East Lansing officials recently received three grant awards from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, or MCACA, aimed at strengthening the arts and cultural community in the city as well as throughout the state.
Recipients of the grant awards include All-of-us Express Children’s Theatre, the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival and the East Lansing Art Festival.
“With cuts in state funding, it’s harder for people to have access to the arts,” said Corinn Van Wyck, East Lansing Art Festival director. “Without grants, we wouldn’t be able to have all the features available that make the event a well-attended tradition.”
The East Lansing Art Festival received a $7,500 grant award to help cover the cost of musical performances, stages, staffing for the event and other operational costs, Van Wyck said.
She said the two-day long event, which takes place May 21-22, will feature music, activities and talented artists from across the U.S. free of charge. The event also will feature several local food vendors.
All-of-us Express Children’s Theatre is a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide young people the opportunity to produce and study art as well as provide entertainment within the community. The program is located in the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road. The corporation received a grant award of $7,100 from MCACA to help with funding.
“It takes real money — the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival is a $40,000 event,” said Ami Van Antwerp, Summer Solstice Jazz Festival coordinator. “Grants and donations are the only reason we are able to put on these kinds of community events.”
The festival, which will take place June 17-18, received a mini-grant of $3,000 from MCACA and the Greater Lansing Arts Council, she said. Funding also relies heavily on other grants, corporate sponsorships and community donations.
The festival is a tribute to jazz music that features a mix of local and regional performers as well as musicians from across the nation.
“Without art, we would be living in a much drearier place,” said John Bracey, executive director of the MCACA. “It is an incredibly important responsibility to ensure that the public has access to arts and cultural programming.”
Bracey said so far this year, the MCACA has awarded 336 grants, totaling more than $2.3 million.
Although engineering junior Sebba Alqetrani previously hadn’t heard about the MCACA, she said funding for events such as the East Lansing Art Festival is extremely important for the community.
“What’s a town if it’s not cultural?” Alqetrani said. “It shows there is more density to our ommunity.”
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