Recent Arts Everywhere Grants
Spring 2024
WNIT Channel 34: $150,000 (Payable over three years)
Funds will support technology upgrades needed to produce local television programs that inspire, inform, educate, entertain, and bring together the communities they serve. Seventy percent of St. Joseph County residents (191,000 people) watch WNIT every month. Technology upgrades to modern equipment with 4K capacity will provide critical support for all of PBS Michiana – WNIT’s current local programs and make it possible to launch new programs aimed at increasing impact on the region. WNIT’s current local programs include 6 weekly programs, 4 annual documentaries and 2 new digital series. Further, launching new programs is a cornerstone of PBS Michiana’s strategic plan which sets a goal to increase local programming to 25 percent over the next five years to meet an emerging need for local information. This project will also help enhance training for students and interns.
South Bend Civic Theatre: $35,000
Funds will support South Bend Civic Theatre’s 2024 calendar year season of events and activities. As of May 1, 2024, the Civic has produced five productions and the remainder of 2024 includes 2 youth productions, 2 musicals, 3 plays, 3 readings, 2 art exhibitions, 4-character breakfasts and an expansion of summer camp programming and fall 2024 in-school theatre training.
South Bend Museum of Art (SBMA): $35,000
Funds will support SBMA’s exhibition season, July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025. In five galleries, SBMA presents traveling and juried exhibitions; offers historical and contemporary perspectives; and introduces emerging and challenging art forms. SBMA is underway with exciting new “curated from scratch” exhibitions, both large and small in size and scope, that include regional artists directly. The Museum’s Education and Curatorial staff are working closely together on extension programming that explores contemporary art themes, ideas, techniques, and media in a hands-on way for visitors to connect with these exhibitions.
South Bend Symphony Orchestra: $35,000
Funds will be used for South Bend Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-2025 season. The Season will include four concert series (Masterworks, Pops, Mosaic, and Community), education and community engagement programs, and numerous collaborations. A few highlights include the third annual Dia de los Muertos Community Festival, another collaboration with the renowned Silk Road Project, and the beloved Family concerts.
Southold Dance Theater: $10,000
Funds will support Southold Dance Theater’s (SDT) 2024-2025 season. SDT has a continued vision and goal to reach more people within the community than ever before by meeting them where they are; 50 acts for 50 years. SDT’s two largest performances, holiday tradition, The Nutcracker and Spring Ballet, Giselle, paired with a plethora of community outreach interactive events, a documentary with community premiere, and innovative collaborations provide opportunities to accomplish this meaningful goal.
Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: $10,000
Funds will support The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association’s free community outreach programs in 2024-2025 for children, youth, and mixed audiences, which are presented by Fischoff Competition alumni and local professional musicians. Each spring, competition ensembles serve as Peer Ambassadors for Chamber Music giving elementary students first-rate music experiences. Each fall, mid-career ensembles transform books into musical performances, encouraging literacy to our community’s most impressionable young audiences, promoting reading, and inspiring lives.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $7,500
Funds will be used for South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras 2024-2025 sectional program. Sectionals take place during the first hour of weekly Concert and Symphony Orchestra rehearsals; instrument sections separate into different classrooms for targeted guidance and practice on their orchestral parts. This helps them to be better prepared for the subsequent orchestra rehearsal. Each sectional is led by a professional musician who plays that instrument. In addition to providing essential musical training and helping students to gain confidence, sectional coaches also serve as mentors who answer important questions about playing or practice technique.
Robinson Community Learning Center – University of Notre Dame: $5,000
Funds will be used for Robinson Shakespeare Company, 2024-2025. The Robinson Shakespeare Company offers year-long programs that reach 450 youth annually. Activities include drama integration instruction in schools, afterschool drama clubs, and a summer program, all of which engage a wide range of diverse participants, grades 3-12. Goals include increased educational outcomes for youth, increased capacity of teachers to integrate drama into academic curricula, and increased youth participation in theatre.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $5,000
Funds will support Art Beat 2024. Art Beat is a free visual, performing, and culinary arts festival, taking place along the streets and sidewalks of downtown South Bend. It is the largest, single-day festival in the region and serves a broad, cross-section of the population. Art Beat encourages long-term growth of arts in the community by supporting the local art scene and lowering the barrier to exposure of the arts. Over 750 artists participate, and there were over 20,000 attendees in 2023.
The Main Stage, Inc.: $5,000
The Main Stage, Inc. is requesting funding to help support the 2024-2025 season of musical performances, which includes two student musicals, a summer camp, and a community theater opportunity highlighting the talents of community performers of all ages. While performing in musicals, students will be instructed in drama, music, dance, theatrical terminology, reading a musical score, and using these as a form of expression. To provide seasoned young performers with new opportunities, The Main Stage will take a show choir to perform in Disney World on fall break. Students will also participate in Disney’s Imagination Project performance workshops.
Musical Arts Indiana, Inc. (MAI): $3,500
Funds will help support Musical Arts Indiana’s 2024-2025 season, which includes performances of Vesper Chorale, small ensembles from the Vesper Chorale Chamber Orchestra, and the Children’s Choir of Michiana. Target population includes the public in St. Joseph and surrounding counties. In the new season, MAI will present five concerts, continue work on inclusion, diversity, and equity with its Board of Directors, choral members, and audience, and increase social media presence for community engagement.
South Bend Chamber Singers – Saint Mary’s College: $3,500
Funds will help support South Bend Chamber Singer’s (SBCS) 36th Concert Season which will consist of three distinct performances: the “Christmas at Loretto” concert, with a world premiere of a commissioned piece from Argentinian composer, Santiago Veros; a joint performance of Puccini’s “Tosca” with the South Bend Symphony and South Bend Lyric Opera; and “To Have and To Hold: Marriage Music,” a collection of choral music either composed for wedding ceremonies or celebrating the institution of matrimony.
The Acting Ensemble: $3,500
Funds will help support The Acting Ensemble (AE)’s 2024-2025 programs, which include monthly Stage Readings, six Main Stage productions, bimonthly Poets and Playwrights, Late Night theater and special productions. This includes, (in collaboration with the History Museum), a locally written play about the South Bend Blue Sox, a 1940s professional women’s baseball team and the impact of misogyny on women and Senior Stories, a series of instructional sessions to help seniors develop their own stories and move them into production at the facility itself and at the AE to a broader audience.
Studebaker National Museum: $3,500
Funds will help support the 2024 Concours d’Elegance at Copshaholm event, which has become the premier celebration of automotive design and styling in Indiana. This unique event combines the robust exhibitions and displays of the Museum Campus with a wide array of educational programming for one of the fastest growing family friendly events in the region. Guests enjoy automobiles from across the country, along with educational programming such as the Styling Studio, Driven to Design racetrack experience, a special film screening with the Women in Motorsports Foundation, and historical walking tours.
South Bend Heritage Foundation: $3,000
Funding will support South Bend Heritage Foundation’s 2024-2025 Exhibition Season at the Colfax Campus Gallery. As a key aspect in the community building and engagement, the Gallery helps to provide a holistic approach to the neighborhood stabilization and revitalization work. The Colfax Gallery is positioned to enhance the cultural and artistic education of those that may not have access to the arts, with 6 exhibitions hosted in the unique gallery spaces: 3 shows for local artists; the Middle School Exhibition for students; a juried exhibition on art and social justice; and a community arts organization exhibition.
South Bend Venues Parks & Arts Foundation: $10,000
Funds will help support a 90-minute documentary film about Rosemary Sanders, the first African American performer in the South Bend Symphony Orchestra (SBSO) in 1940. Rosemary performed with the SBSO for 15 years, but her name was never listed in the program, nor was she invited to formally sit with the orchestra for photographs. The next African American player in the SBSO was not hired until 1995. The film explores Rosemary’s history in South Bend and
how the lack of access and opportunity has resulted in African American making of 2.4% of participants in American orchestras.
Wild Rose Moon: $10,000
Funds will help support Wild Rose Moon’s new high-quality television series broadcast on WNIT PBS Michiana public television. This series, which will total 12 one-hour episodes, will feature St. Joseph County performing artists alongside national talent. The new television shows will be able to highlight the visual charms already familiar to listeners of “The Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour” broadcasting its shows on WVPE Public Radio since 2017. By showcasing excellent Michiana artists to the PBS audience, this television series will give South Bend area performers access to another venue to build their careers.
Merrimans’ Playhouse Inc.: $5,000
Merrimans’ Playhouse is receiving funding in support of its endeavors to foster and expand the area’s jazz talent, both professional artists and jazz students. Funds will be used from July 2024 to June 2025 in support of the Home Grown Jazz Series, The Student Jazz Performance Series, and The Chamber Arts Series, to pay for musician fees, marketing and promotion, and operating costs.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $5,000
Funds will help support Mural Mania, an annual mural festival that helps add lasting beauty and vibrancy to Downtown South Bend. Mural Mania increases vibrancy by creating unique arts-infused programming that attracts visitors downtown and brings customers to neighboring locally owned businesses. Funds will help support necessary equipment and supplies for muralists to create larger works of art.
Saint Mary’s College: $3,200
Funds will support Saint Mary’s College Department of Education and the Michiana Writers’ Center’s annual teen writing conference, known as “Get Inked” for students in grades 7-12. This conference provides an opportunity for teens to learn writing techniques from published and professional authors, improve their academic and personal writing, learn about the editing and publishing process, and spend time with other teens who like to write. The 2025 conference will take place both online and in-person at the college and provide space for up to 140 attendees both locally and from across the nation. SMC works with all of the local school corporations and Boys and Girls Clubs to ensure local participation.
Fall 2023
The Music Village: $140,000 (payable over three years)
The Music Village (TMV) is receiving Major Venture support for a multi-year recording arts initiative to create a recording arts studio classroom and launch a three-stage capacity-building and pilot program. This initiative will enable TMV to expand in-demand programming, introduce new programming, engage new participants and partners, and host a unique community resource. Half of the grant award will also help TMV build their endowment to help support this initiative.
