Launched the "Vet Art Project" for veterans
to collaborate with artists
CHICAGO – Chicago Dramatists have been
named the winner of the Illinois Humanities Council’s (IHC) 2009 Lawrence W.
Towner Award for its program, The Vet Art Project. The award will be presented
to Lisa Rosenthal, creator and director of the Vet Art Project, and to Russ Tutterow, artistic
director at Chicago Dramatists, on Monday, February 23rd at 7:00pm in the Studio
Theater, Chicago Cultural Center (78
E. Washington St., Chicago). The project’s culminating
performance, which includes a viewing of new art created during the project,
will follow the award presentation and is free
and open to the public.
Launched in
early 2008, The Vet Art Project is a humanities initiative that seeks to create
opportunities for veterans to work in collaboration with artists to create new
art about war for public performance and viewing. The goals of the Vet Art Project are to support our veterans,
create stronger voices among our veterans, provide new opportunities for
artists, offer a venue to hear the voices of our veterans and artists, and
foster discussions about how war affects us all. The program
includes community outreach and writing workshops in addition to the final showcase.
Every
January, the IHC board selects a Towner recipient from a list of five grant
applicants from the previous year, identified by IHC staff for its
unconventional or unique methods in pursuit of ambitious goals.
The Towner Award was created in 1985 by the Illinois
Humanities Council Board of Directors in memory of a past chairman, Lawrence W.
Towner. It was instituted to encourage "risk-taking in the development and
execution of a public humanities project." It is more appropriate to recognize
such qualities at the beginning of the project when the risk was undertaken,
rather than after its completion.
Previous
winners of the Towner Award include the John Howard Association for its "Stateville
Book Club;" DeKalb Public Library for its "Heroes At Your Local Library" teen
reading group; Center for Working Class Studies at the University of Illinois
at Chicago for the "Chicago Labor and Working-Class History Map;" and Video
Machete for its "Global Youth Project."
For more
information about Illinois Humanities Council programs, visit www.prairie.org or call 312.422.5580.
The Illinois
Humanities Council is a nonprofit educational organization [501 (c) 3] dedicated to fostering
a culture in which the humanities are a vital part of the lives of individuals
and communities. Organized in 1973 as
the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the IHC
creates programs and funds organizations that promote greater understanding of,
appreciation for, and involvement in the humanities by all Illinoisans, regardless of their economic resources,
cultural background, or geographic location.
The IHC is supported by state, federal, and private funds.
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