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Harv Wileman on MakeWork 2009 Thursday, July 30, 2009
Since January I have been a fellow at CreateHere working primarily on the MakeWork arts grants. Since the online application went live at the beginning of that month to the first set of disbursement checks for the grantees being delivered in June, it’s been a wild, rewarding ride. When I started, one artist had submitted an application. By the end of the process, 107 more joined that group, resulting in $300,000 worth of grants, awarded to 34 individuals.
The best part of the process–in some ways even better than notifying awardees of their successful applications–was meeting with the applicants before their submissions to talk about their ideas for their grants. It was so refreshing to hear artists passionate about their work and enthusiastic about what a cash grant could do toward making their visions for a project or, indeed, for their career, a reality. I spoke with writers preparing their memoirs, visual artists who needed web sites, and screenwriters needing to travel to push their screenplays. Not all of these artists were funded and not all of them even ended up submitting applications, but the thrill of interfacing with working artists getting on with their creative endeavors in Chattanooga was inspirational and revelational. There is so much talent here, so much industry, so much hope.
As the bulk of the MakeWork process comes to a close, it is time for me to move on from my LeadHere fellowship. As I look back, I will always treasure the optimism, passion, and talent that I found dealing with the creatives living in our area. It has inspired me as an artist and as an arts administrator, and I hope that MakeWork is a program that will continue to support the arts in Chattanooga in perpetuity.
By Harv Wileman, Arts Fellow
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