CONTACT:
Craig Friedman
614-463-6647
614-558-1567 (mobile)
c.friedman@pnc.com
ARTS ORGANIZATIONS SHARE $250,000 FROM PNC ARTS ALIVE
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Grants to boost access – ranging from defying gravity to outdoor sculpture exhibit
City and suburban arts groups benefit from fourth year of PNC’s contributions
ST. LOUIS, May 15, 2014 – Access to an instrument “scavenger hunt,” acrobatic flying lessons
and an outdoor sculpture exhibit are among the plans of 10 arts organizations receiving grants totaling
$250,000 from the PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive.
For the fourth straight year, PNC will contribute $250,000 to arts groups large and small in the
St. Louis area, part of a $2 million effort to expand the reach and economic impact of arts programs. The
grants cover a wide range of disciplines, audiences and participatory experiences.
“Entering the fourth year of PNC Arts Alive, we continue to focus on making the arts more
accessible and encouraging our region’s arts groups to help people experience art in new ways,” said
Michael Scully, PNC regional president for St. Louis. “The performing arts community has once again
delivered on that goal, engaging audiences through a diverse array of innovative programs that showcase
our region at its best.”
The current programs receiving support blend traditional and new media into performances while
including components that offer unique cultural and alternative learning experiences. This year’s grant
recipients are:
Art on the Square
Cinema St. Louis
Circus Harmony
COCA
International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum
Laumeier Sculpture Park
MADCO
St. Louis Symphony
The Muny
The Sheldon
[Note: Full program descriptions are included at end of news release]
First launched in St. Louis in 2010, PNC Arts Alive already has provided 44 grants totaling $1.25
million to area arts organizations. The program has earned local and national commendation from the
Missouri Arts Council, the Arts and Education Council in St. Louis and the Business Committee for the
Arts.
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Arts Organizations Share $250,000 From PNC Arts Alive – Page 2
Many of the arts organizations receiving grants utilize innovative technology for performances
and forge new relationships with other local arts groups. A complete list of previous grant recipients is
available at http://pncartsalive.com/stlouis/grantees.php.
To maximize the benefits of PNC Arts Alive locally, PNC partnered with leading community arts
partners, including the Arts and Education Council and the Regional Arts Commission, and used their
input to bring the program to the region.
“The PNC Arts Alive grant will make possible a unique Sheldon Art Galleries exhibit and book
celebrating the 250th anniversary of St. Louis,” said Paul Reuter, executive director of the Sheldon Arts
Foundation. “Through this funding, we are able to share the compelling stories through 250 photographs
of the city today by amateurs, professionals and youth that portray the architecture, people and
neighborhoods and places that make St. Louis great.”
“We love this city and we love being artists here, ” said Stacy West, the executive/artistic director
for MADCO. “PNC understands what collaboration between artists and businesses can do for a
community, and the Arts Alive program is another step in the right direction for St. Louis.”
PNC Arts Alive is a multi-year initiative of the PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding
from The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). The goal of PNC Arts Alive is to help area
residents gain access to the arts and to help arts organizations expand and engage audiences. For more
information visit www.pncartsalive.com.
The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group
(NYSE: PNC), actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in
which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood
education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. Through Grow
Up Great, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a $350 million, multi-year initiative to
help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life.
[ PNC ARTS ALIVE 2014 GRANT RECIPIENTS FOLLOWS ]
PNC Arts Alive -- 2014 Grant Recipients
Art on the Square
Operation Monet will feature an outdoor sculpture exhibit entitled “Flight” by artist Dale
Rogers that will be installed in Belleville’s Bicentennial Park for public viewing. The exhibit
conveys the balance between fear and freedom through nine stainless steel birds with a
wingspan of 12 feet that are suspended in varying heights.
$20,000
Cinema St. Louis
Second annual St. Louis International Children’s Film Festival (SLIFF/Kids) will offer
children, young teens and their families the opportunity to see the extraordinary family
films that are made across the globe. A total of 14 film programs will be offered free of
charge over the course of two weekends at major cultural institutions in St. Louis.
Filmmaking camps held weekdays with filmmakers will provide a practical introduction
about how films are made.
$20,000
Circus Harmony
PNC Arts Alive Take Flight is a two-part program where patrons can experience what it is
like to defy gravity at St. Louis’ first flying trapeze center. Friday Fly Nights offer
discounted, one-time flying lessons and Sunday Fun Days offer free juggling lessons to
people of all ages.
$20,000
COCA
The Neon Network will offer new and expanded comprehensive, robust multi-disciplinary
arts opportunities for teen artists. A teen advisory council gives teenagers voice; Summer
Teen Intensives provide rigorous training for new and advanced young artists; and
regional dance auditions with companies like Ailey School, the Atlanta Ballet and Joffrey
Ballet give teenagers expanded national opportunities.
$25,000
International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum
View Through a Lens will provide opportunities to amateur and professional photographers
to express their views of the world through images. A speaker series, workshops, family
days, online photo competition and sister city project with Nanjing, China, will provide the
conduit for this creative process. The highlight will be photography’s first inclusion in the
Federation of the Arts annual meeting in Nanjing, China.
$20,000
Laumeier Sculpture Park
Art + Nature @Laumeier presents year-round, free and low-cost programming at the
intersection of visual art and the natural environment. Using a multi-leveled approach to
environmental art education – Art Studio Classes, Intergenerational Nature Workshops
and Free Family Days – audiences will playfully be invited to “dig in” to express their
creative side.
$35,000
MADCO
PNC Arts Alive Presents Nejla Yatkin’s Wallstories celebrates the 25th anniversary of the
fall of the Berlin Wall. Dancers will bring to life human stories of cold war politics set in
front of images of the historical city of Berlin and the wall. The performances, including
student matinee performances designed to reach St. Louis-area German students, are
part of a collaboration with the German Culture Center located on the University of
Missouri-St. Louis campus.
$20,000
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St. Louis Symphony
2014-15 Family Concerts make orchestral music accessible and fun for people of all ages. This
concert series will include a collaboration with the Saint Louis Zoo around John Lithgow’s
children’s book Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo, featuring an instrument “scavenger
hunt;” a cross-curricular scientific exploration through “The Science of Sound & The Art of
Noise” presented in collaboration with the Saint Louis Science Center; and “Forces of Nature:
The Planets,” a look into how various phenomena on Planet Earth have inspired famous works,
complete with a visual art contest for students.
$30,000
The Muny
The PNC Arts Alive Pre-Show Festival will welcome and immediately engage audiences with 52
nights of free entertainment at three locations. The festival will feature community-based
organizations, professionals from area arts non-profits, The Muny Kids and Teens, small
ensembles drawn from Webster University music students and The PNC Artist Corner, where
professional musical theatre artists share their experiences as performers, musicians,
choreographers, etc., with a Muny moderator who will field questions from attendees.
$30,000
The Sheldon
The City at 250 is a photography exhibition and book that celebrates the 250th anniversary of
the founding of St. Louis City, through a collection of 100 photographers by local professional,
amateur and youth photographers highlighting St. Louis architecture, neighborhoods, places
and people. Organized by the Sheldon Art Galleries, in collaboration with the St. Louis Beacon,
the photos were chosen via a citywide photo contest.
$30,000
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