Edreys Wajed is a finalist for this year's Spark Award for Artist of the Year, an award that honors an individual artist in any discipline for their achievements the previous year. Born and raised in Buffalo, Edreys is an enthusiastic and inspiring walking enterprise of all things creative, from visual artist and hip hop musician [...]
[Note: ASI’s 7th Annual Spark Awards has been rescheduled to Monday, November 16, 2020.] Unique Theatre Company, finalist for this year’s Spark Award for Arts Organization of the Year, offers a safe and inclusive place for people of all abilities to have a true theater experience. It offers creative workers the opportunity to assist with the [...]
As we gear up for the reopening of Western New York’s arts and cultural sector, Arts Services Initiative will be presenting our new professional development series, Reopening Together, throughout the month of June. Join us for this free weekly series to discuss guidelines and share ideas on how we—as a community—can successfully and safely reopen [...]
Arts Services Initiative has awarded an additional $94,820 in emergency grants to local artists and nonprofit arts and cultural organizations affected by the COVID-19 crisis. This event brings the granted total from our WNY Arts Emergency Relief Fund to $192,790, supporting a total of 69 organizations and 56 individuals. Grants were awarded to artists and [...]
[Note: ASI’s 7th Annual Spark Awards has been rescheduled to Monday, November 16, 2020.] O'Connell & Company Productions is a finalist for this year's Spark Award for Arts Organization of the Year, an award that honors a nonprofit or for-profit arts organization for its achievements in the preceding year. O'Connell & Company is dedicated to entertaining [...]
Photo: The Inclusive Theater cast of the Shakespeare in the Parking Lot performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Aimee M. Levesque, PhD is the founder, executive, and artistic director of Inclusive Theater of WNY, a performing and visual arts company that promotes inclusion, diversity, and respect in the arts by welcoming people of all levels [...]
Arts Services Initiative (ASI) has awarded $97,970 in emergency grants to 60 local artists and nonprofit arts and cultural organizations affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Less than one week after opening applications, this event marks the first round of funding through our WNY Arts Emergency Relief Fund, a granting program designed to assist Western New [...]
The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center is a finalist for this year's Spark Award for Arts Organization of the Year, an award that honors a nonprofit or for-profit arts organization for its achievements in the preceding year. The organization has been enhancing the cultural landscape of Chautauqua County since its grand reopening in [...]
For Western New York’s arts community, the economic impact of COVID-19 has surpassed millions of dollars, with $2.5 million in losses being reported for March alone. Forty-six percent of arts organizations reported in a field-wide survey that they are “very likely” to have to lay off some or all of their staff—an unfortunate reality for [...]
Lewiston Council on the Arts is the winner of this year's Spark Award for DEC Program of the Year, an award that recognizes ASI's Decentralization (DEC) grantees for their hard work and successful art projects that took place during the previous calendar year. The council—which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone [...]
