The Arts Council of Wilmington & New Hanover County, in conjunction with arts councils in Brunswick and Columbus counties and with the support of the North Carolina Arts Council, recently named the 2014-2015 Regional Artist Project Grant (RAPG) recipients. This year, grants were awarded to 15 artists of varied disciplines, according to a news release from the Arts Council of Wilmington.
 
This year’s grantees were selected from 49 applicants, who requested more than $53,000. A total of $15,000 was available, according to Rhonda Bellamy, the executive director of the Arts Council of Wilmington & New Hanover County.  
 
Funds for the Regional Artist Project Grant Program are awarded annually to county arts councils so they can support committed, accomplished artists by funding a project pivotal to a career in their respective art forms, the release stated.

“We are thrilled to recognize some of the region’s best artists. With so many worthy projects proposed, our panelists ran out of money before they ran out of talent,” Bellamy said in the release.

The RAPG is administered by the Arts Council of Wilmington and is funded through contributions by the NCAC and partner arts councils in Brunswick, Pender, and Columbus counties.

The award winners are:
Ashley Barnes
New Hanover County
$1000
To assist with the cost of attending the Dance Life Teacher Conference in Arizona
 
Jonathan Guggenheim
New Hanover County
$1250
To construct a plaster head-double using prosthetics and make up for an independent film project.
 
Maurice Martinez
New Hanover County
$1000
To purchase a Steadicam Camera Stabilization System for film projects.
 
Ann Barnhill
Brunswick County
$1000
To travel to Weston, WV to research a story based on a woman in a mental institution in the 1880s.
 
Christine Brier
Pender County
$1025
To participate in the American Harp Society’s 21st National Competition and Summer Institute.
 
Justin Hoke
New Hanover County
$1250
To record a professional quality CD.
 
Justin Lacy
New Hanover County
$1000
To professionally record, mix, and master an album.
 
Carl Blackmon
Brunswick County
$955
To study with nationally recognized puppeteer, Fred Michael, former “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” puppeteer and Smithsonian Institution Theatre Artist in Residence.
 
Iris Simmons
New Hanover County
$1000
To purchase a new computer to enhance design skills for quiltmaking.
 
Barbara Snyder
New Hanover County
$1335
To produce photographs in large, multi-image panoramas of landscapes in and around Wilmington.
 
Patty Rivas
New Hanover County
$990
To purchase a grinder and ring saw for use in glass art.
 
Perla Segovia
Pender County
$895
To purchase a wet saw with corresponding cartridges and blades for use in glass art.
 
Melissa Manley
New Hanover County
$1000
To study with Celie Fago, a nationally recognized metal clay master craftsman and international teacher.
 
Donald Byrum
Brunswick County
$800
To produce printmaking art on to Handmade Paper to be shown at the SGC International at the University of Tennessee.
 
Casey Scharling
New Hanover County
$500
To fund essential studio lighting equipment