The Center Receives Recommendation for National Endowment for Arts Grant

The Sun Valley Center for the Arts is proud to announce that it has been recommended for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) under the “Imagine Your Parks” initiative. In the initial steps of the awards process, which will be finalized in early 2016, the NEA has named The Center as a planned recipient of $15,000 in support of their project, Craters of the Moon, which celebrates Craters of the Moon National Monument and the National Park Service (NPS) Centennial.

“This project [Craters of the Moon] is an exciting and ambitious undertaking for The Center,” said Kristin Poole, Artistic Director. “We are thrilled to receive this grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which strengthens the partners and private donors who have come together to realize the project.”

The Craters of the Moon exhibition, which opens May 20, 2016, at Craters of the Moon and The Center in Ketchum, will feature contemporary works by photographer Binh Danh, painter Cindy Tower, multi-media artist Charles Lindsay and sculptors John Grade and Jason Middlebrook. Grade and Middlebrook will create large-scale, site-specific sculptures that will be installed at Craters of the Moon, with related materials presented in the exhibition at The Center.

Grade’s sculpture, fabricated from reclaimed cedar, will take its form and inspiration from a volcanic feature at the park. Its scale will allow visitors to move through it, much like entering a lava tube. Middlebrook will use slate to recreate the dramatic sculptural form of one of the park’s limber pine trees.

“In addition to the celebrated artists, the National Park Service, The City of Ketchum, the Blaine County Recreational District and the Andy Warhol Foundation are working together to offer the public an innovative way to experience the amazing landscape that is Craters,” Poole explained. To that end, community outreach will include a study guide, exhibition tours, artist talks, videos, field trips to the park and a day of activities in the gallery geared towards families.

“We couldn’t be more pleased!” said Poole of the scope of the Craters of the Moon project, which the NEA grant in addition to support from partners and private donors makes possible.

“Imagine Your Parks” is a joint effort between the NPS and NEA that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the NEA in 2015 and the centennial anniversary of the NPS in 2016. Under the Imagine Your Parks initiative, the two agencies are uniting in their missions to promote and protect the nation’s cultural and natural treasures. Grants are awarded to art projects that celebrate NPS lands and encourage public engagement with the nation’s parks.

Binh Danh, Untitled from Craters of the Moon, 2013, daguerreotype, courtesy the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco