book author. This event, which occurs annually at Lincoln Square Village, is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that celebrates reading. During the event children may listen to books read aloud in multiple languages and participate in hands on activities that promote literacy skills.
• 3rd Annual CU Pride Fest, The UP Center of Champaign County, UBA sponsorship of $2,500.
  An annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and ally individuals in Champaign County involving music, visual art, and entertainment. At 2012 festival, the UP Center will expand the artwork display and performance components of previous festivals with art workshops, a gallery of visual art created by local LGBTQ and ally individuals, an LBGTQ history tour of Champaign-Urbana, and additional music, theatre and dance performances.
• U-C Mini Maker Faire, Makerspace Urbana, UBA sponsorship of $500, City sponsorship of $1,000 for total award of $1,500.
  A one day, family-friendly event on April 14, 2012 at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center that celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, music, science, and technology projects and the Do-It-Yourself spirit in the Urbana-Champaign community. The free event will consist of twenty maker booths, a demonstration stage, deconstruction zone, and “knit in,” with many opportunities for participants to learn and create various take-home projects.