Two Pike County organizations were among the non-profit groups that received grant awards from the Alabama State Council on the Arts at its December meeting. The grants awards are for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

The Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center received two grants totally $7,200. A $5,000 grant was in support of the art center’s 2017 ArtBridges Workshop and the $2,200 grant was for the center’s Bicentennial community arts project.

The Brundidge Historical Society was awarded a grant in the amount of $1,600 in support of its Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival.

The Alabama State Council on the Arts awarded grants totaling $446,175 to non-profit organizations, schools, universities, cities and a wide range of community groups.

Vicki Pritchett, Johnson Center of the Arts executive director, expressed appreciation to the state arts council for the grants that will make it possible to continue and expand the Art Bridges teachers’ workshop.

“We appreciate ASCA’s continued commitment to our ArtBridges in-school program,” Pritchett. “The program allows us to bring in the best of artists and instructors to conduct the workshop during the summer and then go into the classrooms and show the teachers how they can use the arts to teach different subjects including math and science.

Pritchett said, while she is appreciative of the grant funding for the center’s Bicentennial project, it would only provide seed money for the proposed project.

The grant application was seeking funding for a musical based on the history of Troy. The production was planned for 2018-2019.

“Troy University faculty members would be commissioned to write the script and direct the play,” Pritchett said. “We think the play would be a wonderful way to celebrate Alabama’s Bicentennial.

“We are thankful for the Bicentennial grant but we’ll have to find additional ways to fund the project.”

The grant award to the Brundidge Historical Society will help fund the 2017 Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival the last weekend in January.

“Again, the Alabama State Council on the Arts has given support to our storytelling festival,” said Lawrence Bowden, BHS president. “The council’s support makes it possible for us to bring four of the nation’s top storytellers to Pike County. Without the council support, we would be limited in the number of tellers that we could bring to the stage. We are very appreciative of the continued support of the state arts council.”

Bowden said the BHS applied for a Bicentennial grant but did not receive funding
“The idea for the event ‘A Storied Past’ is a good one and will complement what we do in the area of folklife at the We Piddle Around Theater,” he said. “We won’t give up on that.

Dora James, council chairman, said ASCA is pleased to support educational groups, community organization and various art institutions with the recently approved grants.

“Funds awarded through the council’s granting process provide enhancement for Alabama’s creative economy and overall quality of life for its citizens,” James said.