Our mission is to bring positive arts experiences to the broadest community possible through programming and events that focus on artistic excellence and arts access.
Arts Organization are taking a terrible blow during the pandemic, but many are finding creative solutions. The Lincoln Community Theatre has taken a creative 'if they can't come to the play, take the play to them' approach. They are beginning Parking Lot Plays in July. “We are headed to the parking lot to begin to ease our way back into performances," stated Morrie Enders, Executive Director. The theatre will present a combination of cabaret performances, old-time radio, and a melodrama throughout July and August in the parking lot.
I attended my first political rally while still in high school at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Earlier that year, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated, many cities were in flames, and antiwar sentiment raged. The convention site was locked down, but I jumped right into the street protests. Television news cameras filmed the police riot that bloodied and bruised us as we chanted, “The whole world is watching.”
Amidst the civil unrest of that decade, an aesthetic revolution was also percolating. Peter Brook’s The Empty Space and Jerzy Grotwoski’s Towards a Poor Theatre called for reimaging a stripped down essentialism. Their credos echoed Anna Halprin’s task-oriented movement and Yvonne Rainer’s No Manifesto. John Cage, Terry Riley, and Ornette Coleman deconstructed compositional notions. Amiri Baraka’s plays called out white racism, New Wave filmmakers embraced quirky realness, and visual artists tossed out all the rules, as art performed life.
Our Spring Pathfinder residency at the Lancaster County Youth Detention Center had to be cancelled when LPS shut down due to Covid-19 -- just when the kids needed art the most. So teaching artist Nancy Konrardy and Principal Randy Farmer put their heads together and came up with the idea for an all-virtual summer session. And what a success it's been! Here's a note we received from Randy about Daria, one of the students in the program who was especially moved by the experience:
Unprecedented … resilient … essential … are words we have heard much about during the COVID-19 crisis. These words, in fact, describe every artist, arts educator, and arts organization—and not just during an emergency. Each of us as human beings are heard, healed, uplifted, and empowered by and through the arts. In both unprecedented crises and unprecedented times, ART is essential. With a growing understanding of the vital role the arts play in successful communities, Baton Rouge Area Chamber has sought to better understand and formalize its relationship with the arts sector.
For the safety of our winners, arts community and Mayor's Arts Awards guests, the Lincoln Art’s Council recently decided to host our 2020 Mayor's Arts Awards virtually on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.
We had hoped to celebrate with you in person, however Covid-19 remains a very real part of our everyday lives. The Lincoln Arts Council (LAC) Board of Directors decided that to ensure the safety of everyone involved, the Mayor's Arts Awards will be presented live online.
When fellow artist and friend Tom Sullivan sent 2019 Lincoln Arts Festival Emerging Artist Danny Reneau a link to the Lincoln Billboard Art Project about a week before it was due, he was already thinking about making a sign for his front yard just to bring color and encouragement to his neighbors. So, he had already been in the mindset to make something similar. “But having the opportunity to instead create a sign to encourage our city is really incredible and I’m thankful,” says Reneau.
During this time of physical distancing, local nonprofit Blixt Locally Grown went to work to develop a special virtual project created for children and their families, called Captain Soapman. It was released on May 15. Produced entirely via Zoom video-conferencing platform while actors and crew maintained social distancing, Captain Soapman embraces humor, heart, and hope to honor the experience of children everywhere who are processing the big changes that come alongside COVID-19.
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Acklie Charitable Foundation -
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