What Newport Art Projects Got State Grants

NEWPORT, RI — The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) awarded grants to 93 art projects throughout the Ocean State.

RISCA officials said the purpose of the $452,206 in grants is to further advance arts and cultural activities throughout the state.

"On behalf of the State of Rhode Island, I welcome RISCA's continued investments in arts and culture, which are essential to the cultural, educational, health and well-being of Rhode Islanders," Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement. "We are pleased that the agency invested funding for arts workforce development, vital to the life of our creative economy. These grants remind us of how important it is to support the arts, which bring audiences to our town and city centers, and, in addition to enjoying the arts, fill our restaurants and shops."

Artists/organizations to receive grants in Newport are included below. Included is also a description of the project from the respective artist or organization.

$1,300 for Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport — Through the Community Concerts Series, Newport Classical will present two free outdoor community concerts in spring 2023, one in April and another in May, in public green spaces, offering classical music for all Rhode Islanders within their neighborhoods.

$10,000 for newportFILM — Documentary Unbound is a community-based documentary learning lab anchored within the Florence Gray Center in Newport. In partnership with FabNewport, The Met School and Creative Communities Collaborative, participants, primarily high school age and beyond, train in fundamentals of nonfiction storytelling and collaborative filmmaking.

$2,000 for Mary Jameson —Mary Jameson will lead seaweed pressing workshops for all ages. In this workshop, people will learn about the history of making art with seaweed, which was popular in the Victorian era and has direct ties to Newport. People will learn some different techniques, choose their own seaweed specimens and make two pressings. The drying kits are reusable, so this is something they can continue to do.

$2,500 for Samantha Heydt — Internationally acclaimed visual artist Sam Heydt will host weekly direct animation workshops for the month of March. Scratch Films, or direct animation, is the process of manually manipulating 16-mm film allowing one to create an animated film without a camera or having to photographically develop the film itself. Workshops will be open to all ages, materials will be supplied.