ORLANDO – April 8, 2021 – United Arts of Central Florida announced the recipients of the new Diversity in the Arts Program funded by Duke Energy. Ten organizations were awarded funds totaling $50,000. The Diversity in the Arts Program is designed to increase participation in United Arts’ funded programs by organizations led by people of color. Through this introduction to United Arts, the objective is to continue to invite and encourage participation in United Arts’ other grant and contract-for-service programs by diverse arts and cultural organizations.
The Diversity in the Arts Program recognizes the following organizations:
Black Theatre Girl Magic – Awarded $5,575 for Director’s Circle. This eight-week program will link participants with notable directors and instructors to learn, refine and workshop best practices and directing techniques. The program will call for each instructor to meet with the students for two consecutive Tuesdays: the first as a workshop and the second as a presentation. The event is in effort to help foster a growing network of industry professionals of color.
Bronze Kingdom Museum – Awarded $5,000 for Purpose of Pawn. This educational program utilizes various forms of art to depict historical events and leader’s tales deriving from the African bronze artifacts collection of Bronze Kingdom Museum. The events will couple youth participants with mentors to create varying forms of art presentations at weekend community events. While open to the community, this program will primarily focus on reaching at-risk youth within the Parramore and Pine Hills neighborhoods.
CAYA: Come As You Are Network – Awarded $5,000 for CLTR Direct. CAYA curates art shows, exhibitions, and live installations monthly for individual artists with tailored themes that reflect unique, eccentric voices and messages. CAYA will conduct a new series of creative social experiments among artists of color and the community, where they will unveil art created from the social experiment as well as engaging with the public.
Central Florida Entertainment Advocacy (CFEA) – Awarded $4,425 for CFEA Spring/Summer Programming Series. The programming series will include six workshop- and forum-styled sessions for participants to better gauge the state of the entertainment industry as well as understand the opportunities ahead for participating groups to better practice and advance diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations. Programming will also include a casting showcase and spotlight series.
Conservatorio de Musica y Artes Inc. – Awarded $5,000 for El despertar musical. The group will host two 8-week virtual classes that cover the fundamentals for piano and guitar. Designed for children between the ages of 7-10 in the Hispanic community, the classes will be provided by New World School of Music and will be capped at five students per class.
Descolonizarte Teatro, Inc. – Awarded $5,000 for Casos y Cachos: Oral Stories from the Llanos. Colombian author Jhon Moreno Riaño reads from his book of Llanero oral stories, a cultural manifestation of the Colombian-Venezuelan Orinoquia and declared part of the cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. These stories had never been recorded in writing before.
Goldsboro West Side Community Historical Association – Awarded $5,000 for “Going Up Yonder” The Migration of Blacks from Sanford. This innovative exhibition includes auditory
and visual exhibitions from the group’s website, digital exhibition, and the publication “Going Up Yonder,” The Migration of Blacks from Sanford. This exhibition will educate and narrate the unique African American experiences in Goldsboro through the agriculture boom of the 1920s and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mercury Axis – Awarded $5,000 for Indigenous Futurism. Indigenous Futurism is an art movement working to unite and foster a sense of oneness that can only be found through connecting with Indigenous roots. Through art and technology programs for the youth, the group will produce media, visualizations, coding, animation, and digital art to share and spread the stories needed to unite all walks of life on the same journey within the local diverse Orlando community.
Open Scene, Inc. – Awarded $5,000 for I Latinx Performing Arts Festival. The first of its kind for this organization, the festival will be a four-day event showcasing a different play each day from Latin America, which are/will be written, directed and performed by Latin professionals living in Florida. The event will also include two forums, four workshops, a visual arts exhibition and four dance performances.
VMAX “For One Community Inc.” – Awarded $5,000 for Art of Fashion. This six-month mentoring and educational program teaches fashion runway and retail visual merchandising for age groups up to 30 years. In the program, students will work with directors and reputable industry partners to refine their skills and showcase their talents in a closing runway show. Funding acquired will be used to offset student financial contributions, making the program free.
About United Arts of Central Florida
United Arts is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, governments and school districts, foundations, arts and cultural organizations, and artists. Its mission is to enrich communities by investing in arts, science and history. United Arts serves residents and visitors in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties through the more than 60 local arts, science and history organizations it supports. It does this by providing direct support through grants and contracts for services, collaborative fundraising, arts education opportunities, advocacy, and technical and administrative assistance. Since 1989, United Arts has invested more than $162 million in Central Florida’s arts and culture.
For more information, visit http://www.UnitedArts.cc or call 407.628.0333.
