City issues grants for art projects

Fourteen theater groups, organizations and dance troupes received grants of up to $1,000 for projects supporting the arts in Bloomington.

Applicants competed for top spots in Bloomington’s semi-annual Arts Commission Arts Project Grant Program, funded by the city’s economic development office. Applicants’ projects were evaluated for artistic quality, community impact and organizational capacity.

The Harmony School received $964 to build a solar-panel tree sculpture on the school’s grounds.

Students will design the sculpture, which will combine technology and artwork in a way that’s conducive to their studies, said Emily Sprowls, a science teacher at Harmony who applied for the grant on the students’ behalf.

Sprowls said she, Harmony and the students are all grateful for the city’s support.
“This project will be a wonderful way to demonstrate the relationships between artistic investment by both the city and Harmony School and the obvious benefit of renewable energy,” Sprowls said.

The arts projects will generate more than $70,000 in private investment and reach 30,000 people in Bloomington, according to a press release from the economic development office. Bloomington’s arts sector contributes $72.3 million to the local economy each year, according to the 2012 Americans for the Arts study.

That figure isn’t surprising, said Donna Laugherty, who spoke on behalf of Bloomington Symphony Orchestra.

The orchestra received $975 for the development of its performance of “Peter and the Wolf and the Giant Jam Sandwich.”

Laugherty said the orchestra has received grants from the city before and that the program is very important.

“We got a nice amount this time,” she said. “Because of that, we can bring in the composer who will work with musicians.”

— Gage Bentley