Florida Keys Council of the Arts announces grant winners

Florida Keys Council of the Arts Business Manager Andrea Comstock goes over the grant reporting requirements with Horace O'Bryant teacher Jimmy Wray and Big Pine Charter School teacher Regina Land.

ArtReach grantees L-R Cricket Desmarais, Edward Moran, Chad Wilson, Marianne Motches, Jane Carmencita Sprague. Photo by Al Sachs.

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts announces the winners of its current round of Artists in Schools and ArtReach grants. These grants are supported by Arts Council memberships, donations and sale of Florida "State of the Arts" license tags.

The Arts Council has awarded over $250,000 to date in Artists in Schools, ArtReach and other grants.

Grantees in the Artists in Schools program, in which an artist partners with a teacher or librarian to enhance the existing curriculum include:

· Big Pine Charter School teacher Regina Land with Big Pine artist Nancy Gagliardini for art classes and an exhibition
· Key West High School English teacher Mary Maxwell and actor Jeremy Lawrence in performance as Tennessee Williams
· Key Largo musicians and teachers Susan Bazin and Robert Sax for Music Mentors Master Classes
· Key West High School Drama Director Cameron Murray and musician Elizabeth Halbe for I Want To Take You Higher
· Horace O'Bryant middle school art teacher and juggling club coach Jimmy Wray with potter Jay Gogin and juggler Bounce Margil

Grantees in the ArtReach program, in which an artist partners with a community business or organization to reach a wider audience:

· Sculptor Ed Moran with the Boys and Girls Club for a mural project
· Marathon painter Marianne Motches with The Pineapple Gallery for an exhibition
· Big Pine photographer Jane Carmencita Sprague with the Artists in Paradise Gallery for materials for a new series of images
· Brazen Hussies Dance Company with the Coffee Mill Cultural Centre for dance workshops and performance
· Alejandro Ilanes and Croissants de France restaurant for a photography show
· Writer Cricket Desmarais and the Key West Art & Historical Society for a program of readings by five woman writers
· Island Opera Company and the Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center for a series of Gilbert and Sullivan performances

Support for programs of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts is made possible by the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and private donations. For more information, visit www.keysarts.com.

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