When it comes to supporting the arts, it’s a challenge that must be supported by all people, organizations, and sectors. The arts is the glue that helps to keep WNY as strong as it has become. It’s the creative bond that ties so many of us together.
As a way to expand and extend funding to more cultural organizations in WNY, the Cullen Foundation has joined with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to award 65 ‘Expanding Access to Arts Funding’ grants to nonprofits throughout the WNY community.
“The arts are crucial to the health and wellness of all New Yorkers, and our creative communities are a fundamental driver of our state’s recovery,” stated NYSCA Executive Director, Mara Manus. “Regrant programs like this one, in which we partner with a local organization to facilitate the grant selection and distribution process, make it possible for NYSCA dollars to reach all 62 NYS counties. We are excited to have worked with the Cullen Foundation this year, and grateful for their stewardship of these funding opportunities that will ensure greater access to arts programming throughout Western New York and serve as a catalyst for positive change.”
The grants have been allocated to a diverse group of awardees throughout NYS, in order to sustain their artistic efforts, while fueling their creative ambitions.
“The expanded eligibility of this special arts funding allowed us to seek a broader group of nonprofit applicants who thought creatively about new, arts-focused programs that will enrich the lives of their clients,” stated Cullen Foundation President, Florine Luhr. “We’re optimistic that a longer-range outcome of this program will be partnership-driven arts programming targeting new and diverse audiences from the neighborhood level to a larger, regional scale.”
WSCS Executive Director, Crystal Selk, defines the impact of the grant in helping them achieve their vision of, “… fostering the well-being of the West Buffalo Community by engaging, connecting, and generating possibilities for all people in the community, at every stage and from every walk of life. “
“We are grateful to the Cullen Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts for their support of our Arts for All program,” Selk stated. “This funding will allow us to bring professional teaching artists from Young Audiences of Western New York into our after-school and teen programs to help our kids explore artistic expression in the areas of fashion, hip hop, dance, and recycled materials art. We strongly believe that all people, and especially young people, benefit from hands-on, long-term art education and we can’t wait to see their creativity flourish.”
One of the grant recipients, Jetaun Jones – Executive Director/Operations Director of Friends, Inc. at The Dorothy J Collier Community Center – has been immersed in the world of fashion for years. She once owned and operated a fashion boutique on Elmwood Avenue. Now she uses that knowledge to teach Buffalo youth the ins and outs of the fashion industry. These types of grants are instrumental in ensuring that knowledge of this nature flourishes in the WNY community.
“This grant from NYSCA and the Cullen Foundation allows Friends, Inc. @ Dorothy J Collier Community Center to offer a unique arts program to East Buffalo youth, introducing them to the discipline of fashion and enabling them to discover how art influences fashion,” said Jones. “Our ‘Fashion Camp for Kids’ program will provide participants with a head start in the fashion industry, hone their entrepreneurial skills, and more.”
The “Expanding Access to Arts Funding” Grant Program is supported by NYS Senator Sean M. Ryan (D-60,) and NYS Assembly Members Jonathan D. Rivera (D-149) and William Conrad (D-140), all of whom attended the grant award event. A full list of the 65 grant winners follows. For more information on NYSCA grants and their regrant programs go to: arts.ny.gov
Expanding Access to Arts Funding in WNY Grant Recipients
- Accessible Academics USA, Inc.– Williamsville, Erie County
- Alfred Farmers Market– Alfred Station, Allegany County
- Allegany County Area Foundation– Belmont, Allegany County
- Amherst Chamber Ensembles Inc– Buffalo, Erie County
- Black Rock Historical Society– Buffalo, Erie County
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Buffalo, Inc. – Buffalo, Erie County
- Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper– Buffalo, Erie County
- Cattaraugus Free Library– Cattaraugus, Cattaraugus County
- Central Terminal Restoration Corp.– Buffalo, Erie County
- Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo– Buffalo, Erie County
- Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony– Jamestown, Chautauqua County
- ChildCare Network of the Niagara Frontier, Inc– Williamsville, Erie County
- Chinese Club of Western New York– Getzville, Erie County
- City Year, Inc.– Buffalo, Erie County
- Community Canvases– Tonawanda, Erie County
- Community Missions of Niagara– Niagara Falls, Niagara County
- Cradle Beach– Angola, Erie County
- Crossborder Tourism and Recreation Alliance– Lockport, Niagara County
- Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail Inc. – Orchard Park, Erie County
- Family Promise of Western New York– Buffalo, Erie County
- Fillmore Forward– Buffalo, Erie County
- Friends Inc.– Buffalo, Erie County
- Genesis House of Olean, Inc.– Olean, Cattaraugus County
- GiGi’s Playhouse– Buffalo, Erie County
- Girls on the Run of Buffalo, Inc.– Buffalo, Erie County
- GObike Buffalo– Buffalo, Erie County
- Grassroots Gardens of Western New York– Buffalo, Erie County
- Green Springville, Inc– Springville, Erie County
- Highland Clubhouse– Niagara Falls, Niagara County
- Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York, Inc.– Buffalo, Erie County
- Historic Palace Theatre-Lockport, Erie County
- Hull House Foundation-Lancaster, Erie County
- India Association of Buffalo– Williamsville, Erie County
- Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo– Getzville, Erie County
- Journey’s End Refugee Services– Buffalo, Erie County
- Karen Society of Buffalo– Buffalo, Erie County
- Knights Creek Evangelical Methodist Church– Scio, Allegany County
- Lakewood Memorial Library– Lakewood, Chautauqua County
- Music To Remember WNY, Inc.– Silver Creek, Chautauqua County
- Neto Hatinakwe Onkwehowe, Inc.– Buffalo, Erie County
- Niagara Falls Junior Youth Organization- Niagara Falls, Niagara County
- Niagara Falls Public Library- Niagara Falls, Niagara County
- Omega Mentoring Program– Buffalo, Erie County
- Perry Public Library– Perry, Wyoming County
- POWER OF SONG, INC– West Falls, Erie County
- Providence Farm Collective Corp– Orchard Park, Erie County
- Response to Love Center– Buffalo, Erie County
- RIVER ROCK COMMUNITY COALITION INC– Buffalo, Erie County
- Rural Outreach Center– East Aurora, Erie County
- Salamanca Public Library– Salamanca, Cattaraugus County
- Self Advocacy Association of NYS– Schenectady, Erie County
- Sensational Fun Inc– Orchard Park, Erie County
- Springville Youth Incorporated– Springville, Erie County
- St. Mary’s High School– Lancaster, Erie County
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church– Angelica, Allegany County
- The Challenger Learning Center of Orleans, Niagara/ Erie Counties– Lockport/Niagara Co.
- The Concordia Foundation, Inc. – Buffalo, Erie County
- The General Pulaski Association Inc– Cheektowaga, Erie County
- The King Urban Life Center– Buffalo, Erie County
- The Summit Center– Getzville, Erie County
- The Western New York Network of English Teachers– Buffalo, Erie County
- Villa Maria College– Buffalo, Erie County
- WEDI Buffalo– Buffalo, Erie County
- West Side Community Services, Inc.– Buffalo, Erie County
- Western New York Artists Group– Buffalo, Erie County