Each month we feature a handful of arts and community-based organizations and their programs and projects funded by the Delaware Division of the Arts in our Arts Spotlight which will be included on our monthly e-newsletter, Arts E-News and online. If you haven’t signed up yet for Arts E-News, please do so here.

Funding for Division of the Arts grants is provided by the Delaware General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. To view past grants awarded (1999 to present), please visit our Grants Awarded page.

Grant Types: GOS – General Operating Support; PS – Project Support

 

December 2021

Rehoboth Concert Band
Holiday Peace Concert
Rehoboth Beach
GOS

On December 19 at 3 p.m., Rehoboth Concert Band (RCB) is returning to an indoor stage with its popular Holiday Peace Concert featuring a diverse program of traditional carols, holiday and seasonal medleys with surprising twists, and songs of international peace. Join with friends and family for an afternoon of raised spirits and holiday cheer!

RCB, now in its tenth season, consists of community instrumentalists of various levels of play and ages. Conducted by Sharon Still, RCB includes professional and semi-professional performers, recreational musicians, plus talented high school students. RCB’s mission is to provide area instrumentalists opportunities to make beautiful music, while enriching community life. It strives for improvement with each concert, seeks to develop character and polish, and is inspired to perform a diverse repertoire of concert band literature for area residents.

RCB has performed concerts for the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand Summer Concerts, All Saints’ Episcopal Church – Concerts by the Sea, Cape Henlopen Senior Center, True Blue Jazz Fest, and for the City of Berlin and Wicomico Presbyterian Church, among others, in Maryland. Rehoboth Concert Baby Band, a smaller ensemble, continued to delight audiences in their own neighborhoods through the “In the Hood” concert series during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Art Works for All
Artist Residency Program
Statewide
GOS

Art Works for All (AWA), formerly VSA Delaware, is a nonprofit arts organization with the mission to create educational opportunities in the arts for individuals with disabilities and to promote inclusive communities. Incorporated in 1987, AWA has a thirty-four-year long history of fulfilling this mission by providing: services that develop accessible creative projects supporting the integration of various education curriculums; life-long learning arts experiences for all learners; and committed community engagement. AWA’s programs include K-12 and community artist residency projects; arts-based education resources; cultural access and support and advocacy; and art exhibitions and performances featuring the works of individuals with disabilities.

AWA’s Artist Residency program serves individuals with disabilities and provides creative experiences and instruction to education and community sites throughout the state. The Artist Residency program aligns with national/state arts standards in visual and performing arts, provides cross-curricular learning utilizing the arts as education tools and focuses on the full engagement and accommodation of all participants. The Artist Residency program prioritizes building multi-disciplined projects that will enhance the exposure and connection of individuals with disabilities to a variety of art forms and skills.

During the recent COVID-19 shutdown, AWA was able to reimagine Artist Residency programming to provide both synchronous and asynchronous residency projects. Despite the challenges or remote instruction, AWA provided 512 direct contact hours to 424 students in 54 classrooms at 15 schools in 5 school districts.

 

Kent County Theatre Guild
You Better Watch Out
Dover
GOS

The Kent County Theatre Guild is a volunteer-run organization, with volunteers taking care of all aspects from show production to governance and operations, that produces five shows each season. This holiday season, patrons are invited to the Patchwork Playhouse to watch the Kent County Theatre Guild’s upcoming show, You Better Watch Out.

It’s Christmas Eve at the Willow Inn. The hosts, Jenny and Tom, are having Art, Jenny’s father who’s still mourning the passing of his wife, see their bed and breakfast for the first time. There’s a snowstorm raging outside, and three travelers are forced to lodge at the inn and wait it out: Rudy and Marsha who run a costume business together and a mysterious but cheerful man who claims to be in the delivery business named Mr. Smith. Only the inn’s handyperson, Andy, sees who Mr. Smith really is, the spirit of Christmas. Andy must help him make Art, who’s been in a dark place for a very long time, see the joy of Christmas and who Mr. Smith really is!

You Better Watch Out runs from December 3-18, 2021.

The Kent County Theatre Guild’s mission is to provide everyone the opportunity to participate in an award-winning, live theatrical experience, whether on stage, backstage, behind the scenes or in the audience.

The performing arts give everyone the opportunity to look beyond that which is necessary to survive and lead us to create for the sake of expression and meaning, joy, pain and healing. Art communicates and brings a sense of belonging to our community. The Kent County Theatre Guild showcases that sense of community and expression to hundreds of patrons a year, giving people of all ages and walks of life the ability to see the need for live theatre and introducing them to worlds and stories they may never experience. Volunteerism is the heart of a community and the Kent County Theatre Guild gives that opportunity to hundreds a year in order to give back to their community and to learn new skills.

 

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The projects above are supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes these and other Delaware arts events on DelawareScene.com.

The Division offers a variety of grant programs for individual artists; nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations chartered and based in Delaware; and schools and government entities that support arts activities. View a full list of Division grants on the Grants Overview page.