WNIT Channel 34: $15,000
Funds will be used for 2024 annual sponsorship funding in support of multiple programs WNIT airs supporting the arts in St. Joseph County. As a PBS station, they bring the highest-quality national arts performances to the local audiences to inspire and entertain as well as featuring local arts through weekly episodes of Experience Michiana and a strong line-up of local performances like Live from ND, Arts at IUSB series, holiday shows from local groups, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and more.
Sappy Moffitt Field Foundation: $10,000
Sappy Moffitt Field Foundation is receiving funds for visiting artist residencies, community-based workshops, a workshop toolkit, and three public murals depicting underrepresented histories from South Bend. The project is meant to raise awareness of and foster dialogue about race, representation, and access in the South Bend community. The murals will portray Uncle Bill’s and Seabe Gavin Sr. Uncle Bill’s was a predominantly Black women’s softball team that played in the 1930s and 1940s. A third mural will be dedicated to Uncle Bill’s team, but will be created with the youth from the Boys and Girls Club and Riley High School. This mural will give students the opportunity to learn public art techniques, methods, and principles. Through additional partners such as Robinson Community Learning Center and the Civil Rights Heritage Center, Foundry Field will reach the broader community and region.
(Elkhart Community Schools) DBA WVPE: $7,500
Funds will support WVPE’s 2024 production of the established monthly program, “The Sauce,” hosted by Dawn Burns. “The Sauce” will expand to include two additional monthly broadcasts of recorded live performances and artist interviews from area venues (“The Sauce: Live From…”) such as “The Acorn” in Three Oaks MI, “Merrimans’ Playhouse” South Bend, IN and others. Both programs will be available via podcast. WVPE will also support a five-minute weekly area entertainment and arts related broadcast news segment, “The Sauce Update,” hosted by Dawn Burns.
United Youth Theatre: $7,500
Funds will support United Youth Theatre’s (UYT) 2024 season. Funding will support technical needs for four productions including sets, costumes, props, performance space, and expand upon current opportunities for area youth to get involved. In 2024, for the first time, UYT will have a current student lead a production, introduce live music, include a K-12th production, and see the return of school performances to further engage youth across the community.
The Music Village: $7,500
Funds will be used for annual support for The Music Village (TMV). Funds will support opportunities to learn about, experience, and participate in music and dance programming. TMV’s offerings include virtual and in-person music lessons, dance classes, group programs, jams, concerts, camps, after school programs, and more. The Music Village is continuing to expand their programming. TMV currently has about 125 students enrolled in private lessons and music classes, over 50 attendees of various weekly sessions, and 7 Music therapy clients. TMV is also offering programming to a broad segment of the community through 40 partnership programs.
South Bend Lyric Opera: $3,500
Funds will support South Bend Lyric Opera’s (SBLO) 2024 season. The first opera of the season will be Merry Widow by Franz Lehár. This comedy operetta will be in English and will be performed in the new performing arts center at Stanley Clark School in January 2024. The Stanley Clark School is a new location for SBLO and is an emerging partnership, which should open doors to new community patrons. SBLO hopes to implement an updated communications outreach plan and begin a new program providing free/low-cost tickets to community organizations that serve communities less likely to experience opera, in support of their updated diversity-related values.
Patchwork Dance Company: $3,500
Funds will support Patchwork Dance Company’s (PDC) 2024 season which includes three concerts. PDC will produce a spring concert March 2024; a fall concert and visual arts event, “Artistic Fusion” to be held September 2024; and a holiday concert, “Christopher’s Christmas” to be held December 2024.
UZIMA! Drum and Dance, Inc.: $2,500
Funds will support UZIMA! Drum and Dance, Inc.’s production expenses for two performances utilizing community partners celebrating African American history. The first performance will be “ASHE: A Celebration of Voices” on January 20, 2024, which will showcase the diversity of our community through an opening short film highlighting prominent and everyday figures sharing their hope and vision of what Dr. King called “The Beloved Community”. Seven local church choirs will take the stage to lift their voices in song and celebration of Dr. King’s spirit. The Pokagon Band’s Drum Circle will open the concert with a Healing Dance designed to promote unity. UZIMA! Drum and Dance will perform several dance pieces honoring Dr. King’s legacy. In June, UZIMA! will be premiering the first large-scale performance celebrating the third anniversary of Juneteenth becoming a national holiday. Both performances will take place at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and there will also be an abbreviated performance within the community.
Spring 2023
South Bend Civic Theatre: $35,000
Funds will support South Bend Civic Theatre’s 2023 calendar year season of events and activities. The Civic has already produced 6 productions as of May 1, 2023 and the remainder of the season includes 3 youth productions, 2 musicals, 5 plays, 3 readings, 2 exhibitions and 2 concerts, along with a variety of other programs. Shows are back to selling out; volunteerism is back to pre-pandemic levels.
South Bend Museum of Art: $35,000
Funds will support SBMA’s exhibition season from July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024. In 5 galleries, SBMA presents traveling and juried exhibitions, offers historical and contemporary perspectives, and introduces emerging and challenging art forms. SBMA is undertaking a new curatorial vision and process that serves artists directly in the community and places them on a national stage. This process is better articulated as a commitment to curatorial research and building exhibitions in the gallery spaces with local and regional Midwest artists alongside nationally recognized artists. They will continue to provide concurrent art education, events and programs that explore contemporary art themes, ideas, techniques, and media with hands-on opportunities.
South Bend Symphony Orchestra: $35,000
Funds will be used for SBSO’s 2023-2024 Season. Twenty concerts are planned for the season, including 11 live performances across three main series: the Jack M. Champaigne Masterworks, June H. Edwards Mosaic, and Indiana Trust Pops. Operating support allows the Symphony to present a comprehensive schedule of performances; a variety of special concerts including the annual Home for the Holidays performances, collaborations with other local organizations, a family concert, free outdoor performances, and an ever-growing schedule of education and community engagement programs.
Southold Dance Theater: $10,000
Funds will support Southold Dance Theater’s (SDT) 50th Season, 2023-2024. During this yearlong milestone celebration, SDT has a vision and goal to reach more people within the community with 50 acts planned for 50 years. The season includes SDT’s two largest performances, holiday tradition of The Nutcracker and the Spring Ballet, Giselle, paired with a plethora of community outreach interactive events, a documentary with community premiere and various collaborations.
Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: $10,000
Funds will support The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association’s free community outreach programs in 2023-2024 for children, youth, and mixed audiences, which are presented by Fischoff Competition alumni and local professional musicians. Competition ensembles each spring serve as Peer Ambassadors for Chamber Music, giving elementary students high quality music experiences. More than 6,000 community children and youth will participate in this educational programming.
South Bend Venues Parks & Arts Foundation: $10,000
Funds will help support the second annual Dia De Los Muertos, A Community Celebration, being presented by the Morris Performing Arts Center (through Venues Parks and Arts). This community celebration brings together multiple community partners, including the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, La Casa de Amistad, and several others, along with approximately 12,000 community attendees to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead with music, dance, food, and fun over a three-day festival. This festival brings all members of the community to understand and celebrate this important cultural holiday.
The History Museum: $10,000
Funds will help support The History Museum with transforming its 1,200 square foot Worker’s Home historic house from its current iteration of a 1930s Polish family to one of a 1950s African American family. As part of the home’s mission to advance the public understanding of the history of work, workers, and their families, with special attention to the pluralistic ethnic heritage of the St. Joseph River Valley Region, the transformed home will be an immersive experience for visitors and students to learn about the lives of local families and how they fit into national events and cultural movements of the time.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $7,500
Funds will support South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras 2023-2024 sectional program. The sectional program is a core component of both Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra ensembles. Sectionals break an ensemble into instrument groups; each instrument group works with a professional musician who plays their instrument. This is a crucial opportunity for students to gain confidence as musicians, both as orchestral players (learning their orchestra part) and individuals (strengthening their own technique as musicians).
Robinson Community Learning Center – University of Notre Dame: $5,000
Funds will be used for Robinson Shakespeare Company, 2023-2024. The Robinson Shakespeare Company offers year-long programs that reach 450 youth annually. Activities include drama integration instruction in schools, afterschool drama clubs, and a summer program, all of which engage a wide range of diverse participants, grades 3-12. Goals include: increased educational outcomes for youth, increased capacity of teachers to integrate drama into academic curricula, and increased youth participation in theatre.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $5,000
Funds will support Art Beat on August 19, 2023. This event is a free visual, performing, and culinary arts festival, taking place along the streets and sidewalks of downtown South Bend. It is the largest, single-day festival in the region and serves a broad, cross-section of the population. Art Beat encourages long-term growth of arts in the community by supporting the local art scene and lowering the barrier to exposure of the arts. Over 750 artists participated and over 20,000 attended in 2022. This year is Art Beat’s 20th Anniversary, and they expect over 25,000 in attendance with increased marketing and event upgrades.
Merrimans’ Playhouse Inc.: $5,000
Merrimans’ Playhouse is receiving funding in support of its endeavors to foster and expand the area’s jazz talent, both professional artists and jazz students. Funds will be used from July 2023 to June 2024 in support of the Home Grown Jazz Series, The Student Jazz Performance Series, and The Chamber Arts Series, to pay for musician fees, marketing and promotion, and operating costs.
Art 4: $5,000
Art 4 is receiving capacity-building funding to purchase additional sound and microphone equipment. Funding will allow Art 4 to expand their repertoire to larger shows, better serve the community through a more technologically advanced live auditory experience during productions, and allow the organization to work with more artists per show.
