National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman has announced that the Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College is one of 788 not-for-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Dennos Museum Center is recommended for a $30,000 grant to facilitate a tour of the Miami based Cuban performing group Tiempo Libre to the Dennos and other venues in the state of Michigan. The 788 Art Works grants total $24.81 million and support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.
According to Tiempo Libre’s website, tiempolibremusic.com, “The three-time Grammy-nominated Cuban music group Tiempo Libre is one the hottest young Latin bands today. Equally at home in concert halls, jazz clubs and dance venues, Tiempo Libre’s Miami-based members are true modern heirs to the rich tradition of the music of their native Cuba. Classically trained at Cuba’s premiere conservatories, today, the group is a hit in the U.S. and abroad, celebrated for its incendiary, joyful performances of timba, an irresistible, dance-inducing mix of high-voltage Latin jazz and the seductive rhythms of son.”
The Dennos Museum Center will collaborate with the Wharton Center at MSU in developing this project. The Wharton Center first brought this amazing performing group to Interlochen for a public performance and the Dennos for school performances in January 2009.
Chairman Landesman said, “The arts should be a part of everyday life. Whether it’s seeing a performance, visiting a gallery, participating in an art class, or simply taking a walk around a neighborhood enhanced by public art, these grants are ensuring that across the nation, the public is able to experience how art works.”
“I was completely blown away by this group when they performed at the Dennos in 2009 for schools,” says Gene Jenneman, Director of the Dennos Museum Center, “I wanted to find a way to bring them back to Traverse City and make them accessible to smaller venues like ours around the State. This grant will allow us to get group to venues from Canton to Marquette, about ten or so in all, and in doing so the Traverse City community will benefit and the Dennos will impact the state as a whole.” The grant will support part of the performing fees for both public and school programs in each community.
The NEA received 1,624 eligible applications under the Art Works category for this round of funding, requesting more than $78 million in funding. For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.