UPDATED: Feb. 28. 2018 at 10:59 p.m.

Three arts-based organizations, Light Work, Urban Video Project and PAL Project, were recently awarded a $300,000 grant. All three organizations have ties to Syracuse University.

The grant was given by Joy of Giving Something, a not-for-profit foundation that’s dedicated to photographic arts. Light Work will receive $150,000, while UVP and PAL Project will each receive $75,000 over the next three years, according to a press release. The organizations plan to use these funds to promote the growth of the arts in central New York.

“I think in particular they looked at identifying institutions that they felt were making the biggest impact for artists,” said Shane Lavalette, director of Light Work.

Stephen Mahan, director of the Photography and Literacy (PAL) Project, has had a relationship with the Joy of Giving Something foundation for the last eight years. The PAL Project is a full-time program. Previously an adjunct-taught course within SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts Transmedia Department, the program is now taught every semester.

Through the program, SU students and Syracuse City School District students can interact and form relationships while practicing artistic endeavors in photography and poetry.

The PAL Project plans to use the grant money to support the SU students who mentor students in the Syracuse City School District, per the release.

The press release also stated that applying this grant toward scholarships, exhibitions, publications and equipment will allow for expansion of the program and give students more opportunities to utilize their creative talents “in self satisfying and socially relevant directions.”

Mahan said this grant is important — especially under the current state and federal administrations — because the arts have not been getting the same kind of funding.

“There’s always a need for funding for arts programs, and it’s always been difficult to get the funding you need to do the programming you want. So for this grant to come along at this time is substantial,” he said.

The Urban Video Project is a partnership between SU, Light Work and the Everson Museum of Art, said Anneka Herre, the program’s director, in an email. They present an ongoing exhibit of video art and film that is projected on the outside of the Everson Museum of Art, as well as screenings, artist talks and performances, Herre said.

Herre stressed the importance of supporting art in places like central New York that are outside of major city centers. She also added that art meeting people where they are, even if it’s that are outside of major city centers, will help promote more inclusive public dialogue.

“We are in a political moment right now in which arts funding is again under threat,” Herre said. “And there is a message being communicated by some in power that the arts are not important and necessary to creating a democratic society. At the same time, it’s a moment when the role of art in creating a public dialogue around issues that face us as a society is more important than ever.”

In addition to the grant for Joy of Giving Something, Light Work received a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its Artist-in-Residence program. The program invites 12 artists per year to spend a month in Syracuse and create art using Light Work lab facilities and staff support, Lavalette said.

Light Work applies for funding from the NEA every year, Lavalette said, and has received grants from the NEA for 12 of the last 13 years, according to the NEA grant database.

“Central New York has a vibrant arts community,” Lavalette said in an email, “and the great programs of the organizations here are enhanced through financial support.”

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, PAL Project Director Stephen Mahan’s comment about arts funding under the current state and federal government administrations was unclear.

Published on February 27, 2018 at 9:56 pm

Contact Jony: ktsampah@syr.edu