FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caitlin Glass, Program & Communications Director (401) 351-4320; cglass@artistcommunities.org

ALLIANCE OF ARTISTS COMMUNITIES ANNOUNCES 2005 AWARD RECIPIENTS

PROVIDENCE, RI (October 10, 2005) – The Alliance of Artists Communities is proud to announce its first award recipients, The Creative Capital Foundation and philanthropist Mary T. Wolfe. The awardees will be honored at a ceremony November 5, 2005, during the Beyond the Boundaries conference at Atlantic Center for the Arts, in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

The Alliance of Artists Communities awards were initiated this year in order to recognize organizations or individuals whose work has served to promote creativity, advocate for and invest in artists, and be a catalyst for others to engage in work that advances the endeavors of today’s artists. The recipient of this year’s Creative Leadership Award is the Creative Capital Foundation, which acts as a catalyst for the development of adventurous and imaginative ideas by supporting artists who pursue innovation in the performing and visual arts, film and video, innovative literature, and in emerging fields. Creative Capital’s investment in artists goes beyond monetary support, and includes advisory services and professional development assistance along with multi-faceted financial aid and promotional support throughout the life of each Creative Capital project.

Ruby Lerner serves as Creative Capital’s founding Executive Director and President. She is the former Executive Director of the Association of Independent Film and Videomakers and Publisher of Independent Film and Video Monthly and has worked regionally in both the performing arts and independent media fields. She served as the Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS and of IMAGE Film/Video Center, and as Audience Development Director at the Manhattan Theatre Club, one of New York’s foremost nonprofit theatres.

In 1996, the Alliance of Artists Communities hosted the “American Creativity at Risk” symposium, drawing together national leaders from the arts and beyond, and some of the first seeds for the Creative Capital Foundation were planted at this symposium. Archibald Gillies, then President of the Andy Warhol Foundation, wrote that the symposium “had the force of a new revelation.... The time had come, we all agreed, to stop complaining about the dreadful events of the early 1990s and to start taking positive steps towards our goal for the future.” Brendan Gill, a former trustee of the Andy Warhol Foundation, also attended the symposium, and he and Gillies were later instrumental in Creative Capital’s formation in 1999. The Alliance is proud to be a part of Creative Capital’s history, and is honored to celebrate the Foundation’s creative leadership.

The Alliance will also present a Catalyst Award to Mary T. Wolfe, who has given generously to a broad cross-section of the arts, and has inspired others to be generous in their support as well. Mary is a painter and educator, and has led an extensive and varied career in community service. A Board Member of the Ohio Arts Council, she has served on the boards of the Toledo Symphony, Bowling Green State University, Toledo Arts in Public Places Committee, and the National Committee for the Friends of Arts at Wellesley, among many others. Mary has served on the Alliance board for four years, and as she prepares to step off the board at the end of the year, we look forward to recognizing her extraordinary commitment to the Alliance, the field, and to the many artists and arts organizations she has supported.

The Creative Leadership Award will be presented to the Creative Capital Foundation by James Baker, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alliance of Artists Communities and Executive Director of Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Accepting the award for Creative Capital will be Lewis Hyde, a founding Board Member of the Creative Capital Foundation, and author of The Gift. The Catalyst Award will be presented to Mary T. Wolfe by Wayne Lawson, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Council, and Roger Mandle, President of the Rhode Island School of Design and Trustee of the Alliance of Artists Communities.

Artist Therman Statom has created two original art pieces to present as the awards. Therman studied glass at the Pilchuck Glass School, and earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the Pratt Institute of Art and Design. He has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and has exhibited extensively around the world. Statom’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the American Craft Museum in New York City, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France, among others.

The Alliance of Artists Communities contributes to America’s cultural vitality by supporting its membership of diverse residency programs and advocating for creative environments that enhance the endeavors of artists. The Alliance is the only national service organization supporting the field of artists’ communities, colonies and residency programs, with more than 150 member organizations. Cultivating new art and ideas is the fundamental work of artists’ communities. Supporting artists’ communities in this work, as well as acting as a collective voice for the field, is the work of the Alliance. The Alliance is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. To learn more, visit our Web site at www.artistcommunities.org.

###

Creative Capital Foundation
65 Bleecker Street, 7th floor
New York, NY 10012
http://creative-capital.org
212 598 9900