One More Art Job Saved! Coral Springs Museum of Art
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3/30/2010 10:31:52 AM
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BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Broward Cultural Division distributed funds to 16 arts organizations including Coral Springs Museum of Art that enabled them to maintain the position of Barry Treu—a position previously slated for elimination due to financial cut backs. Since its opening in 1997, the Coral Springs Museum of Art has focused on displaying innovative and ethnically-diverse Florida artists and providing eclectic and challenging classes for both children and adults. To date, forty-seven arts jobs in Broward County were retained through this program.
For Barry Treu and the Coral Springs Museum of Art, this funding means the preservation of art workshops and classes, and the continued development and collaboration created from working with professional artists, thanks to a stimulus grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Treu oversees the Museum Art School, museum tours, and other programs including Artist Walk 'n Talks, APEX (Arts Partnership for the Exceptional) and ArtREACH programs. He trains the docents and teen volunteers, and organizes the Creativity Room in the Museum, used by visitors on a daily basis. The APEX program was developed in 2008 as a pilot program with the purpose of fostering an appreciation of the visual arts and encouraging the development of the creative process for exceptional, special needs, or disadvantaged adults. Mr. Treu graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Masters of Fine Arts degree. He taught undergraduate and graduate fine art courses at the University of Texas and was a practicing artist and entrepreneur.
Through the economic stimulus package, the County’s Cultural Division received a $250,000 award, and in turn, re-granted the funds through an ARRA Lifeline application process. These funds were specifically directed to restore jobs in the arts. ARRA recognizes that the non-profit arts industry is an important sector of the economy. As part of this important investment,
Arts organizations had the opportunity to apply for funds to provide salary support for an existing staff member who would otherwise have been laid off; or to re-engage artistic/contracted services already let go. “When you hear of the Obama Administration doing things to stimulate the economy, it is validating to actually put a face on someone who is directly impacted by one of these programs. These are the people we are working with daily,” says Linda Ross, stimulus grants coordinator with Broward County.
Even before President Barack Obama signed the ARRA into law on February 17, 2009, County staff was immediately mobilized to respond. The Broward Cultural Council as well as the Cultural Division moved quickly to execute these grants and filter the funds through to the Cultural organizations. Also, a Broward County Stimulus Grants Coordination Office, www.broward.org/recovery was established for the purpose of centralizing the identification, development, review, approval and tracking for grants and contracts resulting from ARRA.
For further information on the list of grantees, or this program, visit the Broward Cultural Division website; or contact Jim Shermer 954-357-7502; e-mail: jshermer@broward.org. |
http://www.broward.org/arts/general/arra/welcome.htm
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