Ed Lawrence

Public Information Officer

1-888-833-2787 ext. 4803

ed.lawrence@ky.gov

The public is invited to join artists, curators, gallery directors and staff for a public viewing of slides of works by 166 Kentucky visual artists on Tuesday, December 9, 2003, at 1 PM in the theatre of Lexington Public Library’s Central Library at 140 East Main Street in Lexington, Kentucky.  Artists from across the state have submitted their work for consideration by a panel of out-of-state visual arts professionals to compete for a limited number of Kentucky Arts Council’s Al Smith Fellowship Awards of $7,500 each.  Artists not selected for a fellowship award will be considered for a $1,000 professional assistance award.  A variety of mediums are eligible including craft, drawing, experimental or new genre, installation, mixed media (two and three dimensional), painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

Applications are accepted annually, on a rotating basis by discipline.  Currently under review are the applications from visual and media artists and in even numbered years the Arts Council accepts applications from writers, choreographers, music composers and interdisciplinary artists.  The application deadline for artists working in these media is September 15, 2004.

For more information about the Al Smith Fellowship Program and other opportunities for individual artists in Kentucky, contact the Arts Council's Individual Artist Program Director Heather Lyons at 1-888-833-2787 ext. 4827 or heather.lyons@ky.gov .  All program and grant applications can be accessed at www.artscouncil.ky.gov.

The Kentucky Arts Council is a state agency in the Education, Arts and Humanities Cabinet, established by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1965 by executive order to develop and promote support for the arts in Kentucky.  The Arts Council provides grants, awards and technical assistance to Kentucky artists, not-for-profit organizations, local governments and schools committed to providing arts and cultural programs and services to the public, contingent upon budgetary action of the Kentucky General Assembly and Partnership Agreement Grant funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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