Kala Art Institute to Receive $22,500 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, June 12th 2018

Date: May 9, 2018
Contact: Ellen Lake, Kala Art Institute, Development Director, ellen@kala.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kala Art Institute to Receive $22,500 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Berkeley, CA—National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $22,500 to Kala Art Institute for a Media Arts Residency Program. The Art Works category is the NEA’s largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.

“The variety and quality of these projects speaks to the wealth of creativity and diversity in our country,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Through the work of organizations such as Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA, NEA funding invests in local communities, helping people celebrate the arts wherever they are.”

“This fantastic support from the NEA allows Kala to expand our residency opportunities for artists and the community. We’re looking forward to experiencing adventurous and engaging media arts projects in the Kala studios, gallery, and beyond.” —Perrin Meyer, Kala Art Institute Board President

About the Media Arts Residency: Kala’s new Media Arts Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program provides artists with a six-month residency and 24/7 access to Kala’s state-of-the-art technical facilities, along with the opportunity to produce work in collaboration with Kala programs, a culminating exhibition in the Kala gallery, and in-house expertise for the duration of the residency. Four artists working in and across video, sound, performance cinema, and installation will be awarded a creative residency at Kala to create multi-media projects that culminate in Kala gallery public programming.

About Kala: Kala is a vital community hub for artistic experimentation. Located in West Berkeley, Kala annually serves 125+ artist-in-residence and offers over 100 workshops open to the public in techniques ranging from screen-print to web design. Kala’s youth art programs reach 2,500 students in Alameda County public schools and through a seven-week on-site summer art camp, Camp Kala. In addition to core residency and education programs, Kala provides professional development opportunities for artists including commissions for new work, exhibitions, teaching, consulting, and art sales. With access to a wide array of traditional and digital equipment in the print studio and electronic media center, Kala fosters a fresh approach to artistic experimentation, as Kala artists investigate the interface of digital work, work made by hand, and everything in between. To learn more about Kala, please visit our website.

To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEASpring18. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit the NEA site.