Musical Arts Indiana, Inc.: $3,500
Funds will help support Musical Arts Indiana’s 2023-2024 season which includes performances of Vesper Chorale, small ensembles from the Vesper Chamber Orchestra, and the Children’s Choir of Michiana. In the new season, MAI will present five concerts, continued work on their Board of Directors, audience, and choral members with inclusion, diversity, equity, and access, initiatives and increased social media strategies for community engagement.
The Main Stage, Inc.: $3,500
The Main Stage, Inc. is requesting funding to help support the 2023-2024 season of musical performances, which includes three children’s musicals, a summer camp, and two community theater opportunities highlighting the talents of community performers of all ages. While performing in musicals, students will be instructed in drama, music, dance, theatrical terminology, reading a musical score, and using these as a form of expression.
Studebaker National Museum: $3,500
Funds will help support Studebaker’s fifth Concours d’Elegance at Copshaholm, a premier celebration of automotive design and styling in Indiana. This unique event combines the robust exhibitions and displays of the Studebaker National Museum and The History Museum with a wide array of educational programming for one of the fastest growing family friendly events in the region. Visitors enjoy more than 80 automobiles from across the country, along with educational programming such as the Styling Studio, the new Driven to Design racetrack experience, and lectures on historical topics.
South Bend Heritage Foundation: $3,000
Funding will support South Bend Heritage Foundation’s 2023-2024 Exhibition Season at the Colfax Campus Gallery. The Colfax Gallery has become an essential component of South Bend Heritage’s mission and commitment to provide a holistic approach to enhancing and stabilizing neighborhoods. The Colfax Gallery is positioned to enhance the cultural and artistic education of those that may not have access to the arts, with 6 exhibitions hosted in the unique gallery spaces: three shows for local artists; the Middle School Exhibition for students; a juried exhibition on art and social justice; and a community arts organization exhibition.
South Bend Chamber Singers – Saint Mary’s College: $2,500
Funds will help support South Bend Chamber Singer’s (SBCS) 35th concert season, presenting a diverse selection of choral music to the local community. This season will include the premiere of an SBCS-commissioned work in December, and a concert dedicated to exploring immigration, through the new works of living artists. SBCS will also partner with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra on a beautiful classic work. “Christmas at Loretto” (Dec. 17, 2023) “Mozart, Requiem” (Mar. 10, 2024) with the SBSO “Crossing Borders: Songs of the Immigrant” (May 19, 2024).
The Acting Ensemble: $2,500
Funds will help support The Acting Ensemble’s (The AE) 2023-2024 season. The AE will produce at least twelve Stage Readings, five to six Main Stage productions, bi-monthly Poets and Playwrights, and Late Night Theater. Other projects include production and provision of storytelling, development of basic theater skills for older adults living in an assisted living facility, and a locally written play about the South Bend Blue Sox and the impact of misogyny on women and girls’ sports (in collaboration with the History Museum).
Fall 2022
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $150,000 (payable over three years)
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Fischoff Chamber Music Academy, and Saint Mary’s College will use this grant to support a collaborative two-week summer music camp that will involve coordination among all three groups. The Dake Summer Music Academy, created by the South Bend Symphony, ran for twenty summers between 1997-2017. The end of this program left a vacuum for chamber music and orchestral summer camps serving grade 6-12 students in the South Bend area. This camp aims to fill that void and will take place at Saint Mary’s College.
WNIT-TV Channel 34: $15,000
This grant will support multiple programs that WNIT airs to support the arts in St. Joseph County. As a PBS station, WNIT brings the highest-quality national arts performances to local audiences to inspire and entertain through weekly episodes of Experience Michiana and local performances like Live from ND, Arts at IUSB series, holiday shows from local groups, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and more.
The Music Village: $7,500
This funding will provide support for The Music Village (TMV), including opportunities to learn about, experience, and participate in music and dance programming. TMV’s offerings include virtual and in-person music lessons, dance classes, group programs, jams, concerts, camps, after school programs, and more.
Patchwork Dance Company: $3,500
Funds will support Patchwork Dance Company’s (PDC) 2023 season, including a spring concert in March 2023; a fall concert and visual arts event “Artistic Fusion,” to be held September 2023; and a holiday concert, “Christopher’s Christmas,” to be held December 2023.
WVPE-FM 88.1 (Elkhart Community Schools): $8,000
This grant will provide support for production of “The Sauce,” a one-hour monthly radio broadcast/podcast focusing on arts, music, and culture. “The Sauce,” with host Dawn Burns, is produced locally by Karl Smith and designed to support diverse artistic expressions of our local talent, inspiring their efforts, and placing their work in context with nationally recognized creators.
Inspire Mishawaka Inc: $2,500
This grant funding will support “Third Thursdays in the Mish,” events held on the third Thursday of every month by Inspire Mishawaka. Restaurants, small businesses, musicians, artists, performers, and public spaces come together to create a vibrant atmosphere in downtown Mishawaka and the riverfront district.
South Bend Lyric Opera: $9,000
In accordance with the South Bend Lyric Opera (SBLO)’s strategic planning process, begun in mid-2022, this capacity-building grant funding will provide support for professional consultants and the training necessary to ensure the SBLO’s continued growth.
Spring 2022
MAJOR VENTURE FUNDING: South Bend Civic Theatre: $50,000
Major Venture Funds will support South Bend Civic Theatre’s two-phase orchestra loft project, which will include a dedicated sound studio for up to 15 live musicians. Phase One created access and structural reinforcement. Phase Two includes acoustic glass shielding, sound dampening panels, a digital soundboard, microphones, amplifiers, and monitors. These investments will attract higher caliber musicians, control sound leveling, and allow the organization to better stage larger musicals.
South Bend Civic Theatre: $35,000
Funds will support South Bend Civic Theatre’s 2022 season of events and activities. The organization’s season follows a calendar year, and includes three youth productions, four musicals, five plays, three readings and art exhibitions, two concerts, and a community day celebration. Civic also has numerous partnerships, including one with South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) for productions of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and West Side Story. Free performances will serve nearly 3,000 students, and classrooms throughout SBCSC are incorporating thematic lesson plans.
South Bend Museum of Art: $35,000
Funds will support SBMA’s 2022-2023 exhibition season. In five galleries, SBMA presents traveling and juried exhibitions, offers historical and contemporary perspectives, and introduces emerging and challenging art forms. A new, stronger focus on art education in galleries and engaging family audiences will deepen visitors’ interaction and understanding of art, artmaking, and artists.
South Bend Symphony Orchestra: $35,000
Funds will be used for South Bend Symphony Orchestra’s (SBSO) 2022-2023 Season. For their 90th Anniversary, the Symphony has planned a season with world-renowned guest artists, several large-scale orchestral works including Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, a Silk Road Ensemble concerto, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Twenty concerts are planned for the 2022-2023 season, including 11 live performances across three main series: the Jack M. Champaigne Masterworks, June H. Edwards Mosaic, and Indiana Trust Pops.
Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: $10,000
Funds will support The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association’s free community outreach programs in 2022-2023 for children, youth, and mixed audiences, which are presented by Fischoff Competition alumni and local professional musicians. Competition ensembles each spring serve as Peer Ambassadors for Chamber Music, giving elementary students high quality music experiences. This fall Fischoff will also host Educator Award winner WindSync for an additional residency to target underrepresented youth. In total, over 150 programs are planned for over 9,800 total audience members.
Southold Dance Theater: $10,000
Funds will support Southold Dance Theater’s Winter 2022 production of the Nutcracker and Spring 2023 production of Cinderella. The Nutcracker will be held at the Morris Performing Arts Center the first week of December 2022 and will be accompanied by the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and Cinderella will take place in June of 2023. In total, productions will reach roughly 10,000 members of the local community.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $7,500
Funds will support SBYSO’s 2022-2023 sectional program. The sectional program is a core component of SBYSO’s Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra ensembles. Sectionals break an ensemble into instrument groups; each instrument group works with a professional musician who plays that instrument. This is an opportunity for students to gain confidence as musicians, both as orchestral players (learning their orchestra part) and individuals (strengthening their own technique as musicians).
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $5,000
Funds will support Art Beat on August 20, 2022. This is a free visual, performing, and culinary arts festival, taking place along the streets and sidewalks of downtown South Bend. It is the largest, single-day festival in the seven-county region and serves a broad, cross-section of the population. Art Beat encourages long-term growth of arts in the community by supporting the local art scene and lowering the barrier to exposure of the arts. Usually, over 800 artists participate with an expected visitor attendance of over 16,000.
Robinson Community Learning Center, University of Notre Dame: $5,000
Funds will be used for the Robinson Shakespeare Company for 2022-2023. Activities include drama integration instruction in schools, afterschool drama clubs, and a summer program, all of which engage a wide range of diverse participants. Should COVID limit group sizes and in-person instruction, activities will take place remotely and focus on video production of performances. Goals include: increased educational outcomes for youth, increased capacity of teachers to integrate drama into academic curricula, and increased youth participation in theatre.
The Main Stage, Inc.: $3,500
Funds will support The Main Stage, Inc.’s 2022-2023 season of musical performances, which includes three children’s musicals, a summer camp, and two community theater opportunities highlighting the talents of community performers of all ages. While performing in musicals, students will be instructed in drama, music, dance, theatrical terminology, reading a musical score, and using these as a form of expression.
Musical Arts Indiana, Inc.: $3,500
Funds will help support Musical Arts Indiana’s 2022-2023 season which includes performances of Vesper Chorale, Vesper Chamber Orchestra, and the Children’s Choir of Michiana. Target population includes the general public in St. Joseph and surrounding counties. In the new season, MAI will return to a five concert presentation, continued work on Board of Directors, audience, and choral members inclusion, diversity, equity, and access, and new social media strategies for community engagement.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $3,000
Funds will support the 2022 Red Table Plaza Lunchtime Concert Series. This is a free concert series in the heart of downtown South Bend featuring an array of local, acoustical musicians and songwriters. The concert series will run Monday through Thursday from June 1-August 31, 2022. Partnership with the Morris’ Fridays by the Fountain will continue, along with the partnership with The Music Village assisting in booking local musicians. The series is attended by a wide spectrum of downtown workers, residents and visitors, with a daily attendance of approximately 40 people.
