The Arts & Culture Alliance (ACA), the local arts agency for an eleven-county region of East Tennessee, is pleased to announce the 39 recipients of this year’s Ann and Steve Bailey Opportunity Grants, a funding program through ACA’s Arts & Heritage Fund. Distributed through ACA, Bailey Opportunity grants provide training and technical support to individual artists and small, professionally oriented arts and culture organizations (whose budgets are under $100,000). Opportunity Grants support artists working in media such as: literary arts, craft arts, folk and traditional arts, 2-D and 3-D work of all media, installation art, public art, film/video arts, and performing arts (including music, dance, theater, puppetry, performance art).

Bailey Opportunity grants will invest nearly $100,000 in East Tennessee arts projects and programs taking place July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

“This is the sixth year we have offered Bailey Opportunity grants, an accumulated investment by Ann and Steve Bailey of $600,000 in the artistry, careers, and future of Knoxville’s artists and small art and culture organizations! One of the most exciting things for me at this point is to see how Bailey artists and organizations have grown and flourished as a result of their award projects,” said Liza Zenni, Executive Director of the Arts & Culture Alliance.

The following individual artists will receive a total of $81,369.09:
Melody Allen, Cosima Aryee, Sara Barrett, Marcus Carmon, Rhea Carmon, Anthony Cheatham, Antuco Chicaiza, Maggie Connolly, Kelsey Dillow, Casey Field, Elena Ganusova, Laura Goff, Hannah Hayward, Nicholas Horner, Jake Ingram, Siobian Jones, Anna Lawrence, Doug Lawrence, Ashton Ludden, Chris McCreary, Ben McLaughlin, Brian Melton, Julie Rabun, Marc Rotman, Adam Rowe, Amanda Scott, Gretchen Sexton, Joshua Shorey, Cynthia Tipton, Houston Vandergriff, Emily Webb, Wendel Werner, Heather Whiteside, and Timothy Woody

The following organizations will receive $11,458.00:
A1LabArts, Momentum Dance Lab, Sundress Publications, Tennessee Stage Company, and Theatre Knoxville Downtown.  

The goal of Bailey Opportunity Grants is to create a more vital creative community in Knoxville by encouraging contributions to the city’s economy and quality of life by artists and arts and history organizations, positioning Knoxville as a community that honors its creative industry and supports the efforts of artists and organizations to achieve excellence and raising public profiles of artists and organizations within the city and beyond.

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About the Arts & Culture Alliance The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions. The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the City of Knoxville.  Special thanks to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Contact: Liza Zenni PO Box 2506 Knoxville, TN 37901 (865) 523-7543 lz@knoxalliance.com www.knoxalliance.com