Calloway County

Murray Art Guild (1st year)
Contact Info: Laura Miller
270-753-4059
[email protected]

The Murray Art Guild is a visual arts organization that enriches the life of the community as well as provides a place for artists to work, display and sell their art. The Guild encourages the creation and appreciation of art and serves as a place where creative ideas are explored. The programs provided by the Guild enrich the public as well as artists, provide opportunities for educators and their students, and address the interest and needs of youth and adults living in the community, through collaborations, workshops, exhibitions and demonstrations.

Crittenden County

Mantle Rock Native Education & Cultural Center (1st year)
Contact Info: Dean Erickson
270-965-5882
[email protected]

Mantle Rock Native Education & Cultural Center encourages the preservation and continuation of Native American culture with emphasis on the Cherokee culture. This involves the crafts, talents, language, and also performances by Native American artists. The Center conducts classes that are open to all persons in such crafts as beading, and sponsors a powwow in Marion. Mantle Rock makes presentations in Western Kentucky schools on subjects such as historical objects and their use, preservation and proper usage of the environment and plant and animal life. Mantle Rock collaborates with local artists by exhibiting paintings, crafts and other arts.

Estill County

Estill Arts Council, Inc. (4th year)
Contact Info: Mary Reed
606-723-4678
appcraft@irvineonline

The Estill Arts Council (EAC) supports and promotes local artisans and brings arts into the rural Eastern Kentucky communities of Estill County. Some programs that provide opportunities for involvement include educational workshops, regional marketing workshops for artisans, and exhibitions within the community.

Fayette County

Sisohpromatem Art Foundation, Inc. (1st year)
Contact Info: Kenneth Brooks
859-255-5127
[email protected]

The Sisohpromatem Art Foundation (SAF) provides educational, fun, and uplifting arts programming for youth and families, at no or low cost to participants. They place special emphasis on reaching at-risk, disadvantaged and underserved populations. They participate in events such as the International Kite and Cultural Festival in Georgetown, Kentucky, and sponsor a youth art show. They also produce children's art shows, exhibits for African American cultural celebrations, and educational programming in partnership with local non-profit organizations. The SAF creates social change through art and bridges the gap between various cultural, social, racial and ethnic communities.

The Guild for Artists with Disabilities (3rd year)
Contact Info: Polly Singer Eardley
859-335-6380
[email protected]

The Guild for Artists with Disabilities is a statewide organization that provides opportunities for disabled artists, primarily those homebound, to improve and market their artwork, receive deserved recognitions and awards, and exhibit their work to the general public. The Guild also works to increase public awareness that disabled people can and do produce valuable artworks.

Franklin County

Operation Half-Note, Inc. (5th year)
Contact Info: Vernell Bennett
502-597-6498
[email protected]

Operation Half-Note is an early childhood (4 ½ - 5 years old) music institute whose primary focus is creating musical awareness in children both vocally and instrumentally, reinforcing the basic literacy skills and enriching the self-esteem of young children. The project's work is based on current research, which indicates that children who are exposed to music develop a better sense of self-discipline, have increased self-esteem, enhanced social skills, and an outlet to express their abilities.

Grant County

Community Enrichment through the Arts (3rd year)
Contact Info: Scot Lahner
859-824-0742
[email protected]

Community Enrichment through the Arts (CETA), the sum of the Eagle Creek Arts Council and the Grant County Celebrating the Arts, promotes a higher quality of living through the advancement of the arts in the region. CETA provides community experiences for all ages in art, music, dance, and drama that enlightens, educates, and involves the public in the rich artistic heritage of the region.

Grayson County

Grayson County Arts Council (2nd year)
Contact Info: Marjorie Woodard
270-259-9038
[email protected]

The Grayson County Arts Council works as an advocate for local arts, provides community support for local artists in all disciplines, and offers a variety of events to the local community by featuring diverse examples of art disciplines. The Council produces events and activities that feature visual artists, writers, musicians, craft makers, and theatre.