South Bend Heritage Foundation: $3,000
Funding will support South Bend Heritage Foundation’s 2022-2023 Exhibition Season at the Colfax Campus Gallery. The Colfax Gallery has become an essential component of South Bend Heritage’s mission and commitment to provide a holistic approach to enhancing and stabilizing neighborhoods. The Colfax Gallery, located right at the heart of two low-to-moderate income census tracts, enables the cultural and artistic education of those that may not have access to the arts, with 6 exhibitions hosted in the unique gallery spaces: 3 shows for local artists; the Middle School Exhibition for students; a 4-state juried exhibition on the subject of art and social justice; and a community arts organization exhibition.
The Acting Ensemble: $2,500
Funds will be supporting The Acting Ensemble’s 2022-2023 season. AE will produce at least twelve Stage Readings (one per month), four to five Main Stage productions (beginning in September 2022), three Wild Theater Fun productions, and special projects such as the Boyd Gurley production, May through September 2022. AE will be teaching storytelling and development of basic theater skills for older adults living in an assisted living facility with the seniors presenting the results in a Stage Reading. In addition, AE will be providing periodic Special Events focused on music and improvisation.
South Bend Chamber Singers, Saint Mary’s College: $2,500
Funds will support the South Bend Chamber Singer’s 34th Concert Season, 2022-2023. The season will include 4 performances: “Christmas at Loretto” concert presenting new works for the season, the world premiere of Jocelyn Hagen’s “Ashes of Roses”, in a new orchestration; “American Landscapes”, highlighting works by American composers that celebrate the beauty and majesty of our country’s landscapes, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.
Merrimans’ Playhouse Inc.: $5,000
Funds will be used from July 2022 to June 2023 in support of the Home Grown Jazz Series, the Student Jazz Performance Series, and the Chamber Arts Series, to pay musician fees, marketing and promotion, and operating costs. Merrimans’ Playhouse has a relatively new location in the Commerce Center Building on Colfax Avenue.
South Bend Lyric Opera: $5,000
Funds will support South Bend Lyric Opera’s (SBLO) upcoming production of Don Giovanni, which will be presented in Italian with English supertitles in Northside Auditorium at IU South Bend. Using a larger venue for this production allows SBLO to increase its goal for minimum ticket sales to 120 per performance for each of the two planned performances, including a mix of full-price and discounted student tickets.
The History Museum: $5,000
Funds will support The History Museum’s Copshaholm 125 Arts Competition. It was 125 years ago, on January 1, 1897, that J.D. and Anna Oliver, along with their four children, moved into their new home at 808 West Washington Street in South Bend. They later would call their house Copshaholm, in honor of the Scottish birthplace of J.D.’s father, James. To commemorate the anniversary, The History Museum has planned a yearlong celebration that includes special programs that comprise the Copshaholm 125 Arts Competition. Four separate events are part of the project: a kick-off event to inspire and inform artists, an arts show/competition, Gallery After Dark, and a youth program.
Indiana University South Bend: $2,815
Funds will support IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center’s 2022-2023 Exhibition Project, in which the organization showcases regular exhibitions of art and history in the historic 1922 Engman Public Natatorium. Past exhibitions included “Some of Us Are Missing” from local Latina artist Angelica Frausto, whose work speaks to missing and murdered BIPOC women; “South Bend Alive with Hope and Pride” featuring the Center’s local LGBTQ+ history collection; and “Breathe” from local African American artist Danica Corin. For 2022-2023, the Center will invite local artists, as well as develop history exhibitions from its own archives.
South Bend Venues Parks and Arts Foundation: $2,500
Funds will support the “2022 Best. Week. Ever. Traveling Art Exhibit.” For the project, the plan is to create dozens of the same “blank canvas” pieces (either large versions of the South Bend City Star or birthday cakes to celebrate the Morris 100 birthday) and have an equal number of local artists paint the pieces in their chosen style. Once the pieces are completed, they will be showcased around the city through Best. Week. Ever. and beyond.
Fall 2021
WNIT Channel 34: $15,000
This 2022 annual sponsorship funding will support multiple programs that WNIT airs about the arts in St. Joseph County. A PBS affiliate station, WNIT-TV brings high-quality national arts performances to local audiences and features local arts through weekly episodes of Experience Michiana. WNIT also broadcasts local performances such as Live from Notre Dame, Arts at IUSB, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, local holiday shows, and more.
The Music Village: $7,500
This 2022 annual sponsorship funding will support opportunities for local residents to experience and participate in The Music Village’s programming. TMV offers music lessons, dance classes, group programs, jams, concerts, camps, and after-school programs, in both virtual and in-person formats.
Patchwork Dance Company: $3,500
This 2022 annual sponsorship will support Patchwork Dance Company’s season, which includes three concerts. Patchwork will produce “Coalescence in Dance” in March 2022; “Artistic Fusion,” a fall concert and visual arts event, in October 2022; and “Greta’s Gift,” a holiday concert, in December 2022.
Studebaker National Museum: $5,000
Funds will support Concours d’Elegance at Copshaholm, one of the fastest growing Concours in the country. This event places rare automobiles from across the country in the gardens of the historic Oliver Mansion. The Concours creates an immersive cultural experience the enriches the lives of community residents and draws visitors from across the country by blending educational programming, the arts, and rich historical resources on the Museum campus.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras: $2,500
This grant will support free music lessons to students whose families cannot afford to hire a private instructor. Qualifying students will have already received need-based tuition scholarships to cover their SBYSO participation. For these students, the SBYSO finds private instructors willing to provide lessons, and then pays the instructors directly on a monthly basis.
The Acting Ensemble: $2,225
The Acting Ensemble has received a grant from the Indiana Historical Society to research, write, and stage a limited production of a play about Boyd Gurley, editor of the Indianapolis Times in the 1920s, under whose leadership the Times won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing the corruption of the KKK. The IHS grant allows the play to be presented six times at the Acting Ensemble and at the History Museum. This additional ArtsEverywhere grant funding will expand the production of the play to additional locations, emphasizing minority communities and and historical societies, in June through September of 2022.
Spring 2021
South Bend Museum of Art: $35,000
Funding is being received to underwrite a portion of South Bend Museum of Art’s (SBMA) exhibition programming for 2020-2021. SBMA will be celebrating 75 years in 2022, remaining firmly committed to its roots as a community art center, providing arts education and exhibitions which address current issues and offer learning through new perspectives. In five changing galleries and their permanent collection gallery, they exhibit traveling and competitive shows; offer historical and contemporary perspectives; and introduce new and challenging art forms. A new, stronger focus on online exhibitions will continue as an enhancement to access and learning.
South Bend Civic Theatre: $35,000
Funds will support South Bend Civic Theatre’s (SBCT) 2021 season of events and activities. SBCT’s 2021 programming is broken into thirds: online streaming January through April, outdoor productions May through August, and indoor productions September through December 2021. The season consists of plays, musicals, reading, art exhibitions, community conversations and theatre for young audience productions.
South Bend Symphony Orchestra: $35,000
Funds will be used for South Bend Symphony Orchestra’s (SBSO) 2021-2022 Season. SBSO performs over 11 live performances across three main series: the Jack M. Champaigne Masterworks, June H. Edwards Mosaic, and Indiana Trust Pops. SBSO also produces a series of special concert productions including a family concert, holiday performances, the annual Chris Wilson outdoor community performance and 54 FREE Symphony-to-Go performances.
Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: $10,000
Funds will help support free community outreach programs in 2021-2022 for children, youth, and mixed audiences, which are presented by Fischoff Competition alumni and local professional musicians. Master classes, workshops, and peer mentoring programs will be delivered to community children and youth, with 141 programs planned for over 9,800 total audiences. This fall Fischoff will host Educator Award winner, Thalea String Quartet, for an additional residency to target underrepresented youth.
Southold Dance Theater: $10,000
Funds will be used for Southold Dance Theater’s 2021 production of The Nutcracker and Spring 2022 performance of Cinderella. The Nutcracker will be performed at the Morris Performing Arts Center in December 2021 anticipating 7,000 attending. Cinderella will be performed at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in May/June 2022 and is expected to attract over 1,000 people. Southold will also reach many in the community through annual participation in ArtBeat, the annual Chris Wilson outdoor community performance and other community events.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $7,500
Funds will help support South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras 2021-2022 sectional program. Sectionals are held during the first hour of their three-hour rehearsals and place student musicians in groups by instrument. Students can work more intensely on their orchestral part, with a professional musician (in most cases, a member of the South Bend Symphony) as a mentor and guide. This program cultivates creative activity and teamwork, while at the same time giving students the opportunity to work with mentors and professionals.
Downtown South Bend Foundation (DTSB): $5,000
Funds will be used for Art Beat, scheduled for August 21, 2021. Art Beat is a free visual, performing, and culinary arts festival, which takes place along the streets and sidewalks of downtown South Bend. It is the largest, single-day festival in the seven-county region and serves a broad, cross section of the population. Usually, over 900 artists participate with an expected visitor attendance of over 16,000, but DTSB will likely have to cut the number of artists and visitors to follow any COVID-19 guidelines.
Robinson Community Learning Center – University of Notre Dame: $5,000
Funds will be used for the Robinson Shakespeare Company for 2021-2022, which will offer year-long programs that reach an average of 500 youth in a typical year. Activities include in-class drama integration instruction at partner schools, after school drama clubs, and a summer program, all of which engage a wide range of diverse participants. Overarching goals include increased educational outcomes for youth, increased capacity of teachers to integrate drama into academic curricula, and increased youth participation in theatre.
