Major Venture Category

$150,000 to the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame for development of the Notre Dame Center for Art and Culture. The project encompasses the remodeling and renovation of the former Hansel Center building and a carriage house with office space at the rear of the property. The Center will be a wonderful addition to the historic district, joining the Studebaker Museum and Archive, the Center for History, the IUSB Civil Rights Heritage Center and Tippecanoe Mansion, all located in the central portion of an economically depressed area targeted for revitalization. The project will help establish this area as a vital art, culture and historic district, serving area residents of all socio-economic backgrounds.

$40,000 paid at $20,000 a year for two years to Robinson Community Learning Center for its Shakespeare Company.  The grant will allow Robinson to create a year-round drama club, based on proven youth theatre training methods.  One goal of the program is helping diversify the arts community in South Bend by recruiting, training, and giving arts exposure to an untapped talent pool of under-represented youth who might otherwise not have a chance to participate in drama due to location, financial limitations, or cultural intimidation.  The program will serve over 60 youth over the next 2 years.

Program/Project Category

$5,000 to The School City of Mishawaka, in conjunction with the Mishawaka Lions Club. Funds will be used to create art gallery space to feature student artwork in eight Mishawaka Public Elementary Schools. Frames have been specially designed so that student work may be easily rotated and the the School Corporation is installing track lighting.

$5,000 to The Center for the Homeless for the creation of a canvas mural to be installed on the south side exterior wall of the new Robert L. Miller, Sr. Veteran's Building. The mural will beautify the unsightly wall which also is the north side of the Center’s community garden.

$5,000 to South Bend Heritage Foundation to support the Colfax Campus Gallery's exhibition season. Each year, the Gallery offers six exhibitions featuring local and regional artists, minority artists, and student artists from the 10 Intermediate schools in the South Bend Community School Corporation.

$5,000 to Good Shepherd Montessori School to provide 8 low income children with music scholarships. Funding will allow students to receiving one-on-one strings lessons on a weekly basis.

$5,000 to The Scholastic Art Awards to sustain the growth in their annual arts competition. For over 50 years, this organization has recognized young artists in grades 7-12 from this region. They support a large group of students producing very high quality art from over 60 public, private and parochial schools and all socio-economic levels. The Competition provides a venue for student art work on a national level.

$2,700 to the Conservatory of Dance for their May 2010 production of Twelve Dancing Princesses. The grant will cover the costs of collaboration with live musicians and singers, securing a principal male lead, and the rental of backdrops.

$2,700 to Vesper Chorale to support two concerts during 2010. The first concert will feature music by American Composers and the second is a collaboration with the Jewish Federation which will feature music from the Jewish tradition.

$2,500 to Patchwork Dance Company for its Spring 2010 concert. Funds will be used to commission an original choreographic piece by a guest artists and costumes.

$2,500 to The South Bend Chamber Singers to support the 2009-2010 concert season. This year the Chamber Singers will collaborate in performances with the Quintessence Brass Ensemble, the Jim Pickley Trio and the students of Culver Academy.

$1,500 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County for a collaboration with WAOR radio and retailer Woodwind/Brasswind called The School of Rock. Funds will be used to teach Club Members at Navarre Intermediate School how to play the guitar and the basics of music-making.

$2,480 to the Conservatory of Dance for costumes for The Contemporary Nutcracker: A Fairy Tale for the Modern World. The Company has decided to add this to its annual repertoire and the grant will help purchase 40 costumes.

$2500 to the South Bend Area Chapter of the Links for GospelFest 2009, a community-wide celebration of one of the oldest forms of American music.

$3,000 to Downtown South Bend for this summer’s Red Table Plaza Lunchtime Concert Series. Each weekday for 8 weeks it offers free concerts featuring local musicians.

$4,750 to the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras to enable professional musicians to provide Sectional Coaching to the orchestra members or instrument groups during their practices.

$5,000 to the South Bend Museum of Art to support this year’s Festival of Banners presented in association with Downtown South Bend and the City of South Bend. The theme this year is Optimism: All Things Are Possible. This year 80 winners were selected from 230 entries to create full-size banners which will be hung from light poles throughout downtown South Bend.

$5,000 to the South Bend Symphony Orchestra for the "Music for Michiana" project. The program will enable the Symphony to make its concerts available to a portion of the Michiana community who might, particularly in these economic times, assume that attending orchestra concerts is not affordable for them. They will work with the Food Bank of Northern Indiana and the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Bend to provide a number of free tickets and previews of its concerts.

$5,000 to the Northern Indiana Tourism Development Commission for the development of the Art and Earth Trail. A consortium of Convention & Visitors Bureaus across northern Indiana is working to develop a trail highlighting artistic and agricultural assets across northern Indiana. It will impact approximately 150 artists, craftspeople, local food producers, studios and galleries, and master gardeners from seven counties in Northern Indiana, to include approximately 20+ participants in St. Joseph County.

$5,000 to the Center for History for the upcoming "Lincoln: The Man You Didn't Know" exhibit, part of the national bicentennial celebration of President Abraham Lincoln's birth. Included as part of the special arts events are three theatrical performances called "Lincoln Theater."

$5,000 to Southold Dance Theater to raise the artistic level of the "Nutcracker Ballet" by engaging new guest artists with national and international reputations. Dancers from the American Ballet Theatre will participate in this year’s Nutcracker and participate in a week-long residency program.

$2,500 to Indiana University South Bend Raclin School of the Arts for the “Lift Every Voice: Celebrating the African American Spirit" concert in February 2010 which features African American performers and the local Symphonic Choir on IUSB's campus Main Stage Theater open to the entire community at no cost.

$5,000 to Indiana University South Bend Raclin School of the Arts for the production of a weekly 10 minute radio program to be developed and produced by the Raclin School of the Arts and broadcast on the local public radio station, WVPE.

Capacity Building Category

$3,750 to the South Bend Museum of Art to undertake a facilitated strategic planning process with a professional consultant.