BRANCHING OUT: For the first time this fall, I’ll be supervising the Wyoming Arts Council performing arts fellowships. I also will be in charge of the Individual Artists Professional Development grants for performers. The change comes in the wake of Rita Basom’s move to head of the WAC. She used to be the program specialist for performing arts and grants to organizations. This switch doesn’t come easy for me -- a lit guy of long-standing. Most state arts agencies have one person for all the individual grants categories. It's rare to have an employee dedicated to writers and writing. So, I give up that position with regret. I’ll learn the ins and outs of the performing arts as I go -- OJT.

This year’s fellowship categories are theatre and dance performance. I will select two fellowship judges with the appropriate expertise, and then I’ll write and edit the fellowship application form. Once all the proper paperwork and videos, DVDs, cassettes, diskettes, and assorted electronic files have been collected from the applicants, I will preview the work for the judges. They will decide on the two winners, each of whom will receive a $2,500 stipend. The deadline will be a little later than it has been (mid- to late-October), so obviously the recipients can’t be announced at the annual WyAA block-booking conference Oct. 6-8 in Gillette.

Next year at this time, I will add the visual arts fellowships/IAPD grants to my assignments in lit and performing arts. This year’s round of V.A. awards is being supervised by Liliane Francuz before she heads off to a new position as curator at the Wyoming State Museum in two weeks. This conglomeration of artists’ awards will allow me to use the title of Wyoming Exalted Grand Poobah of the Individual Arts, or WEGPIA. Or maybe that’s “individual arts specialist.” As I absorb these additional duties, I may have to jettison some of the tasks I have now, such as Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER) and/or Poetry Out Loud (POL). Time will tell.
- posted by Michael Shay @ 4:05 PM