Merrimans’ Playhouse: $5,000
Funds will be used for the Home-Grown Jazz Series and the Student Jazz Performance Series from July 2021 to June 2022. Merrimans’ Playhouse endeavors to foster and expand local jazz talent of both professional artists and jazz students. They plan to open their new venue located in the Commerce Center Building for performances in September 2021.
Pigasus Institute: $5,000
Funds will be used for Project Pigasus which is a short screenplay competition exclusively for Indiana high school students. A winning screenplay is selected each year and the producers at an Indiana-based film company, Pigasus Pictures, bring a professional film company to the hometown of the winner to produce their film at the highest quality with students shadowing and learning from professionals on an actual film set. This year’s winning film, Renegade, was written by Sam Stanton of John Adams High School. Approximately 12 Adams students experienced 40 hours of practical on set experience, with more to come in the post production process. When the film is complete, Project Pigasus will screen for the entire population of Adams High School, in a public community forum, and at film festivals around the country.
Musical Arts Indiana, Inc.: $3,500
Funds will help support Musical Arts Indiana’s 2021-2022 season which includes performances of Vesper Chorale, Vesper Chamber Orchestra, and the Children’s Choir of Michiana. Target population includes the general public in St. Joseph and surrounding counties. With pandemic restrictions still in place, three concerts and two events are planned for the upcoming season. Virtual recitals will also be offered via live streaming.
The Main Stage, Inc.: $3,500
Funds will be used for the 2021-2022 season of musical performances, which include three full children’s musicals and a summer camp for students ranging in ages from 5-18. The Main Stage will also produce two community theater opportunities highlighting the talents of community performers of all ages. While performing in musicals students will be instructed in drama, music, dance, theatrical terminology, reading a musical score, and using drama and dance as a form of expression.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $3,000
Funds will support the 2021 Red Table Plaza Lunchtime Concert Series. This is a free concert series in the heart of downtown South Bend featuring an array of local, acoustical musicians and songwriters. The concert series will run Monday through Thursday from June 1 through August 31, 2021. Partnership with the Morris’ Fridays by the Fountain will continue, along with the partnership with The Music Village assisting in booking local musicians. The series is attended by a wide spectrum of downtown workers, residents and visitors, with a daily attendance of over 50 people.
South Bend Heritage Foundation: $3,000
Funds will be used for the 2021-2022 Exhibition Season at the Colfax Campus Gallery. The Gallery is open to the immediate neighborhood and to the entire community. There are six regular exhibitions to meet a balance of artwork and artists – three shows for local artists; the Middle School Exhibition for students; a four-state juried art and social justice exhibition; and a community arts organization exhibition.
The Acting Ensemble: $2,500
Funds will help support The Acting Ensemble’s (The AE) 2021-2022 season which includes 12 Stage Works, 4 Main Stage productions, and 3 WTF Late Night productions. The AE provides a unique experience for the both the audience and for the directors and actors. Their new location in Mishawaka is on track to open in September, which is typically when their season starts.
South Bend Chamber Singers: $2,500
Funds will support South Bend Chamber Singers’ 33rd Concert Season comprising three performances in 2021-2022: the “Christmas at Loretto” concert, premiering a work commissioned from Indiana composer Dominick DiOrio; A joint performance of Verdi’s “La Traviata” with the South Bend Lyric Opera and the South Bend Symphony; and “Day is Done”, a series of choral reflections on war, taken from poetry encompassing wars from the Civil War to the modern day.
South Bend Venues, Parks and Arts: $2,500
Funds will support an Art Show titled, “Entwined: Storytelling Through Fiber Art” that will take place at the Howard Park Event Center, featuring works of five local, female artists. The art show will kick-off during Best. Week. Ever. on August 5th and run through August 28, 2021. The multi-functional community space can accommodate up to 300 people and was intentionally designed for maximum accessibly for all users. Built-in gallery walls will serve as feature display areas and will be the inaugural use of the Howard Park Event Center as a functioning Art Display Gallery.
Winter 2020
Casaday Costume Company: $25,000 (over three years)
Major Venture Funding will support Casaday Costume Company’s efforts over three years to barcode their collection of costumes and associate each costume’s description and photo with a specific code in their new database. This vast project will make the collection much easier to use and streamline their internal procedures. The project will consist of following a multi-step process until a large portion of their collection (6,000 items) is coded, photographed, and documented. When the project is complete, they will be able to better serve school theatre programs, community theatres, museums and libraries, and people interested in renting out and researching the costumes in the collection. The timeframe for this endeavor is twenty hours per week over three years, with a staff costumer overseeing trained interns for the project.
WNIT Channel 34: $15,000
Funds are intended for 2021 annual sponsorship funding in support of multiple programs WNIT airs supporting the arts in St. Joseph County. Specific projects include Experience Michiana and a wide variety of arts programming throughout the year, including live performances from the Met Opera, the PBS Fall Arts Series, dance performances, plays, Austin City Limits and more. Experience Michiana is WNIT’s signature local arts program entering the tenth season, providing an expansive look at arts and culture in our region.
The Music Village: $5,000
Funds are intended for 2021 annual support. Funds will assist The Music Village (TMV) in adapting core music and dance programming for virtual delivery and/or return to in-person services, while maintaining online program options where warranted. TMV’s offerings include music lessons, dance classes, group programs, jams, concerts, camps, after school programs, music therapy and more.
Patchwork Dance Company: $3,500
Funds will support Patchwork Dance Company’s (PDC) annual support funding for their 2021 season which includes three concerts. PDC will produce a spring concert, “Inspirations in Dance” in March 2021; a fall concert and visual arts event, “Artistic Fusion” to be held September 2021; and a holiday concert, “Greta’s Gift” to be held December 2021 at St. Mary’s College.
The History Museum: $10,000
Funds will be used for the Votes for Women: Stories of Women’s Suffrage project. Through a variety of artistic programs, the project will provide opportunities to learn about women in our region’s history who have made significant contributions to the area to create the South Bend community we know today. The project has three components: a 30-minute recorded virtual program that will chronicle the eras of the eight local women named in the exhibit and describe how women’s suffrage affected those periods; a 10-minute video that will be available to the public in the Votes for Women exhibit; and a series of 80 one-minute spots/commercials that will air on WSBT at various times during a 12-week period.
Studebaker National Museum: $7,500
Funds will be used for capital improvements to Studebaker National Museum’s Bulletnose Gallery and Atrium. The Bulletnose Gallery is a small gallery with an iconic vehicle on display at any given time from a current special exhibition on a turntable in the gallery. The turntable is broken along with several critical pieces of signage and interpretive tools in the gallery. Further, annually the Museum hosts more than forty educational programs, group events, and community gatherings in the AM General Atrium. Original designs for the Atrium did not imagine this robust roll for the space. The second half of this project will include the audio-visual technology upgrades to provide major enhancements for programs held in the Atrium.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc. : $5,000
Funds will be used for a master class series South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras (SBYSO) will hold online through Zoom sessions, given the ongoing pandemic. SBYSO has formed a partnership with the Pittsburgh Symphony and has arranged online master classes specifically for the woodwind and brass students during the winter months since they cannot hold indoor rehearsals. Additionally, the Music Lesson Project they started in 2020 is gaining in popularity and they would like to continue to provide lessons for enrolled students beyond the end of 2020.
Art 4: $4,000
Funds will help support Art 4’s licensing fees for their 2021 Season. Art 4 started in 2017 and they are approaching their fourth year with four musicals, two major fundraisers and three small-scale fundraisers planned for the 2021 Season. Two of the four shows, Ragtime and RENT, are Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musicals. These productions require larger casts than what Art 4 typically works with and call for a more diverse casting pool in order to tell these stories. The remaining two musicals, The Spitfire Grill and Ordinary Days, are smaller scale shows that maintain Art 4’s commitment to chamber works.
Spring 2020
South Bend Museum of Art: $25,000
Funding is being received to underwrite a portion of the South Bend Museum of Art’s exhibition programming for 2020-2021. In 2019, about 60,000 people visited or participated in the Museum’s programs. Of this number, about 10,000 school children on tours or participating in Family Days or Scholastic Art Awards. About 80% of their audience is from St. Joseph County.
South Bend Civic Theatre: $25,000
Funds will support the 2020 season. The season includes 5 musicals, 7 plays, 5-7 concerts, 2 art exhibitions, 3 community conversations, staged readings and more. In June 2020, they are unveiling a family-oriented, choose-your-own-adventure series devised and led by Civic instructors.
South Bend Symphony Orchestra: $25,000
Funds will support South Bend Symphony Orchestra’s 2020-2021 Season. The Season includes 5 Masterworks, 3 Pops, and 3 Mosaic series, “Home for the Holidays,” Martin Luther King Day Celebration, Young People’s Discovery, Family, Chris Wilson community play-along concert, and 54 FREE Symphony-to-Go performances in various schools, senior centers, libraries and other public locations.
The Acting Ensemble: $10,000
The Acting Ensemble (AE) is receiving funds for renovations of their 4,800 square feet building they purchased fall 2019 at 602 East Mishawaka Avenue, Mishawaka. Improvements to the building include updates for use as a theater, including fire/emergency exits, handicapped bathrooms and other improvements; the organization is working with Ancon Construction for the needed renovations. The building will house the theater, areas for costumes, props, and an area for set design. Located near downtown Mishawaka along the river, the AE can contribute to the arts community in that city and surrounding area.
City of South Bend – Venues Parks and Arts: $10,000
Funds will support technology, design, installation and tunnel preparation for a projection mapping project of an artistic video made of 8 musicians throughout St. Joseph County. This is a one-time investment, as the technology components can be used for similar future projects with different content. The music video, made of up of music, photos and videos of our community responding to COVID-19 will be projected inside the tunnel adjacent to Pier Park in South Bend.