Jefferson County

Juneteenth Legacy Theatre (5th year)
Contact Info: Lorna Littleway
502-636-4200
[email protected]
Juneteenth Legacy Theatre is Kentucky's only professional African-American theatre company. The organization's name, 'Juneteenth' celebrates African-American independence, derived from June 19, 1865, the date when African-Americans living in the western territories of the United States learned of their emancipation from slavery. The theatre develops new and original works about the African-American experience in historical and contemporary contexts, provides creative opportunities for African-American artists, creates innovative programs for local educational institutions, and support for Kentucky arts organizations seeking to diversify their programming and outreach to African-American audiences.

The Furnace Art Center (1st year)
Contact Info: Ben Huber
502-635-1755
[email protected]

The Furnace Art Center brings artists and the community together for the promotion and appreciation of ceramic and sculptural arts. It serves as a venue for local and regional independent artists to interact with their peers to meet professional needs around aesthetic and technical issues. The Center provides hands-on art opportunities for children and adults in the greater Louisville community and collaborates with arts and non-arts organizations to increase educational programs and expand the audiences for local arts community.

Creative Diversity (1st year)
Contact Info: Amy Marlatt
502-473-0244
[email protected]

Creative Diversity provides an environment for visual artists with disabilities to nurture and develop their artistic talents with their non-disabled peers. Disabled artists receive instruction and guidance on professional development for those seeking art as a means of financial support. Creative Diversity collaborates with professional artists from the Kentuckiana area and participants with disabilities from the Mattingly Center and Options for Individuals. Exhibitions bring about awareness of artists who happen to have a disability, and break barriers of misunderstanding with the greater community.

Squallis Puppeteers (1st year)
Contact Info: Jessica Myers/ Nora Christensen
502-585-2230
[email protected]

Squallis Puppeteers offers puppetry as a tool for communication, education, and expression. They are creating a community that brings together many skills and talents to express something important, and so puppetry becomes interwoven with building communities. The puppeteers offer puppet performances for a variety of audiences, workshops, and projects to make puppets. Squallis Puppeteers' education programs incorporate other nations' puppetry traditions and promote lifelong learning by teaching a variety of artistic, dramatic and social skills useful in everyday life.

Johnson County

Oil Springs Cultural Arts & Recreation Center (OSCAR) (1st year)
Contact Info: Brenda Cockerham
606-297-5083
[email protected]

The Oil Springs Cultural Arts & Recreation Center (OSCAR) primarily focuses on the transference of traditional skills to the next generation. Native Americans, the elderly and disabled have been frequent contributors to the project with a common interest of sharing their skills with others. OSCAR through song, music, dance, drama, culinary and the visual arts, re-engages people with each other and the outside world, through unique cultural attributes and heritage.

Knott County

Hillfolk Arts Guild (1st year)
Contact Info: Larry Parke
1-800-246-7521 x 73408
[email protected]

Hillfolk Arts Guild, formed by a group of local artisans, promotes the arts in a variety of disciplines in Knott and surrounding counties. The Guild organizes local exhibits, workshops and craft fairs, preserves local heritage through educational programs in the schools, and promotes awareness of local talent through local media exposure.

Laurel County

London Community Orchestra (2nd year)
Contact Info: Sallie Jackson-Thayer
606-864-4764 x 115

The London Community Orchestra (LCO) provides opportunities for members of a string class to utilize their musical skills in the London community and surrounding counties. The orchestra now has approximately 65 musicians with diverse ages, and they offer three concerts per year, as well as participate in annual community programs. Orchestra members also take musical programs into Laurel County Schools, exposing the children to orchestral music and providing mentoring opportunities for teen orchestra members.

Lyon County

Lyon County Arts Guild (3rd year)
Contact Info: Roger Lisanby
270-388-6072
[email protected]

The Lyon County Arts Guild provides a place where artists can meet and exhibit their works to the public, teach their skills to others through classes and workshops, while providing the community an opportunity to gain awareness and develop an understanding of the arts. This enriches the cultural atmosphere of the community, facilitates the development of beginning artists, and improves working artists. The guild is also home to a gallery that displays local, regional and national award winning artists.

