Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, announced that the Dennos Museum Center will receive a $10,000 grant to support an exhibition by a noted Northwestern Michigan College alumnus as part of NMC’s 60th anniversary celebration.
The grant will support the exhibition Jim Hay: Go Where You Are, which will open in January. Jim Hay graduated with honors from NMC in 1963 and, after teaching and exhibiting his work in Michigan, moved to Japan to explore a new direction in fabric assemblage of contemporary quilts. He has been a consistent award-winning quilt maker in Japan and across Asia.
The Dennos Museum Center is one of 1,057 non-profit organizations nationally to receive the federal agency’s first round of 2011 grants. In total, the Arts Endowment will distribute $26.68 million to support projects nationwide.
An independent agency of the federal government, the National Endowment for the Arts advances artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said, “I continue to be impressed with the creative, innovative, and excellent projects brought forward by arts organizations across the country. Our grantees are not only furthering their art forms but also enhancing their neighborhoods by making them more vibrant, livable, and fun.”
“We are extremely proud to have the National Endowment for the Arts recognize the value of this alumni’s work, as well as the value of the Dennos Museum Center,” said Eugene A. Jenneman, Museum Director, “Grants like this help us continue to bring some of the most talented artists and unique exhibitions from around the world to the people of northern Michigan.”
The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government that has awarded more than $4 billion on projects of artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the National Endowment for the Arts at arts.gov.