South Bend Civic Theatre: $10,000
South Bend Civic Theatre is receiving capacity building funds to revitalize and grow their community impact post-COVID-19. This project consists of strategic focus groups with community and donor stakeholders, a large-scale organizational transformation summit composed of board members, volunteers, donors, and community representatives, coupled with board-level strategic planning support.
South Bend Community School Corporation: $10,000
South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) is utilizing their alliance with Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education Program to pilot a multi-year, multi-level, advanced teacher training, specifically targeting their Fine Arts magnet programs. There are three Fine Arts magnet programs within SBCSC: Nuner Fine Arts Academy (K-5), Dickinson Intermediate Center (6-8), and Clay Visual and Performing Arts High School (9-12). Funds will help support professional development for 30 teachers with training from Kassie Misiewicz, the acclaimed National Teaching artist with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Focus5 Arts Integration consulting group. The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center is SBCSC’s anchor partner and will be the matching fund contributor. Teachers will develop and implement arts-infused lessons and strategies in classrooms kindergarten through twelfth grade. With arts integration, students can brainstorm descriptive words, make predictions, learn perspective, and create powerful images and stories based on their own art.
Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: $7,500
Funds will be used to support Fischoff’s free community outreach programs in 2020-2021 for children, youth, and mixed audiences, which are presented by Fischoff Competition alumni and local professional musicians. Master classes, workshops, and peer mentoring programs will be delivered to community children and youth, with 131 programs to over 8,400 total audiences.
Southold Dance Theater: $7,500
Funds will be used for the 2020-2021 productions of “The Nutcracker” and a new spring ballet, May 2021. The Nutcracker will be performed at the Morris Performing Arts Center on December 12 and 13, 2020, reaching nearly 10,000 in attendance with 200 student participants. This is the 40th anniversary for this performance by Southold. In May 2021 Southold will premiere a new spring ballet (still being determined) with 100 participants.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $5,000
Funds will support Art Beat on August 15, 2020. Art Beat is a free visual, performing, and culinary arts festival, which takes place along the streets and sidewalks of downtown South Bend. It is the largest, single-day festival in the seven-county region and serves a broad, cross section of the population. Art Beat encourages long-term growth of arts in the community by supporting the local art scene and lowering the barrier to exposure of the arts. Over 900 artists participate each year with an expected visitor attendance of over 15,000.
Robinson Community Learning Center – University of Notre Dame: $5,000
Funds will support the Robinson Shakespeare Company for 2020-2021, which will offer year-long programs that reach an average of 660 youth each year throughout South Bend. Activities include in-class drama integration instruction at partner schools, afterschool drama clubs, and a summer program, all of which engage a wide range of diverse participants. Overarching goals include increased educational outcomes for youth, increased capacity of teachers to integrate drama into academic curricula, and increased youth participation in theatre.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $5,000
Funds will be used for the 2020-2021 sectional program. Sectionals are held during the first hour of their three-hour rehearsals and place student musicians in groups by instrument. Students can work more intensely on their orchestral part, with a professional musician (in most cases, a member of the South Bend Symphony) as a mentor and guide. This program cultivates creative activity and teamwork, while at the same time giving students the opportunity to work with mentors and professionals.
Merrimans’ Playhouse: $3,500
Merrimans’ Playhouse is receiving $3,500 to support its endeavors to foster the area’s jazz talent, both professional and students jazz artists. Funds are requested in support of the Home-Grown Jazz Performance Series and the Student Jazz Performance Series for 2020-2021. This past season, six Home Grown Jazz Performance Series concerts and nine Student Jazz Series concerts were held.
Musical Arts Indiana, Inc.: $3,500
Funds will help support the 2020-2021 season which includes performances of Vesper Chorale, Vesper Chamber Orchestra, and the Children’s Choir of Michiana. Target population is the general public in St. Joseph and surrounding counties. Seven concerts and two school tours are planned and their Children’s Choir of Michiana is also participating in IU South Bend’s Fall Choral Concert.
South Bend Lyric Opera: $3,500
Funding will be used for South Bend Lyric Opera’s (SBLO) 2020-2021 Season, which includes productions of three operas and several artist lectures. SBLO will perform in three separate performance venues. The first opera will continue SBLO’s longstanding collaboration with LangLab. The second production will be in partnership with ENSEMBLE Concept/21 and performed at the Campus Auditorium at IUSB. The final show, performed at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, will be a collaboration with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and South Bend Chamber Singers.
The Main Stage, Inc.: $3,500
Funding will help support the 2020-2021 season of musical performances, which will include three to four full children’s musicals and a summer camp for students ranging in ages from 5 to 18. They will also be producing two community theater musical opportunities highlighting the talents of community performers of all ages.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $3,000
Funds will support the 2020 Red Table Plaza Lunchtime Concert Series. This is a free concert series in the heart of downtown South Bend featuring an array of local, acoustical musicians and songwriters. The concert series will run Monday through Thursday this year from July 1 through August 27, 2020. Partnership with the Morris’ Fridays by the Fountain will continue, along with the partnership with The Music Village assisting in booking local musicians. The series is attended by a wide spectrum of downtown workers, residents and visitors, with a daily attendance of over 50 people.
South Bend Heritage Foundation: $3,000
Funding will support the 2020-2021 Exhibition Season at the Colfax Campus Gallery. The Gallery is open to the immediate neighborhood and to the entire community. There are six regular exhibitions to meet a balance of artwork and artists, school children, local arts organizations, individual local artists and a South Bend Heritage Foundation (SBHF) mission themed exhibition (Art and Social Justice).
The Acting Ensemble: $2,500
Funds will be used toward the 2020-2021 season which includes 12 Stage Works, 5 Main Stage productions, and 3 WTF Late Night productions. The AE provides a unique experience for the both the audience and for the directors and actors. For the audience the venue is small and intimate, enabling them to have a much more personal relationship with the productions.
LGBTQ Resource Center of Michiana: $2,500
The LGBTQ Center is receiving funds for the inaugural South Bend Queer Film Festival to bring new queer films to the Michiana area. Submissions of original and new queer themed films will be accepted, screened, and two films will be awarded prizes. Chosen films will be presented the weekend of September 25-26, 2020 on IU South Bend’s Campus and sponsorship/grant money will be used to secure rights to films, awards, promotion of the event, staff time, and other engagements.
South Bend Chamber Singers: $2,500
Fund will help support the staging of their 32nd Concert Season comprising four performances: the “Christmas at Loretto” concert, premiering a work commissioned from American composer Dominick DiOrio; A joint performance of Verdi’s “La Traviata” with the South Bend Lyric Opera and the South Bend Symphony; “Day is Done”, a series of choral reflections on war; and a final concert including Beethoven’s 9th Symphony performed with the South Bend Symphony.
The Ripple Effect Vocal Visionary Project: $2,000
Funds will be used for the 6th Season Concert Series 2020-2021, comprised of three major performances: “If You Knew Me, You’d Love Me” October 2020; Spring Concert – April 2021; and “Christmas In June” 2021 Concert. They noted their signature “If You Knew Me” concert has become their most popular performance and they have reserved a theatre at Saint Mary’s College for the 2020 event. Their Spring Concert includes the voices of children and adults who speak about the importance of environmental issues. “Christmas In June” is a concert that includes a variety of music accessible to all.
Winter 2019
WVPE 88.1 FM: $20,000
WVPE 88.1 FM broadcasts various cultural programs and showcases much of what the region has to offer in arts in culture. Funding will be used for technology equipment upgrades. These upgrades will allow the organization to connect to I-light fiber optic service to improve streaming quality and reliability, replace an Encoder that ensures HD broadcast capability, and make phone system improvements that will provide local reporters more flexibility for phone interviews.
University of Notre Dame – Department of Art, Art History, and Design: $20,000 (over 2 years)
Funds will help support the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design with a project to mitigate youth violence in City of South Bend. The project includes creating a series of participatory installations that use art and design to heal those that are impacted, raise awareness among youth, and generate dialogue within the community by working with youth–specifically those caught in the vicious web of violence with an aim to mitigate the cycle of youth violence. The installations aim to play a pivotal role in generating discourse by touching the human spirit, embodying hope, and helping with the healing by creating empathic interactions within the community.
WNIT Channel 34: $15,000
Funds are intended for annual sponsorship, supporting multiple programs that WNIT airs supporting the arts in St. Joseph County. Specific projects include Experience Michiana and a wide variety of arts programming throughout the year, including live performances from the Met Opera, the PBS Fall Arts Series, dance performances, plays, Austin City Limits and more. Experience Michiana is WNIT’s signature local arts program, providing an expansive look at arts and culture throughout the Michiana area.
The Music Village: $5,000
Funds are intended for 2020 annual support funding, supporting both in-house programming and community outreach initiatives. Funding will directly support ongoing operations and expansion of music and dance classes, instrumental lessons and cultural events and community collaborations. Notably, TMV is serving over 400 individuals a month, through more than 300 sessions.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $5,000
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras provides need-based financial aid to all who apply. Recently, the organization has seen an uptick in students applying for financial aid, as well as families that cannot afford to pay for private lessons. Funds will be used to pilot a program to cover private lesson fees and provide additional scholarships for students whose families qualify for need-based financial aid for tuition.
Studebaker National Museum: $5,000
Funds will help support the third Concours d’Elegance at Copshaholm to be held July 11, 2020. The event is a celebration of automotive heritage and design, which places 80-90 rare automobiles from across the country in the gardens of the historic Oliver Mansion. This unique location will help engage visitors with the rich cultural history of our region. Innovative interactive educational programs will also immerse visitors with broader themes in automotive design and history. Expected attendance is more than 2,000 guests.
