Nevada Arts Council awards literary, performing arts fellowships

The Nevada Arts Council announced Friday the awarding of $50,000 in fellowship grants to Nevada artists and writers.

Las Vegas jazz musician and composer Eugene Shapiro received the Arts Council’s $7,000 Fellowship Project Grant for his proposal to create a digital audio recording of his original jazz compositions, followed by a concert at The Smith Center in Las Vegas.

Four recipients in both literary arts and performing arts each receive grants of $5,000, with three additional recipients receiving honorable mention grants of $500 each.

The literary arts fellowship recipients are Ann Keniston of Reno (poetry), Mark Maynard of Reno (fiction), Sherry Rosenthal of Las Vegas (fiction) and Lindsay Wilson of Reno (poetry). Honorable mention recipients are Brittany Bronson of Las Vegas (nonfiction), Annie Reed of Sparks (fiction) and Amanda Skenandore of Las Vegas (fiction).

The performing arts fellowship recipients are Jennifer Grim of Las Vegas (music performer/flute), Troy Heard of Las Vegas (theater director), Ann Marie Pereth of Las Vegas (theater director) and Mykola Suk of Las Vegas (music performer/piano). Honorable mention recipients were Rosie Trump of Reno (choreographer), Jason Nious of Las Vegas (dance performer) and Raja Rahman of Las Vegas (music performer/piano).

“It is our mission to support and encourage the pursuit of artistic excellence and these recipients, through their work, are shining examples of what is happening in Nevada,” said Tony Manfredi, executive director of the Nevada Arts Council.

The grants were approved by the Nevada Arts Council Board of Directors at its Aug. 3 meeting.

The panelists who selected the Literary Arts Fellowship recipients were: Mark E. Cull, author and Publisher of Red Hen Press, Los Angeles; Jennifer 8. Lee, CEO of Plympton, San Francisco; and David Potorti, Literature Director, North Carolina Arts Council, Raleigh.

The panelists who selected the Performing Arts Fellowship and Fellowship Project Grant recipients were: Tien Hsieh, classical pianist, Folsom; Jeffrey Herrmann, Managing Director, Seattle Repertory Theatre; and Helanius J. Wilkins, choreographer, performance artist and Assistant Professor of Dance, University of Colorado-Boulder.

The Nevada Arts Council, a division of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, was created as a state agency in 1967. Its mission is to enrich the cultural life of the state through leadership that preserves, supports, strengthens and makes accessible excellence in the arts for all Nevadans.