Gallery and Studio Walks | Arts Education Initiatives
The Oak Park Area Arts Council (OPAAC) was pleased to award $62,000 in ArtsFunds for 2007 to 33 organizations. “We are delighted to be able to help organizations in the Oak Park area initiate new ventures and support quality programming and services,” said Garrett Glass, OPAAC Treasurer and Co-Chair of the ArtsFunds panel.
The organizations are:
- Applied Arts Organizations - Expressions Graphics, Fernwork Arts Incubator, Oak Park Art League
- Choral Societies – American Opera Group, Chicago a cappella, Heritage Chorale, Oak Park Concert Chorale, Oak Park & River Forest Children’s Chorus
- Theatre Groups – Circle Theatre, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Open Door Repertory Company, Sense of Urgency, Village Players Theatre
- Architectural Foundations – Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, Pleasant Home Foundation
- Musical Organizations – Chicago Sinfonietta, Dominican University Performing Arts Center, Handel Week, Steckman Studio of Music, Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest, Unity Temple Concert Series, Windy City String Ensemble
- Dance – MOMENTA
- Special Programs – Chicago West Community Music Center, Community Support Services, NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill), Oak Park Area Lesbian & Gay Association, PING! (Providing Instruments to the Next Generation), Senior Citizens’ Center of Oak Park & River Forest, Wonder Works
- School Programs – CAST-D/97 Percy Julian Middle School, Oak Park Education Foundation/Art Start, B.R.A.V.O!-D/97 Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School
The OPAAC was honored to receive a $3,000 sponsorship from Community Bank of Oak Park and River Forest for the Best in Class Awards. The CBOPRF Best in Class Awards are presented to ArtsFunds recipient organizations that have demonstrated significant growth over the past year. The ArtsFunds review panel selects these organizations after reviewing grant applications and interviewing applicants over the course of a two-day weekend. Categories are determined based on the organization and their own particular improvement. CBOPRF presented each Best in Class organization with a $1,000 cash award at the Arts Council’s annual meeting. The Community Bank of Oak Park & River Forest Best in Class Awards for 2007 were presented to: Senior Citizens’ Center of Oak Park & River Forest: Best In Class – Excellence in Community Support, B.R.A.V.O!: Best In Class – Excellence in Programming, Open Door Repertory Company: Best In Class – Excellence in Performance.
The Oak Park Area Arts Council also awarded the 2007 Business Leadership Awards for Support of the Tri-Village Arts Community. The Leadership Awards were presented to: Fly Bird, Frank L. Sassetti & Co., Oak Design & Construction, and Park National Bank. These awards are given to local businesses for outstanding service to arts organizations.
2007 ArtsFunds panel members: Garrett Glass – Co-Chair, Angela Gershenson – Co-Chair, Mary Davis Fournier, Cedric Melton, John Milan, and Deborah Preiser.
The Oak Park Area Arts Council (OPAAC) is a not-for-profit community arts organization that promotes, develops and supports the performing, visual and literary arts in Oak Park and neighboring suburban communities. It is partially funded by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the Villages of Oak Park, Forest Park and River Forest.
ArtsFunds assists local arts organizations in maintaining general operations and special programs by funding not-for-profit organizations such as:
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THEATRE GROUPS |
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ARCHITECTURAL FOUNDATIONS |
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MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS |
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DANCE |
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SPECIAL PROGRAMS |
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LITERARY ORGANIZATION |
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SCHOOL PROGRAMS |
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Arts Breakfasts series enables not-for-profit
art organizations and art businesses to learn about topics such as marketing
strategies and methods of building new audiences.
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Art Salons continue to highlight new art
spaces in the community and spirit communication among individual artists.
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e-ART a service for members with email.
Every Thursday a listing of the latest arts events and happenings for
the weekend and upcoming week is posted.
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Coffee with Camille gives Camille Wilson
White, Executive Director, a chance to meet area artists and arts organizations
to discuss ideas and suggestions for the Arts Council to better serve
the arts community. It also provides a forum for artists to come together
to exchange information. Coffees are scheduled once a month on a Tuesday,
at Buzz Café, 905 S. Lombard, Oak Park. 9:30-10:30 am.
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Gallery and Studio Walks
Oak Park Area Arts Council Gallery
annually produces 32 exhibits that showcase local artists' work that might
not otherwise be seen. In addition, the Council solicits, publicizes and exhibits local artists' work at Oak Park Village Hall, Forest Park National Bank, Rush Oak Park Hospital, Oak Park Arms and the Wm. B. Sullivan Realty Office.
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Arts Windows collaboration between the
Arts Council and the Forest Park Mainstreet Redevelopment Association
installs local artists' work in vacant storefronts providing additional
exhibition opportunities while marketing commercial properties.
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Neighborhood Gallery and Studio Walks
are given assistance in facilitation and are sponsored by the Arts Council.
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Arts Education Initiatives
Art Start partnership with District 97
schools in Oak Park that places more than twenty artists into an artist-in-residence
program that enables K-2 students to be exposed to art instruction that
would otherwise be unavailable. The program was cited in 1999 by the President's
Committee in the Arts & Humanities.
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Oak Park Area Arts Council Fine Arts Scholarship
provides scholarships for college bound graduating seniors from the tri-village
area who will be majoring in the arts in college. The 2007 recipients, each of whom will receive a $1,000 scholarship to assist them with their freshman year tuition and fees are: Sarah Abarbanel, Michael Bindokas, Gary Cole, Lucas Ellman, Joy Jones, Trevor Kazarian, Julia Locasio, Maggie McDowell, Matt Mitchener, Rebecca Spooner and Ben Taylor.
See the 2008 Scholarship Winners.
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Joseph Randall Shapiro Award presented annually at the Oak Park Area Arts Council's annual meeting to recognize exceptional contributions to the arts in the Oak Park area. The inaugural award was made to Museum of Contemporary Art founder and collector Joseph Randall Shapiro, a River Forest resident.
Subsequent winners have been: Tivoli Enterprises for their renovation
of the Lake Theater; the collective Harrison Street studios and art-related
businesses and the founder; director of the Academy of Movement, Stephaine
Clemens; Geraldine McCullough, a nationally known artist and sculptor;
Harriet Ilse Ziegenhals; President, Trustees, Clerk, Village Manager and
All the Employees of the Village of Oak Park; Ellen Holleman; Jonathan
Miller, the founder and artistic director of Chicago a cappella; Circle Theatre; and John Lukehart. The 2007 recipient was William Fitzgerald.
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Oak Park Area Arts Council
123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, 60302
Phone (708) 358-5690 • Fascimille (708) 383-6692 • E-mail: info@oakparkareaartscouncil.org.
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Council. All rights reserved.
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