Carolina Performing Arts to gear grant funds toward new program personnel

At first glance, Carolina Performing Arts’ project to bridge the arts and academics might seem too simple to require an $800,000 grant.

But Raymond Farrow, CPA’s director of development, said the bulk of the grant funding will be spent on personnel for the Arts@TheCore initiative — a five-year program that will be implemented in the 2013-14 academic year.

“We have to have the people on the ground, working with us in order to make this work,” Farrow said.

For the ““Rite of Spring at 100” series” during the 2012-13 season, CPA received a $750,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s performing arts division, $50,000 less than the Arts@TheCore grant.

Farrow said the larger grant came from the higher education division of the foundation, which might be able to provide more funding for this project than the performing arts division.

“The amount of money (the foundation has) to spend on projects changes from year to year,” he said. “So there could be a whole host of reasons why it was different.”

The final grant amounts are determined each year after back-and-forth discussions between both people at Carolina Performing Arts and the foundation’s program organizer.

The Mellon Foundation first asked the performing arts group to draft a proposal based on what the arts integration project would look like if there were no limits to the available funding.

“And that was our initial concept paper that we submitted, and I think the total amount for that sort of broad proposal was about $2 million,” Farrow said.

The grant for the arts integration project will be used to support mostly the Mellon Distinguished Scholar and the postdoctoral fellow.

Professor Joy Kasson, the first Mellon Distinguished Scholar, will receive $134,000 over the course of her two-year tenure to develop a faculty seminar and to facilitate faculty research.

Aaron Shackelford, the postdoctoral fellow who will work alongside Kasson, will receive $52,000 per year to conduct research relevant to the goals of the arts integration program, teach one course per year designed around one or more performances and help prepare materials for seminars and meetings.

“I really want to see students come to expect for the performing arts to become a part of their education here at Carolina,” Shackelford said.

The grant will also fund the other groups — such as the curatorial fellows and faculty advisory committee — but Farrow said CPA plans to do more fundraising for different arts integration activities and events.

“We feel like Mellon has given us a great head start,” he said. “But that’s just the beginning.”

Joe Florence, CPA’s marketing manager, said the “Rite of Spring” season was a precursor for this upcoming year.

“There were ‘Rite of Spring’ classes, and we had tons of artists visiting classrooms and hosting master classes,” Florence said.

“For Arts@TheCore, we want to broaden that exposure, and just make it performing arts-focused versus just ‘Rite of Spring’-focused.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.