Arts Spotlight written on a dark blue background with unfocused orbs of light

 

Each month we feature 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

 

May 2022

From Winterthur to the the White House: Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont Exhibit

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
From Winterthur to the the White House: Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont Exhibit
Wilmington
GOS

In 1961, the youngest First Lady in American history, Jacqueline Kennedy, appointed a reserved octogenarian collector from Delaware, Henry Francis du Pont, to lead her project to restore the White House interiors. Du Pont brought credibility to Kennedy’s efforts and vision, and her enormous popularity lifted him onto the national stage and validated his life’s work. Together, they transformed the White House from a mere public residence into a museum. For the first time, the story of this historic partnership will be told at Winterthur, the inspiration for Mrs. Kennedy’s project. Through artifacts, archives, and images, this exhibition will invite visitors to experience the behind-the-scenes collaboration between the two during this captivating period in American history. Kennedy’s “restoration” of America’s most famous house became a history lesson for the country and awakened an interest in preservation and interior design that is still felt today.

One Village Alliance: Resolution Steel Orchestra at Freedom!

One Village Alliance
Resolution Steel Orchestra at Freedom!
Wilmington
PS

Resolutions Steel Orchestra has joined One Village Alliance to bring the traditional, Afro-centric sounds of Trinidad and Tobago to the city of Wilmington! This collaboration introduces a culturally rich, arts program at no cost to inner-city youth and adults with a focus on those marginalized by low-income. I’m the midst of three pandemics facing Wilmington families in 2021, this program helped to change the landscape of a previously depressed neighborhood by engaging community members in outdoor steel drumming that filled the air with music for blocks! Through the art of the steel pan the resolution still orchestra provided students with A safe learning environment, unique music education experience, and mentorship. Most important is the programs accessibility to a high needs community at One Village Alliance’s Freedom Center. Located in the heart of Wilmington’s northside, youth walking their own neighborhood are constantly drawn into programming with little outreach not barriers to engage in the arts.

This program funding made full scholarships for 22 youth and adult residents to receive 36 hours each of arts driven mentoring and training in the Steel Drums. 90% of the participants were from the immediate surrounding, low-income community and report having never before been exposed to the Steel Drums.

Division logoThe 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.