ST. LOUIS, May 3, 2017 – Public art displays surrounding the Gateway Arch and affordable access to jazz and ballet programs are among the highlights of nine St. Louis-area arts organizations receiving a total of $250,000 in grants from the PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive.
The awards are part of a 10-year commitment from PNC that has already provided $2.25 million to local arts organizations. The grants cover a wide range of disciplines, audiences and participatory experiences from arts groups large and small, encompassing the city and suburban areas. [See below for list of grant recipients]
“Greater St. Louis’ thriving arts and culture scene brings significant value to our economy and to all of us who live, work and play here,” said Michael Scully, PNC regional president for St. Louis. “PNC Arts Alive-funded programs continue to strengthen the ability of our arts community to create innovative exhibits and experiences that reach hundreds of thousands of people. We are excited about the new opportunities that will be created by this year’s grant recipients.”
First launched in 2010, PNC Arts Alive has already provided 83 grants to local, non-profit arts groups. The program has earned local and national commendation from the Missouri Arts Council, the Arts and Education Council in St. Louis and Americans for the Arts in New York City. Last year PNC announced it would grant another $1 million and extend PNC Arts Alive four years.
Family Fun, Free Events
Programs supported through PNC Arts Alive include interactive public art experiences at the recently renovated Gateway Arch grounds, a way to use arts to spark life and encourage health and well-being and a multi-faceted arts education experience to local middle school students.
The Tennessee Williams, a first-time PNC Arts Alive recipient, will present the production of Ten Blocks on the Camino Real this fall in outdoor venues throughout St. Louis City and County.
PNC Arts Alive is a multi-year grant initiative of the PNC Foundation that challenges visual and performing arts organizations to put forth their best, most original thinking in expanding audience participation and engagement. To date, this award-winning program has provided approximately $13 million in grants to enterprising cultural organizations in four regions served by PNC. For more information, visit www.pncartsalive.com.
The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group (www.pnc.com), actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. Through Grow Up Great, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a bilingual $350 million, multi-year initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life.
CONTACT:
Craig Friedman
(614) 463-6647 office
(614) 558-1567 mobile
craig.friedman@pnc.com
@Craig_PNC
PNC ARTS ALIVE – 2017 GRANT RECIPIENTS
Art St. Louis
Arts Alive at the Arch: Portals on the Pavement presented by PNC Arts Alive will combine world class pavement art and cutting-edge technology to create interactive public art experiences around the Gateway Arch. Art St. Louis will activate public spaces around the Arch through a month-long series of technology-enabled chalk installations on sidewalks and other surfaces. Each installation will interface with augmented reality software to come alive and engage the public in the creative process.
Arts in Transit
Metroscapes 2017 continues its annual competition open to all St. Louis artists and designers. The project creates a more pleasing atmosphere at area bus shelters, bringing public art to a broad and diverse audience. Ten outstanding images, either new or existing, are selected by a panel of judges and reproduced into posters that will be placed at 200 bus shelters around the bi-state area. The artwork is on display for one year and smaller reproductions are available for sale.
COCA (Center of Creative Arts)
As part of an ongoing effort to create unique opportunities for St. Louis students, expand audiences and nurture the pipeline of future artists, COCA will partner with New York City’s American Ballet Theatre for a St. Louis premiere performance of the ABT Studio Company in spring 2018. COCA will support ABT’s Project Plie’ by providing outreach dance programming to its partner organization, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater St. Louis and master classes for COCA’s pre-professional students.
Contemporary Art Museum
The Museum Pathway Project creates a sustainable pipeline of professional development and mentorship for diverse youth and young adults for lasting careers and engagement with museums. Through workshops, immersive learning experiences and new paid internships, CAM will become a potential workspace to students from underserved St. Louis communities, particularly students from the St. Louis Public Schools.
Craft Alliance
CraftCulture is a series of social, experience-based events to introduce new audiences to Craft Alliance and contemporary craft. This creative approach to audience engagement brings playfulness to efforts to widen awareness of the role of art in everyday life, and helps build an audience for viewing and making craft. CraftCulture includes multiple opportunities for audiences to engage and learn from multimedia presentations, open house activities, to events featuring hand-crafted cocktails and artist demonstrations.
Cultural Festivals
PNC Presents the Student Art Aficionados brings a multi-faceted arts education experience to middle schools of Greater St. Louis. Culminating in a hands-on art buying opportunity at the Saint Louis Art Fair, the program will enable students to apply newly acquired knowledge to an authentic life situation. At least one piece of art will become part of the festival’s Public Art Collection, which tours St. Louis schools, hospitals and community centers.
Jazz St. Louis
Jazz from the 314 presented by PNC Arts Alive will showcase Jazz St. Louis’ award-winning “Jazz at the Bistro” program via the World Wide Web. The program will highlight four artists from the 2017-18 performance season through pre-recorded videos hosted by local jazz pianist Peter Martin and live-streaming activities of the programs, which will be available on the Jazz St. Louis website and Facebook page.
MADCO
PNC Arts Alive presents Alive Inside uses the arts to spark life and encourage health and well-being. MADCO will develop a two-day event at the Touhill Performing Arts Center that will reach about 1,500 people at the theatre and many additional people through simultaneously launched complimentary programs. The performance and surrounding activities will include three world premieres which will bring stories of aging, autism and Parkinson’s to life.
Tennessee Williams Festival
An unusual and engaging adaption of Tennessee Williams’ Ten Blocks on the Camino Real takes place in the fall in outdoor venues throughout St. Louis City and County, performed by The National Theatre of Ghana. Their rendition explores the main character’s struggle to maintain his open heart in a grasping world, even after death. The mission of the National Theatre of Ghana is to use theatre to initiate conversation that will impact social change.
