GO ART! Reach and Ripple Grant Awards Ceremony

The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council will be hosting the 12th Annual Reach and Ripple Grant Awards Ceremony this Friday, March 12th. There will be a total of 21 Reach Grant recipients and 2 Ripple Grant recipients honored at the event to be held at Seymour Place, 201 E. Main Street, Batavia, NY from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. The Decentralization Regrant Program (known locally as Reach and Ripple) was first developed in 1977 by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) in response to a mandate by the New York State Legislature to encourage greater participation in the state’s cultural funding at the local level. Local decision-making is the basic principle of the Decentralization Regrant Program in supporting a wide range of community-based professional and avocational arts programs in diverse communities throughout the state, and in helping to support the work of individual artists. GO ART! is proud to administer the NYSCA Decentralization Program in Genesee and Orleans Counties. Individuals, non-profit organizations and local government agencies in both Genesee and Orleans counties submit applications annually for arts and cultural programs that are reviewed by special panels, made up of artists, community leaders and educators from the two counties. The panels then submit funding recommendations to the GO ART! Board of Directors for approval, and grants are awarded. Through the Decentralization Regrant Program, GO ART!, NYSCA, and the New York State Legislature hope to expand, upgrade and increase arts and cultural programming in Genesee and Orleans counties. The Award Ceremony to be held this Friday will provide the Genesee and Orleans County Community a means of publically congratulating the 2010 Reach and Ripple Grant Recipients. Representatives from the State and Local Legislature will be present along with many community leaders and arts and cultural supporters from Genesee and Orleans Counties to commend the 2010 Grant Recipients. For more information on the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council’s Regrant Program, please contact Heather at GO ART!, 585.343.9313 or hgrant@goart.org.