TALBOT COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL, INC.

P.O. Box 6, Easton, MD 21601-0006

NEWS RELEASE

Four Talbot Students Selected for Summer Arts Scholarships

The Talbot County Arts Council has awarded summer arts scholarships to four Talbot County students who have just completed grades 8 through 11. This is the tenth year such scholarships have been available. Funding of the scholarship program is provided by grants to the Arts Council from the Talbot County Council and the Towns of Easton and St. Michaels.

The Arts Council's Summer Arts Scholarship Committee that evaluated the applications and made recommendations to the board of directors was chaired Ronya Driscoll of Oxford and also included Leslie Hamburger and Rima Parkhurst of Easton. The recipients of this year's Summer Arts Scholarships are:

Timothy Costagliola of Easton, who is completing his sophomore year at Easton High School, to improve his tenor saxophone and vocal skills by attending the Music Outreach Program of Pennsylvania State University at State College during July 7-11. He has had 6 years of saxophone studies, and this is the third year he has received a Summer Arts Scholarship. He was recommended for this year's award by Amanda Leffler, EHS director of bands.

Catherine (Casey) Firth of Trappe, who is completing her junior year at Easton High School, for creative violin studies as a participant in the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Summer Opera Orchestra Workshop at Morgan State University during June 17 to July 2. She has had more than 9 years of violin lessons and was recommended by Christine Noyes, EHS choral music director.

Patrick Firth of Trappe, for voice, violin, trumpet, and drama instruction during the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Summer Opera Orchestra Workshop at Morgan State University during June 17 to July 2. He has had more than nine years of violin experience, and this is his second summer arts scholarship. He was also recommended by Christine Noyes of EHS.

Ian Young of Easton, who is completing the 8th grade at Easton Middle School, for vocal performance studies in the summer intensive curriculum of the Broadway Artists Alliance in New York City during August 2-8. He has sung with the Chesapeake Youth Chorale for the past five years. He was recommended by Ellen Wile, CYC artistic director and music teacher at Easton Elementary School.

Talbot County Arts Council Elects Officers, Members

The board of directors of the Talbot County Arts Council has elected its Executive Committee for Fiscal Year 2011 that begins on July 1. The officers for the coming year are Jane Bollman of Easton, reelected as board president, Lois B. Shepard of Easton, who will move from treasurer to vice president, Alice Jane Lippson of St. Michaels as secretary, and Ann E. Dorbin of Trappe as treasurer. The election took place at the board's annual strategic planning retreat on Saturday, May 22.

The Nominating and Bylaws Committee, chaired by Donald C. Buxton of Royal Oak, also proposed candidates for election or reelection to the Arts Council's 15-member board of directors. The two present board members reelected to second three-year terms were Leslie A. Hamburger and Rima Z. Parkhurst. New members were elected for initial terms to fill vacancies created by the departure from the board of Richard L. Hott, Kate Levey, and Catherine Pieper Stevenson. The three newly-elected board members are:

Catherine Cripps is a board certified art therapist who says she uses art extensively in both work and play. Some of her community work has received past mini-grants from the Arts Council, including one to support the mural made by the Breast Cancer Support Group and another to assist the Teen Drug Court Art Therapy Group use photojournalism as a tool for insight. She was born in London and spent her early years in England, afterward moving with her family first to Long Island and then to the Eastern Shore. She graduated from Easton High School, earned a degree in education and psychology from University of Maryland, and then went to graduate school first at the University of Massachusetts and then to study medical art therapy at the University of Louisville. Since returning to Easton she has been building a private practice in schools, clinics, and hospitals.

William P. Peak, Jr. grew up in Louisville. He received his bachelor's degree from Washington and Lee University and his master's from the writing program at Hollins University. Before moving to the Eastern Shore in 1994, he worked as a writer for the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, D.C., and since 1989 he has done free-lance work writing exhibit scripts for area museums. His work can be seen in The National Building Museum and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, among others. He is currently employed as a library associate at the Talbot County Free Library and The Star Democrat publishes his monthly column about life in the library. One of his short stories, "What We See," was published in the 2009 edition of The Delmarva Review.

Marie R. U'Ren moved to Easton from Belmont, California in May 1994. She was founding director of the Chesapeake Film Festival and continues to serve as its Executive Director. Among her extensive volunteer activities are past membership of the boards of the Academy Art Museum, Community Alliance for the Performing Arts, Historical Society of Talbot County, and United Fund, and she currently serves as the Treasurer of First Night Talbot, First Vice President of Mental Health Association in Talbot County, and as a member of the Provident State Bank Talbot County Advisory Board. A self-taught costumer, she maintains a volunteer costume resource for the community. She was honored by selection for Talbot County's 2002 Maryland You Are Beautiful volunteer award, and she is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Business & Finance.

Talbot Arts Council Offers Arts-in-Education Grants to Schools

The Talbot County Arts Council has announced its program of Arts-in-Education (AinE) Grants to local public and private elementary and secondary schools for the 2009-2010 academic year. The grants support visiting artist or visiting performer programs, as well as organizations offering after-school arts enrichment activities for students.

Applications for AinE Grants must be signed by school principals or after-school program directors and submitted by September 30. Selections are made by the board of the Arts Council and announced by end-October. The visiting artists and performers must normally be from the rosters of artists on the website of the Maryland State Arts Council (www.msac.org), but exceptions may be arranged for local artists through advance coordination with the Arts Council. AinE program funding comes from MSAC and must be matched at least a dollar-for-dollar basis by the requesting school-most often from parent-teacher organizations.

One significant change beginning this year concerns First Strings, the program of 10 violin lessons available for elementary school music classes. Beginning this year, First Strings is part of the Arts Council's AinE Grant program which is funded by the MSAC. In the past, First Strings fell under the Arts Council's mini-grants program, with funding from the Talbot County Arts Council and the Towns of Easton and St. Michaels. Schools must now request funding for First Strings by submitting AinE Grant requests for in the visiting artist/artist-in-residence category.

To be eligible to apply for AinE Grants, a representative of the requesting school or organization must attend an AinE Workshop at 7 pm, Thursday, September 3, at the Arts Council offices at 142 North Harrison Street, next to TalbotTown Shopping Center in Easton. If this is not convenient, a separate individual orientation meeting may be arranged.

Information/application packets for both types of grant programs will be available for downloading from the Arts Council's website: www.talbotarts.org. For hard-copy application materials or further information, contact the Talbot County Arts Council by phone 410-310-9812, fax 410-770-4879, or email gearly@talbotarts.org.