Black Belt Community Foundation to Award $80,000 on Saturday, May 5 During Arts Grants Ceremony

Selma, AL, May 03, 2018 --(PR.com)-- Twenty-nine non-profit organizations from across the Black Belt region of Alabama will come together on Saturday, May 5, 2018 in Selma, Alabama for the Black Belt Community Foundation's (BBCF) 13th Black Belt Arts Initiative (BBAI) Grants Ceremony. The awards ceremony will begin at 11:00 AM at the Hank Sanders Technology Center at Wallace Community College in Selma. In total, $80,000 will be awarded to area museums, community theatres, festivals, and youth organizations offering concentrated arts programs.

Through these individual projects, it is anticipated that nearly 22,000 Black Belt residents will be inspired, affected, or touched in some way - whether by taking a local art class, by viewing a musical or theatrical performance, or by visiting a local folk arts festival.

BBCF President Felecia Lucky states, "Our arts grant review committee has been incredibly impressed with the diverse spectrum of inspiring arts programs presented to us in application for 2018 grants funding. Being able to reach nearly 22,000 people across our service counties through these grants is a testament to the support we receive from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts."

BBCF was established in 2004 to support community efforts in the Black Belt that contribute to the strength, innovation, and success of all the region's people and communities. A partnership formed in 2006 with BBCF, the Youth & Cultural Committee of the Black Belt Action Commission, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA), which established the Black Belt Arts Initiative. The goals of this project are; to work in partnership with local community based organizations, to forge collaborations with local schools to advance arts education, to document and promote the region’s artistic assets, to assist arts organizations in becoming more efficient and effective and to Provide opportunities for citizens of the Black Belt region to be exposed to and participate in the arts.

Since 2006, $1,400,671 has been awarded through BBAI Arts Grants to support various arts activities across BBCF's twelve-county service area. In total, BBCF has invested over $3.8 million from BBAI Arts, Community and other grants into regional nonprofits, based in and serving Alabama's Black Belt.

For more information on the Black Belt Arts Initiative, please visit http://www.blackbeltfound.org, or contact, Daron Harris at the Black Belt Community Foundation, (334) 874-1126.

The Black Belt Arts Initiative has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment on the Arts. The organizations receiving arts grants on Saturday, May 5, 2018 are as follows, per each county in the BBCF service area:

Bullock County
Bullock County Black Belt Festival
Bullock County Social Justice Foundation
Choctaw
Choctaw County Arts Council, Inc.
Dallas
Arts Revive CDC
Family Affairs
Kids 1st Disability Resource Center
Orrville Volunteer Fire Department
Selma Police Athletic League
Greene
Society of Folk Arts & Culture
Lowndes
Okra Festival
Macon
GW Carver Commemorative Festival
Nature's Garden for Victory and Peace
Too Good For Drugs Photojournalism
Tuskegee Macon County CDC
Tuskegee Youth Safe Haven
Marengo
Braxton Senior Care
Perry
Lincolnite Club, Inc.
Pickens
Pickens County Community Action Committee and CDC, Inc.
Pickensville Community Center Council
Sumter
Coleman Center for the Arts
Hightower Memorial Library
Jack-Corene Community Development
ZHBC Community Development Corp., Inc.
Wilcox
BAMA Kids, Inc.
Black Belt Treasures
Build A Better Community
Camden Community Youth Development Center
Lily Baptist Community Center and Youth Development, Inc.
Wilcox ArtWorks

The Black Belt Community Foundation’s mission is to forge a collective stream of giving that transforms a 12-county region and connecting those interested in having an impact in our area with the nonprofits that are making a difference today. Founded in 2005 with the idea that those living and working in the Black Belt best knew the area’s challenges and opportunities, the Black Belt Community Foundation actively puts needed resources into the region to make a lasting impact.