VENTURA : City Awards $30,000 in Artistic Grants

The city of Ventura’s Community Services Office of Cultural Affairs has awarded $30,000 in grants to 14 artists and arts organizations for the 1995-96 year.

The purpose of the grants is to sponsor the creation of new artwork, foster a climate in which the arts can grow, make the arts accessible to all segments of the community and stimulate cultural and economic activity.

Recipients of the artist fellowship grants are:

Miguel del Aguila, $3,000, for an original work for piano quartet to be performed at Ventura College; Michele Chapin, $1,750, for stone sculptures and photos documenting the Southern California desert at the Avenue/Adult Senior Center; M. B. Hanrahan, $2,000, to restore the original Westpark Community Center mural and integrate new images.

Jeff Kaiser and Taylor Kasch, $2,000, to create an electro-acoustic chamber music opera based on Machiavelli’s “The Prince”; and Susan Lawrence, $250, to create a one-woman performance piece characterizing the artist’s grandmother.

Cultural Organization Project grants have been awarded to:

Hundred Hats Theater, $1,000, to create a play based on an oral history of Ventura; Plaza Players, $1,000, for the third annual Ventura Poetry Festival; Ventura County Chamber Orchestra, $3,750, for concerts; Ventura County Master Chorale, $4,000, for concerts; and the Ventura County Symphony, $2,500, for concerts.

Arts education grants went to California Poets in the Schools, $2,800, for workshops for kindergarten through 12th grade; and Ojai Festivals, $1,670, for the in-school music program and a performance at Libbey Bowl.

Arts access grants went to Kids Arts, $2,780, to provide weekly art, dance and drama classes to foster children; and Ventura Unified School District, $1,500, for scholarships to see live performances of “Adventures in Performing Arts.”