SUBMITTED BY SALT SPRING ARTS
Salt Spring Arts has announced the successful applicants for its fall 2022 grants and awards funding cycle, along with the first group of local artists to benefit from the new Susan Benson Award.
Lucy Austin, who chairs Salt Spring Arts’ grants and awards committee, said the group was impressed with the number of applications this year, and took extra time to deliberate and ask questions about the intended projects.
“Although we were unable to award all the funds available to us, we felt we gave full consideration to all applications,” Austin reported. “Some applicants advised us of plans to delay their projects and those we will encourage to apply again for 2023 grants.”
“We are looking forward to what 2023 brings by way of applications and artistic projects Salt Spring Arts can support,” she added.
Successful Salt Spring Arts Grant Applicants
• Archipelago: Contemporary Art of the Salish Sea. (Richard Steel)
Steel received $825 for catalogue printing costs related to the Archipelago exhibition, which will form the basis for the Spring Art Show at Mahon Hall in April 2023. The project is also part of a wider exchange of visual art between the Southern Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands, with exhibitions to take place in Friday Harbor and at ArtSpring. It will highlight the similarities and differences between the two island communities while strongly drawing on living and making art while being influenced by the Salish Sea.
• Re-Imagined, A Community Workshop. (Nora Layard, Salt Spring Printmakers Society)
The printmakers society received $200 to help host a workshop as part of a community-wide exhibition taking place at ArtSpring in March 2023. The Re-Imagined exhibition will celebrate transforming waste into art and is open to all artists on the island, in addition to an extensive school program for K-12 students. The workshop in early February is for community members who would like to create works for the show.
• Creative Healing for Survivors. (Islanders Working Against Violence)
IWAV received $800 to host Stefanie Denz for group art therapy sessions for five to seven individuals living at The Cedars, a second-stage transitional housing development. The art therapy sessions will provide participants with a source of healing, personal exploration, connection with others, and allow for discovery of new tools for self-expression.
Susan Benson Award
The newly established Susan Benson Award is meant to provide artists in the community, and women artists in particular, with access to art supplies they might otherwise find difficult to afford. The committee elected to divide the $1,000 available for this year between three applicants.
Ceilidh Divers and Josephine Fletcher were granted $350 each for ceramic and painting supplies, respectively. Sal Wiltshire was granted $300 for website costs.
The next Salt Spring Arts funding period opens on March 1, with an application deadline of April 30, 2023. For more information, visit the Grants and Awards page under Programs at saltspringarts.com.