FAU University Galleries Awarded $143,857 in Grants
The University Galleries were recently awarded three major grants.
South Florida Cultural Consortium Exhibition
The University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University were recently awarded three major grants totaling $143,857. A grant from the Florida State Arts Council ($13,397) will help fund exhibitions and programming for 2015-16 and a grant from the Florida Humanities Council ($15,000) will specifically fund programming for the exhibition and related programming for “Beanie Backus and Florida’s Highwaymen: History, Commerce and Art.” The third grant is from the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties ($115,460) and will fund FAU’s Integrated Arts Mentoring Program for three years.
"I am delighted that these grants will allow the University Galleries to serve more public audiences and provide career related training to more FAU students,” said W. Rod Faulds, FAU University Galleries Director. “Many of our Visual Arts and Art History graduates who worked or interned in the University Galleries are now gainfully employed in south Florida's growing arts economy."
The Florida State Arts Council Grant will help fund the following exhibitions: “New Art: 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship Exhibition” (Sept – Nov 2015); “DIRT: Yuta Suelo Odongo Te” (Jan – Mar 2016); and “Jay Critchley, Incorporated” (Feb – Apr 2016). This grant will also provide for free artist lectures and panel discussions related to these exhibitions.
The Florida Humanities Council support will bring “Beanie Backus and Florida’s Highwaymen: History, Commerce and Art” to the South Florida community. The exhibition investigates landscape painter Backus’ influence on the Highwaymen, a group of African-American artists from the 1950s and 1960s who have gained recent interest. Artists and scholars will investigate Backus’ and the Highwaymen’s place in the history of American landscape painting.
The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties Grant will expand FAU's Arts Mentoring Program model developed in the Boys and Girls Teen Center in Belle Glade to additional Boys and Girls Clubs' programs in Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, with a third site planned for the future. The grant will also help launch a visual arts summer camp beginning in the summer or 2017. The Arts Mentoring Program provides art education to students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, culminating in a visit to FAU’s campus each semester to visit its galleries, participate in an arts-related activity, and learn from professional artists. Trained University students mentor and teach in the program.
The University Galleries at FAU present exhibitions of contemporary art, humanities disciplines and related programs designed to stimulate thought, discussion and other responses to the visual arts. The University Galleries are committed to building university and community-based audiences by collaborating with academic departments and student groups in the university as well as with individuals and organizations in the south Florida area. The University Galleries are open Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. Visitors must obtain a $2 parking pass or employ the limited metered parking before visiting the Galleries. More extensive parking directions are available online at www.fau.edu/galleries. The Galleries operate an active Museum Education Program that is approved as a Field Experience Provider by the School District of Palm Beach County. Class and other group tours can be arranged both during and at times other than the Galleries’ public hours by appointment. For more information, call 561-297-2966 or visit www.fau.edu/galleries.-FAU-