Patchwork Dance Company: $3,500
Funds will support Patchwork Dance Company’s (PDC) 2020 season which includes three concerts. PDC will produce a spring concert, “Inspirations in Dance” at the Battell Center March 2020; a fall concert and visual arts event, “Artistic Fusion” to be held at the Battell Center, September 2019; and a holiday concert, “Greta’s Gift” to be held December 2020 at St. Mary’s College.
South Bend Museum of Art: $3,500
Funding will help assist with a 10-month contract with fundraising consultant, Charmaine Torma. Torma will provide 4 hours of coaching and consultation per month for 10 months. The total consultant fee includes services such as: philanthropic coaching; constructing a strategic development and constituent engagement plan; and building a customized plan to achieve goals for institutional development.
Spring 2019
South Bend Museum of Art: $25,000
Funding will be used for exhibition programming in 2019-2020. In 2018, about 44,000 people visited the Museum. Of this number, almost 7800 were school children on tours or participating in family days. About 80% of their audience is from St. Joseph County.
South Bend Civic Theatre: $25,000
Funds will support the 2019 season which includes 4 Theatre for Young Audience productions, 4 musicals, 7 plays, and 2-4 staged readings. South Bend Civic Theatre has also recently expanded to include concerts, curated art exhibits, and public symposiums on current issues. They are partnering with a variety of local communities, focusing more on community engagement and impact versus total attendance.
South Bend Symphony Orchestra: $25,000
Funding will be used for the 2019-2020 Season. The season includes Masterworks, Pops, and Mosaic series, “Home for the Holidays,” Martin Luther King Day Celebration, Young People’s Discovery, Family, Chris Wilson community play-along concerts, and 54 FREE Symphony-to-Go performances in various schools, senior centers, libraries and other public locations.
Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: $7,500
Funding will help support the free community outreach programs in 2019-2020 for children, youth, and mixed audiences, which are presented by Fischoff Competition alumni and local professional musicians. Master classes, workshops, and peer mentoring programs will be delivered to community children and youth, with 132 programs to over 8,300 total audiences.
Southold Dance Theater: $7,500
Funds will be used for the 2019-2020 productions of “The Nutcracker” and “La Fille Mal Gardee.” Southold will also reach many in the community through annual participation in ArtBeat and the Chris Wilson Pavilion at Potawatomi Park, among other outreach workshops and events.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $5,000
Funds will support Art Beat on August 17, 2019. Art Beat is a free visual, performing, and culinary arts festival, which takes place along the streets and sidewalks of downtown South Bend. It is the largest, single-day festival in the seven-county region and serves a broad, cross section of the population. Art Beat encourages long-term growth of arts in the community by supporting the local art scene and lowering the barrier to exposure of the arts. Over 900 artists participate each year with an expected visitor attendance of over 15,000.
Robinson Community Learning Center – University of Notre Dame: $5,000
Funds will support the Robinson Shakespeare Company for 2019-2020, which will offer year-long programs that reach an average of 660 youth each year throughout South Bend. Activities include in-class drama integration instruction at partner schools, afterschool drama clubs, and a summer program, all of which engage a wide range of diverse participants. Overarching goals include increased educational outcomes for youth, increased capacity of teachers to integrate drama into academic curricula, and increased youth participation in theatre.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $5,000
Funds will be used for the 2019-2020 sectional program. Sectionals are held during the first hour of their three-hour rehearsals and place student musicians in groups by instrument. Students can work more intensely on their orchestral part, with a professional musician (in most cases, a member of the South Bend Symphony) as a mentor and guide. This program cultivates creative activity and teamwork, while at the same time giving students the opportunity to work with mentors and professionals.
City of South Bend: $5,000
Funds will be used to support implementation of a public art initiative in roundabouts within the city limits. The initiative will begin with the installation of public sculpture in three roundabouts recently constructed as part of the Smart Streets Initiative. The City plans to begin the initiative by selecting a local artist who has large public sculptures available to display immediately and has identified Rev. Austin Collins, C.S.C. at the University of Notre Dame to be the first artist to display sculptures at the three roundabouts. In subsequent years, the City plans to create a call for art, whereby local and regional artists can submit proposals to showcase their work.
South Bend, Venues Parks & Arts: $5,000
Funds will be used for the 2019 Fridays by the Fountain summer outdoor concert series in downtown South Bend. Concerts are presented on the Jon R. Hunt Plaza in front of the Morris Performing Arts Center during lunchtime from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. every Friday in June, July and August. Business people, families, youth and senior citizen groups gather on the plaza to listen to live music, socialize, and enjoy lunch. Each Friday between 500-600 people attend the free outdoor concerts.
Musical Arts Indiana, Inc.: $3,500
Funding will support the 2019-2020 season which includes performances of Vesper Chorale, Vesper Chamber Orchestra, and the Children’s Choir of Michiana. Target population is the public in St. Joseph and surrounding counties. Seven concerts, two school tours, and one invitational choral festival are planned for the upcoming season.
The Main Stage, Inc.: $3,500
Funding is to help support the 2019-2020 season of musical performances, which will include three full children’s musicals and a summer camp for students ranging in ages from 5 to 18. The Main Stage will also be producing two community theater musical opportunities highlighting the talents of community performers of all ages. While performing in musicals students will be instructed in drama, music, dance, theatrical terminology, reading a musical score, and using drama and dance as a form of expression.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $3,000
Funds will support the 2019 Red Table Plaza Lunchtime Concert Series. This is a free concert series in the heart of downtown South Bend featuring an array of local, acoustical musicians and songwriters. The concert series will run Monday through Thursday from June 3 through August 29, 2019. Partnership with the Morris’ Fridays by the Fountain will continue, along with the partnership with The Music Village assisting in booking local musicians. The series is attended by a wide spectrum of downtown workers, residents & visitors, with a daily attendance of over 50 people.
South Bend Heritage Foundation: $3,000
Funding will support the 2019-2020 Exhibition Season at the Colfax Campus Gallery. The Gallery is open to the immediate neighborhood and to the entire community. There are six regular exhibitions to meet a balance of artwork and artists, school children, local arts organizations, individual local artists and a South Bend Heritage Foundation (SBHF) mission themed exhibition (Art and Social Justice). This is also the fourth year they will run a Summer Arts Program for local youth at two SBHF properties.
South Bend Lyric Opera (Fiscal Sponsor: Ultreia, Inc.): $2,850
Funds will help support the production costs of South Bend Lyric Opera’s seventh opera, “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi. Three performances are scheduled for September 5-7, 2019 at LangLab. “Rigoletto” is a staple of the operatic repertoire and is considered one of the most important Italian operas, performed on all continents. The music has a great variety of tone and texture, as well as challenging and unprecedented structures. The opera will be fully staged and presented in Italian, with English supertitles.
The Acting Ensemble: $2,500
Funds will be used for the 2019-2020 season which includes Stage Works, Main Stage productions, WTF Late Night, collaborative theater events and education for the local theater community. The AE provides a unique experience for the both the audience and for the directors and actors. For the audience the venue is small and intimate, enabling them to have a much more personal relationship with the productions. For the directors and actors, they are challenged by both the material and the setting.
South Bend Chamber Singers: $2,500
The South Bend Chamber Singers received funds to support the staging of their 31st Concert Season for 2019-2020, comprising three performances: the 30th “Christmas at Loretto” concert, premiering a work commissioned from American composer Carolyn Pirtle and featuring works by women composers; “Ashes of Roses,” a world premiere of a new version of the requiem by American composer Jocelyn Hagen paired with the Durufle Requiem; and a final concert, “The Day is Done” that will be a series of choral reflections on war.
Merrimans’ Playhouse: $2,500
Funds will help support the Student Jazz Performance Series from July 2019 to June 2020. This series will involve working with regional high school and collegiate jazz programs and providing them with invitations to perform. The series will highlight groups either affiliated with their school or students that have independent projects and recordings, which will offer a dedicated space with an attentive audience.
Winter 2018
WNIT Channel 34: $15,000
Funds are intended for annual sponsorship, supporting multiple programs that WNIT airs supporting the arts in St. Joseph County. Specific projects include Experience Michiana and a wide variety of arts programming throughout the year, including live performances from the Met Opera, the PBS Fall Arts Series, dance performances, plays, Austin City Limits and more.
South Bend Community School Corporation: $10,000
Funds will go toward the expansion of the Layers of Literacy pilot program at two elementary schools, Marquette Montessori and Nuner Arts Academy, and all visual art students at Dickinson Fine Arts Academy (DFAA). This project seeks to bridge the gap between the visual literacy of images and the language literacy of words, providing students with the skills to create, consume, and communicate information and ideas confidently.
InterAction Initiative Inc.: $7,500
Funds will support the Community Theater for Social Justice Action Conference, to be held April 26-28, 2019 in South Bend. This conference is a weekend event where regional theater artists, educators, and activists will learn from one another to strategize on how to use theater for social change. This year’s theme “Uplifting Young People of Color (YPOC)” aims to center YPOC voices and narratives to address our racial justice issues of today: xenophobia, Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia, school-to-prison pipeline, and more. The Conference will include curated workshops, theater performances, keynote address, networking, and opportunities to create theater.
The Music Village: $5,000
Funding will assist The Music Village (TMV) in continuation of institutional growth and expansion of services, supporting both in-house programming and community outreach initiatives. Funding will directly support music and dance classes, instrumental lessons and cultural events. TMV serves over 300 individuals through approximately 305 sessions per month.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $5,000
Funds will be used to purchase musical equipment and to start an instrument fund for student orchestras. South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra’s (SBYSO) repertoire requires instruments that they do not own and/or cannot easily borrow. This will also faciliate students being able to rehearse with SBYSO’s ensembles on the weekends for those that do not own their own instruments and only have access to them during the school week.
