Mid Atlantic Arts

Artists who have been affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Southern Arts Relief & Recovery Fund is accepting applications. This initiative is led by South Arts, in partnership with Mid Atlantic Arts, Alternate ROOTS, National Performance Network, ArtsAVL, and North Carolina Arts Council. The fund supports short-term as well as long-term recovery needs in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia in FEMA-designated areas. Grants start at $500?for artists with the final funding amount in development. To learn more, apply, or donate to the fund, visit: https://lnkd.in/e_nzPWFn

How can your organization use the arts to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for military-connected communities? Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants aim to help military service members and veterans exposed to trauma as well as their families and caregivers through experiences of art or art making. Learn more about guidelines and eligibility at https://lnkd.in/eMSJ374n This national program is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and Mid-America Arts Alliance.

The Central Appalachia Living Traditions (CALT) Experiences grants are open! These grants fund public-facing projects and events in Appalachian counties of Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia that bring community members together around traditional arts and cultural knowledge. Nonprofit organizations and individual folk and traditional artists/practitioners can apply. The application deadline is Monday, March 10, 2025. Stay tuned for more information on upcoming webinars, and learn more at: https://lnkd.in/efvM_Jfw ??: Chair caner Paul Kitchen. Credit: Kristine Carter/Courtesy Floyd Community Center for the Arts; Blues artist Lady D. Credit: Edwin Martell, Elm Street Photography/Courtesy Southern Ohio Folklife

The application for the 2025-2026 Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grants is now open! These grants support organizations that engage folk and traditional artists, practitioners, and culture bearers in community-based projects. Projects can include performances, public art collaborations, workshops, exhibits, fieldwork, and the creation of new traditional arts work. The application deadline is Monday, March 10, 2025. We have some upcoming webinars for all interested applicants, as well as special webinars for those in Appalachia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Learn more on our website at: https://lnkd.in/dCx7aFbW ??: Vogue artist the Legendary Khaos Lanvin. Credit: Susan Nagib/Courtesy ArtsWestchester; Steven Kroon percussion band. Credit: LeQuez Spearman/Courtesy Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

Meet the Mid Atlantic NABS Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellows! Omope "Mama O" Carter Daboiku is an authoer, performer, teaching artist, historian, and quilter from Lawrence County, OH and Wise County, VA. Family genealogy rooted Omope in Black Appalachian storytelling; she was expected to learn her maternal and paternal agricultural lineages. She learned timing by listening to elders tell family stories at death wakes, preachers deliver sermons, and winos reciting longform poetry before it was called "spoken word.” As a performer, producer, teaching artist, writer, and agriculturalist, she has shared Black Appalachian folkways internationally, lecturing on quilt traditions (Germany) and storytelling with tandem translation (Turkey, US State Dept). Her first short story, “The Power of Water Baptism” (Anthology of Appalachian Writers) was a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her video about Lawrence County, Ohio’s, UGRR activity—“History Keeper”—is on YouTube. A member of the Appalachian Studies Association and the Dayton Africana Elders Council, her writing is published in regional journals like Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel and Women of Appalachia Speak. Mama O is a community producer for WYSO (91.3fm NPR) and teaches Afro-Indigenous regenerative agriculture and plant medicine as modeled by family ancestors. Learn more about the NABS Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship at https://lnkd.in/eiEjR5V3 Photo courtesy of the artist.

Meet the Mid Atlantic NABS Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellows! Janice Cooley is a historian, researcher, and exhibit curator based in Greenbriar County, WV. A native of Lewisburg, West Virginia, she is the past President and current board member of the Greenbrier County Historical Society. Janice has curated a series of Black Appalachian exhibits. Invisible Roots and Legends was presented to the public through stories that provided an opportunity to not only observe but to be drawn in—to clearly understand the lives and lifestyles of individuals and how they contributed and impacted the growth and development of the Greenbrier County community through different perspectives. Echoes of Slavery; A photographic View of African American History and Stories in the Greenbrier Valley presented how remnants of slavery still exist in society today, witnessed through our penal system, voter suppression, and education practices. Ms. Cooley received the Human and Civil Rights Award from West Virginia Governor, Earl Ray Tomblin and the Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday Commission in 2017, and has been featured in numerous media publications. She is also an active board member of the Greenbrier Community School and the NAACP and an active member of her church, Mt. Tabor Baptist. Learn more about the NABS Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship at: https://lnkd.in/eiEjR5V3 Photo courtesy of the artist.

Eric "Monstalung" Jordan is a recording artist, hip hop producer, and teaching artist based in Fayette and Monongalia Counties, WV. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but raised in Ansted and Morgantown, West Virginia. He has been creating and releasing hip hop music since 1990 but has been performing since age seven with his father, Norman Jordan, a leading African American poet and playwright from the Black Arts Movement. In June of 2024, Monstalung released his album, “An Appalachian Hip Hop Story Pt.1.” In August he was featured on the Appalachian Hip Hop compilation album “No Options,” executive produced by Dr. Ted Olson and Dr. William Turner, which is distributed on Appalshop Records. He is also the Creative Director for the Norman Jordan African American Arts & Heritage Academy, a summer camp that focuses on teaching youth the different forms of Black arts. He is currently the Program Coordinator for the Center for Black Culture at West Virginia University. Monstalung also recently hosted a 100 Days in Appalachia email newsletter. Learn more about the NABS Black Storytellers Fellowship at https://lnkd.in/dwh_P2FD Photo courtesy of the artist.

Meet the NABS Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellows from the Mid Atlantic region! This year, three amazing storytellers from our region received this fellowship to promote and sustain Black storytelling traditions in Central Appalachia. Eric "Monstalung" Jordan is a recording artist, hip hop producer, and teaching artist based in Fayette and Monongalia Counties, WV. Janice Cooley is a historian, researcher, and exhibit curator based in Greenbriar County, WV. Omope "Mama O" Carter Daboiku is an authoer, performer, teaching artist, historian, and quilter from Lawrence County, OH and Wise County, VA. Stay tuned for more information on these Fellows! Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/eiEjR5V3 ??: Courtesy of the artists.

The National Endowment for the Arts' latest ArtsHERE Grantee Spotlight blog post features Baltimore's BAD (Ballet After Dark) Ballet! Ballet After Dark Inc provides trauma-informed arts and cultural programs for Black and Brown girls and youth. Learn more about their amazing work at: https://lnkd.in/ehzA9D-A

Mid Atlantic Arts mourns the loss of 2010 Living Legacy Jazz Awardee Roy Haynes. With a career spanning decades, Haynes was one of the most recorded jazz drummers in history. He played and toured with jazz greats including Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Chick Corea, and many more. Join us in celebrating a life well lived! ??: Courtesy of the artist.