Marshall County

Choral Ambassadors of Western Kentucky (1st year)
Contact Info: Tony Whitfield
270-362-0436
[email protected]

The Choral Ambassadors of Western Kentucky is a community chorus whose members are high school aged students from Marshall county and surrounding counties. This ensemble upholds high musical standards while enabling the community to appreciate choral music. While they serve their community in presenting a variety of music from spirituals to folk songs, the members are also educated on the various periods they perform such as vocalization in the Renaissance or Romantic periods.

Marshall County Commission for the Arts (1st year)
Contact Info: Jody Cofer
270-527-1587
[email protected]

The Marshall County Commission for the Arts was established by the Marshall County Fiscal Court to support the arts in the Marshall County area. The Commission serves as a catalyst in the education and development of an appreciation of the arts as a whole and all of the disciplines therein. They expose the community to various presenters of music, visual art, dance and drama, as well as provide venues for local talent.

Owsley County

Owsley County Arts Council (1st year)
Contact Info: Nancy Gabbard
606-593-6865
[email protected]

The Owsley County Arts Council preserves cultural heritage and promotes and develops the creativity of traditional and non-traditional art forms in Owsley County and the surrounding region. They promote awareness of arts and crafts, develop and organize creative and cultural events and activities, ensure opportunities for participation in the activities, and encourage creative people. They also organize exhibits in Owsley County to showcase artists, crafts people and quilters work, including the Daniel Boone Days festival, which has become one of the few local projects done to promote heritage, cultural enrichment and education.

Perry County

Art of the Mountains (2nd year)
Contact Info: Glenna Wooten
606-436-2044
[email protected]

Art of the Mountains serves southeastern Kentucky artists and provides opportunities for the cultural sharing of Appalachia and its ethnic populations. They serve the youth, seniors, and the general public through shows, bazaars, and fairs. The Art of the Mountains fosters unity among the artisans in the southeastern Kentucky region and in partnership with the Greater Hazard Area Performing Arts Series brings visual art components to musicals and theatrical performances.

Scott County

Scott County Arts Consortium (4th year)
Contact Info: Barbara Strippelhoff
502-867-0060
[email protected]

The Scott County Arts Consortium (SCAC) was formed to save an endangered local landmark, a 19th century jail and jailer's house, and to increase arts resources and programs in a fast-growing community. These buildings are now the arts and cultural center, offering art programs to enhance cultural and learning opportunities in Scott County. The SCAC conducts cross-disciplinary arts programming at a variety of locations and in 2003 opened the Artworks Art Center, which offers classes, workshops, and exhibits to local and regional audiences.

Union County

The Unicorn Players of Union County Kentucky (4th year)
Contact Info: Rudy Holliday
270-389-9121
[email protected]

A branch of the Union County Arts Council, The Unicorn Players create an interest in theater in Union County, give the community exposure to a variety of plays, and provide a creative outlet for people interested in the theater arts. Their goal is to continually draw new people to work on productions and at the same time create productions that increase audiences from play to play. The Unicorn Players offer drama and job corps actors workshops, and creative dramatics programs with children.

Washington County

Ohio River Valley Artists Guild, Inc. (5th year)
Contact Info: Charles Bellanca
606-759-7905

The Ohio River Valley Artists Guild, (ORVAG) supports area visual artists, and provides peer group activities and educational opportunities in the arts for local youth. Programming activities for visual artists include an art lecture series, community art show, an annual art sale, and workshops in various visual arts disciplines. Some of ORVAG's activities for youth include life drawing for high school students, summer art camp, and hosting the Kentucky Arts Education Association's high school art show.

Whitley County

Appalachian Artists Guild (3rd year)
Contact Info: Geraldine Allen
606-549-2200
[email protected]

The Appalachian Artists Guild brings awareness of the visual arts to the Whitley County community, encourages arts learning for youth and adults of all ages and provides a vehicle for support and networking among practicing artists within the area. They offer a wide array of arts participation activities at the Whitley County Fair, the Old Fashioned Days, and the Fall Guild Show. The Guild has a variety of classes and workshops for youth and adults in the community, and incorporates local artistic talent in many of its performing arts programs.