Studebaker National Museum: $5,000
Funds will help support the Concours d’Elegance at Copshaholm to be held July 13, 2019. The event is a celebration of automotive heritage and design. During the Concours, the gardens of the Oliver Mansion will host some of the finest and most rare examples of automotive styling. This unique location will help engage visitors with the rich cultural history of our region through the collections of the Studebaker Museum at the History Museum. Innovative interactive educational programs will also immerse visitors with broader themes in automotive design and history.
Patchwork Dance Company: $3,500
Funds will support Patchwork Dance Company’s (PDC) 2019 season which includes three concerts. PDC will produce a spring concert, “Variations in Dance” to be held March 2019 at St. Mary’s College; a fall concert and visual arts event, “Artistic Fusion” to be held at the Battell Center in Mishawaka, September 2019; and a holiday concert, “Greta’s Gift” to be held December 2019.
Indiana University South Bend: $2,500
Funds will support the 2019 Summer Chamber Orchestra Intensive, which will include a workshop culminating in a performance. The program will be held at Indiana University South Bend’s Raclin School of the Arts from August 6-10, 2019. The program will provide a minimum of 11 middle and high school string students an opportunity to learn from and perform with internationally recognized chamber musicians. This will give students an opportunity to improve their skills in their respective instruments and develop new chamber music skills.
Indiana University South Bend: $2,250
Funds will support Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center’s 2019 exhibition project. The Center showcases regular exhibitions of art and history in the historic 1922 Engman Public Natatorium. For 2019 the Center will send a call for local and regional artists as well as develop history exhibitions. Highlighted exhibitions include a collaboration with IU South Bend Disability and a second exhibition in conjuction with the Office League of Women Voters and the Michiana Women Leaders Project.
South Bend Venues Parks & Arts: $2,500
Funds will be used for the Best. Week. Ever. (BWE) Community Arts Gallery and Walk. The event will take place June 2-8, 2019 and offer local artists from across South Bend the opportunity to display their artwork during the main BWE experience to highlight arts and culture in diverse neighborhoods and environments. A walking tour will guide visitors to the various galleries. A temporary exhibit space will be created in the event campus of the main experience where local artists are encouraged to bring their artwork with them to display, to mingle, gain exposure, see other artwork and make connections within the community.
Michiana PlayMakers Inc.: $1,500
Funds will support Michiana PlayMakers’ New Works Project. This project encompasses all phases of new play development by supporting local playwrights during the creative process as they develop their newest work. The project includes providing space and artistic resources, developmental readings for feedback purposes, staged readings in front of live audiences, and full productions of the work.
Spring 2018
Indiana University South Bend: $65,000 (Over two years)
IU South Bend Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts is receiving Major Venture grant funding to help support technology upgrades in three public performance venues on campus. These upgrades will provide capacity for professional-quality digital recording and live-stream broadcasting through the acquisition and installation of video equipment for creating high-definition, 4K broadcast quality programs. Using this equipment, high-quality programming will also be designed to create presentations for schools, assisted living facilities, and other entities to offer masterclasses, lectures, and other arts presentations for audiences that may not be able to travel to the campus. Outcomes include curricular improvements for students and broader reach of programs for diverse and under-served audiences. Several community groups also use these spaces and will be able to take advantage of the upgrades.
South Bend Symphony Orchestra: $25,000
Funding will support South Bend Symphony Orchestra’s (SBSO) 2018-2019 Season. The SBSO will present the Masterworks, Pops, and Mosaic series as well as its “Home for the Holidays,” Martin Luther King Day Celebration, Young People’s Discovery, Family, Chris Wilson community play-along concerts, and 54 FREE Symphony-to-Go performances. These 70+ concerts will engage the community in live orchestral music and support local musicians and educators.
South Bend Civic Theatre: $25,000
South Bend Civic Theatre (SBCT) is receiving funds for their 2019 season, which will consist of 13-15 productions in four venues: Wilson Auditorium and Warner Studio Theatre, Mishawaka’s Battell Center (education), and the Morris PAC (July concert). SBCT will present a varied offering of plays, musicals, and events that reflect the diverse community. They also plan to organize a theatre festival; a symposium on “Gender and Power;” and a full slate of educational programming. The season will offer 1,200 volunteer opportunities and serve over 22,000 patrons.
South Bend Museum of Art: $25,000
Funds will help support a portion of the South Bend Museum of Art’s exhibition programming for 2018-2019. Exhibitions focus on the permanent collection, as well as changing exhibitions taking place in six galleries. In 2017, about 48,000 people visited the Museum. Of this number, almost 6,000 were school children on tours or participating in family days. About 80% of their audience is from St. Joseph County.
The History Museum: $10,000
Funds will assist The History Museum in bringing a nationally significant history, arts, design, and culture exhibit, CUT! Costume and the Cinema, to the South Bend community. The exhibit and its accompanying programs are expected to draw visitors to the area from the region. They expect to increase attendance by 30% for the three months of the exhibit, which will be held from October 12, 2018 through January 6, 2019.
Robinson Community Learning Center – University of Notre Dame: $10,000
Robinson Community Learning Center’s (RCLC) Shakespeare Program is receiving funding for their year-long programs that reach an average of 660 youth each year throughout South Bend. Activities include in-class drama integration instruction at South Bend Community School Corporation partner schools, afterschool drama clubs, and a summer program, all of which engage a wide range of diverse participants. Overarching goals include: increased educational outcomes for youth, increased capacity of teachers to integrate drama into academic curricula, and increased youth participation in theatre.
Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: $7,500
Grant funding will help support Fischoff’s free community outreach programs in 2018-2019 for children, youth, and mixed audiences, which are presented by Fischoff Competition alumni and local professional musicians. Master classes, workshops, and peer mentoring programs will be delivered to 5,405 community children and youth. Under-served children are targeted.
Southold Dance Theater: $7,500
Southold Dance Theater is receiving funding for its 2018-2019 productions of The Nutcracker and La Fille Mal Gardee. The Nutcracker will be performed at the Morris Performing Arts Center on December 7-9, 2018 reaching nearly 10,000 in attendance. La Fille Mal Gardee will be performed at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center May 2019 and is expected to attract over 1,000 people.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $5,000
Downtown South Bend (DTSB) is receiving grant funds for Art Beat 2018. Art Beat is a free visual, performing, and culinary arts festival that takes place along the streets of downtown South Bend. It is the largest, single day art festival in a seven-county region and serves a broad, cross section of the population. Over 900 artists participate each year with an expected visitor attendance of over 13,000.
City of South Bend, Venues Parks & Arts: $5,000
Funds will help support the Fridays by the Fountain summer outdoor concert series in downtown South Bend. The live performances are held during lunchtime from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. every Friday in June, July and August. Business people, families, youth and senior citizen groups gather on the plaza to listen to live music, socialize, and enjoy lunch. Each Friday over 550 people attend the free outdoor concerts.
South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras, Inc.: $5,000
Funding will help support South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras’ 2018-2019 sectional program. Sectionals are held during the first hour of their three-hour rehearsals and place student musicians in groups by instrument. Students have the opportunity to work more intensely on their orchestral part, with a professional musician (in most cases, a member of the South Bend Symphony) as a mentor and guide.
Indiana University South Bend: $3,600
IU South Bend Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts is receiving funds for the Summer Chamber Orchestra Intensive, which will be a workshop culminating in a performance. The program will take place on campus from August 7-11, 2018 and will provide middle and high school string students an opportunity to learn from and perform with internationally recognized chamber musicians. The student to faculty ratio with the chamber orchestra will be 4:1.
Musical Arts Indiana, Inc.: $3,500
Musical Arts Indiana is receiving funds for its 2018-2019 choral arts season which includes performances of Vesper Chorale, Vesper Chamber Orchestra, and the Children’s Choir of Michiana. Seven local concerts, a school tour, an invitational festival, and two destination concerts are projected for the season.
The Main Stage, Inc.: $3,500
Funding will help support the 2018-2019 season of The Main Stage’s performances, which will include three full children’s musicals and a summer camp for students ranging in ages from 5 to 18. They will also be producing two community theater musicals.
Downtown South Bend Foundation: $3,000
Downtown South Bend Foundation (DTSB) is receiving funding for their 2018 Red Table Plaza Lunchtime Concert Series. This a free concert series in the heart of downtown South Bend featuring an array of local, acoustical musicians and songwriters. The concert series will run Monday through Thursday from May 31st through August 30, 2018.
South Bend Heritage Foundation: $3,000
Funds will help support the 2018-2019 Exhibition Season at the Colfax Campus Gallery. The Gallery is open to the immediate neighborhood and to the entire community. There are six regular exhibitions to meet a balance of artwork and artists – school children, local arts organizations, individual local artists and a South Bend Heritage Foundation (SBHF) mission themed exhibition (Art and Social Justice). This is also the third year they will run a Summer Arts Program for local youth at two SBHF properties.
The Acting Ensemble: $2,500
The Acting Ensemble (AE) is receiving support for their 2018-2019 season which includes Stage Works, Main Stage productions, WTF Late Night, collaborative theater events and education for the local theater community. The AE provides a unique experience for the both the audience and for the directors and actors.
South Bend Chamber Singers: $2,500
Grant funds will help support South Bend Chamber Singers’ (SBCS) 30th Anniversary Concert Season comprising three performances: “Christmas at Loretto” premiering a commissioned work by American composer William McClelland; a 30th Anniversary Celebration concert with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra featuring works by young American composer Jake Runestad and the classical master, Franz Josef Haydn; and a final concert that returns to music of a simpler time in “Simple Gifts: Songs of the Shakers.”
Ultreia, Inc.: $2,000
Ultreia, Inc. is receiving funding for their Pushing Boundaries Music Series, presenting Warp Trio on October 18, 2018, Unheard of Ensemble on February 28, 2019 and the Euclid Quartet on April 25, 2019. All performances will be held at Langlab. Tickets will be $10, up to 40% less than professional classical music concerts in the area, to make them more accessible to the general public.