Visual Dialogues represents artwork produced during an exchange between 11 German and Ohio artists who shared the distinctive experience of participating in printmaking residencies at Zygote Press in Cleveland and Grafikwerkstatt in Dresden, Germany. The Ohio Arts Council hosted the German artists in Cleveland and the City of Dresden sponsored the Ohio artists in Dresden.  Visual Dialogues is curated by Nicholas Hill.
Featured artists: Larry Winston Collins, Oxford; Angela Hampel, Dresden; Jean Kirsten, Dresden; Volker Leinkeit, Dresden; Jana Morgenstern, Dresden; Claudio Orso-Giacone, Oberlin; Detlef Schweiger, Dresden; Wendy Collin Sorin, Cleveland Heights; Susan Squires, Cleveland Heights; Joan Tallan, Reynoldsburg; and Bärbel Voigt, Dresden.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, January 29, 5 – 7 p.m. Due to state regulations refreshments cannot be provided by the Riffe Gallery.  Also opening on January 29 in the Riffe Center lobby, Phoenix Rising: A Printmaking Cooperative, on view until March 12, 2008.

The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery will also hold a Family Workshop, Sunday, March 1, 2009 from 2 – 4 p.m. in the Capitol Theatre lobby, Riffe Center, third floor.  Phoenix Rising artists Anne Cushman and Cindy Davis will help students age 6 – 17 explore the Korean printmaking technique of Takbon.  Takbon uses an ink bundle to create images from found objects, relics of history, stone, wood and other textured materials.  Registration is required as space is limited and all children must be accompanied by a registered adult.  Registration begins February 1 and ends February 13, 2009 online at www.riffegallery.org.

For more information visit www.riffegallery.org.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced its first round of funding for fiscal year 2009, awarding $23,215,500 to support 1,951 projects by nonprofit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide, as well as to 42 poets.  Twenty four organizations from Ohio received awards in a several categories; Apollo's Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, Cleveland Heights; Art Opportunities, Inc., Cincinnati; Cincinnati Museum Association, Cincinnati Opera Association, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland, Cleveland International Film Festival, Inc., Cleveland Modern Dance Association, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Inc., Cleveland TOPS Swingband Foundation, Westlake; Clifton Cultural Arts Center, Cincinnati; Contemporary Dance Theater, Inc., Cincinnati; Cuyahoga Community College Foundation, Cleveland; Kenyon Review, Gambier; Madcap Productions, Inc., Cincinnati; The Cleveland Orchestra, Ohio University Belmont, Athens; Opera Cleveland, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Inc., SPACES, Cleveland; Stuart's Opera House, Nelsonville; University of Akron Main Campus, and the Wexner Center Foundation, Columbus.

For more information on these organizations click here.

Twenty Alliance of Artists Communities members also received $470,000 in grants from the NEA.  Among the recipients are Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA; Fine Arts Work Center Provincetown, MA; and the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, centers with which the Ohio Arts Council has res programs.

National Endowment for the Arts Releases Report on Nonprofit Theaters

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released its first overview of nonprofit theater networks in the United States.  All America's a Stage examines developments in the growth, distribution and finances of America's nonprofit theater system since 1990.  While the research indicates broad growth and generally positive fiscal health, it also reveals decreasing attendance rates and vulnerability during economic downturns. 

Nearly 2,000 nonprofit theaters were analyzed for the study, which draws from several data sources such as the Internal Revenue Service, Theater Communications Group member survey data, the U.S. Census Bureau's Economic Census Data, and data from the NEA's Survey of Public Participation in the Arts.  The investigation revealed that NEA funding is a likely catalyst in drawing sizeable contributions from other sources.  Each dollar in NEA grant support is associated with an additional $12 from individual donors, $1.88 from businesses, and $3.55 from foundations. 

Sixteen Ohio Poets are represented in a new anthology titled "Come Together: Imagine Peace".  The anthology on the subject of peace contains poems from more than 100 poets.  Ohio poets include  Alice Cone, Maj Ragain and David Hassler (Kent), Tom Kryss (Ravenna), Robert Miltner (Canton), Jack McGuane (Lakewood), Mary E. Weems, Geoffrey Landis, and Philip Metres (Cleveland), Michael Salinger (Mentor), Larry Smith (Huron), Steve Haven (Ashland), Richard Hague (Cincinnati), Jeff Gundy (Bluffton), Angie Estes (Worthington), and Jeanne Bryner (Newton Falls).

The book was edited by Ann Smith, professor emeritus in nursing education at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, Larry Smith, founder and director of Bottom Dog Press and professor emeritus at Bowling Green State University’s Firelands College; and Philip Metres, associate professor of English at John Carroll University.

Readings will be held:

• January 23 at the Elliot Bay Bookstore in Seattle, Washington;
• February (date TBD) at the Beck Arts Center in Lakewood, Ohio in conjunction with the Inter-Religious Task Force of Cleveland;
• March 28 at the Appalachian Studies Conference in Portsmouth, Ohio
• Other reading events are planned for Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh, PA.

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Summer Creative Opportunity for Students in Grades 8th through 12th

Students in grades 8th through 12th have an opportunity to attend the California State Summer School for the Arts.  Students can live on the campus of the California Institute for the Arts in Valencia for a course of intensive instruction from renowned artists and educators from July 11 through August 7, 2009.