The recipients of The Classic Center Cultural Foundation community grants | Arts & Culture

The Classic Center Cultural Foundation awards up to $5,000 in grants each year in an effort to support performing arts, visual arts and workforce development initiatives aligning with the hospitality industry in the Athens-Clarke County area.

Applying organizations must complete an extensive application that details a project, event, or performance they hope to complete with the received funds. This year, the three recipients of these community grants were Love.Craft Athens, Nuçi’s Space, and the Georgia Children’s Chorus.

Love.Craft

Love.Craft Athens, one of the grant recipients, is a nonprofit that serves adults with developmental disabilities through productive, meaningful and integrated opportunities, according to Co-founder and Executive Director Susan Fontaine. Through its art studio and a creative expression program which offers music therapy and acting classes, Fontaine said the organization strives to shape well-rounded individuals who can be successful in an integrated environment.

Love.Craft Athens plans to use the grant to maintain and fund the growth of its creative expression program, with specific intent to sustain the improv and acting classes which were added this year. According to Fontaine, these programs have significantly helped the Love.Craft Athens crew.

“We’ve seen an increase in communication, we’ve seen an increase in confidence,” Fontaine said.

Fontaine previously worked as a teacher for students with special needs. As she wrote the transition plans for students going from middle school to high school, Fontaine said she recognized that many of the services they recommended were inaccessible or not focused on adult-centered activities. Thus, she was inspired to create an organization focused on initiatives and programs that would help students connect with the community in productive and purposeful activities.

“A lot of the services that are out there don’t necessarily push them to do hard things, and so we pride our crew on trying new things and being held accountable to do productive things,” Fontaine said.

Currently, Love.Craft Athens participants work at the Classic Center with Levy Restaurants rolling and polishing silverware, at Phil Hughes Honda detailing cars and at Athens Area Habitat ReStore working retail. In the work studio, Love.Craft Athens has a program called Job.Craft that completes tasks for local businesses, such as shredding paper and stamping bags or cups. The organization has also expanded its Athens footprint through community engagement initiatives such as improv nights, bingo nights and trivia nights.

“We really just want our guys’ hands on things that directly affect the community, so they can say, ‘That’s my work,’” Fontaine said.

Nuçi’s Space

Nuçi’s Space, another recipient of the community grant, is also involved in serving the Athens community. Founded in 2000, Nuçi’s Space is a musicians resource center with the mission of suicide prevention and destigmatization of talking openly about mental illnesses. Through three main areas of programming — health and wellness services, musician services, and youth programs — the organization aims to create an accepting and inclusive environment in which clients can seek out mental health resources.

“We are a third space with friendly people, and sometimes that’s all that people need,” Alex Dillon, the youth support programs manager, said.

The funding from the Cultural Foundation’s community grant will go directly to scholarships for Nuçi’s Space Youth Programs, which teach communication and conflict resolution skills in addition to musical skills in a band setting.

The programs are geared towards varying levels of skill and experience and blend a “rock-camp” experience with an emphasis on mental health awareness. The grant will contribute to the scholarship funds for Nuçi’s Space so that the camps and programs are accessible for those who may not otherwise have the means to participate.

“It will go directly into providing opportunities for kids who don’t have the means to come to camp, to learn those conflict resolution skills, to learn those workforce development skills about how to be a professional musician and to go on and hone their craft as a young musician,” Dillon said.

Although the organization is musician-focused, it can also serve anyone struggling with mental health-related concerns. Wellness advocates work to connect clients with mental health care providers, both psychiatry services and counseling services, and support them throughout their journey.

The Georgia Children’s Chorus

The final recipient of a community grant is the Georgia Children’s Chorus, a nonprofit that serves youth aged seven to 18 years old in Northeast Georgia by offering training in choral singing. Singers attend weekly rehearsals and participate in two anchor concerts a year and have supplemental performances in the Athens community at events such as AthFest and Twilight.

In an effort to make its opportunities accessible to as many children as possible, the Georgia Children’s Chorus plans to use the grant money to supplement uniform, music and other additional costs for its participants.

“Georgia Children’s Chorus strives to make this opportunity available to as many students as possible, and we want to do that regardless of whether or not they can pay the tuition,” Jennifer Kane, the incoming artistic director of the organization, said.

According to Kane, Athens is a place of cultural and creative options, which makes it an ideal place for the Georgia Children’s Chorus to provide opportunities for young singers as well as collaborate with organizations local to Athens.

“I’ve just really been deeply impressed by so many things that are going on in town. I love that the Georgia Children’s Chorus can provide some really great musical opportunities for the young people here in the community,” Kane said.