For Immediate Release
Contact: Victoria Lord

Individual Artist Project Awards announced

Anchorage - Fourteen Alaskan artists are the most recent recipients of Project Awards offered through the Rasmuson Foundation’s Individual Artist Award Program.  These awards provide Alaskan artists, at any stage in their artistic career, funds to support specific, short-term projects that have a clear benefit to their growth as an artist and creative development of their art.

The Foundation received more than 120 applications from across the state.  Panelists from outside of Alaska reviewed all applications and selected the finalists. Project Awards were given to the following artists:

• Kim Brown, mixed-media/visual artist – Anchorage
• Alisa Carroll, clay artist – Bird Creek
• Brian George Smith, media artist – Anchorage
• Rob Goldberg, watercolor painter – Haines
• Lisa Gray, photographic collage artist – Anchorage
• Ingvil Guttu, music composition – Anchorage
• Mary Mahaffey, literary artist – Juneau
• David Marusek, literary artist – Fairbanks
• Peter Porco, literary artist – Anchorage
• Angela Ramirez, performance artist – Anchorage
• Gretchen Sagan, printmaker – Anchorage
• Marge Thompson, photographer – Fairbanks
• Kat Tomka, multi-media artist – Anchorage
• Evon Zerbetz, printmaker – Ketchikan

The Individual Artist award program was created as part of the Foundation’s Arts and Culture Initiative to provide artists with the resources to concentrate and reflect on their work, to immerse themselves in a creative endeavor, and to experiment, explore, and develop their artistry more fully.

The Project Awards are one of three grant opportunities offered to individual artists.  The others are Individual Artist Fellowships and Distinguished Artist Awards.  The first awards were made in December, 2004 and, to date, nearly $230,000 has been awarded since the program’s inception.

The next deadline for all three award categories is September 1, 2005 (postmark deadline).  More information is available here at the Foundation website or call Victoria Lord at 907-297-2827 or toll-free 1-877-366-2700.

The Rasmuson Foundation was created under a declaration of trust in May of 1955 by Jenny Rasmuson to honor her late husband, "E.A." Rasmuson.  Today, the Rasmuson Foundation continues this tradition through programs that support both non-profit organizations and individuals dedicated to improving the quality of life for people throughout the state.  By assisting those who address basic needs, arts and culture, and projects that address special circumstances, the Rasmuson Foundation contributes to healthy, enriched and productive lives for Alaskans of all ages.



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