MVCAF Receives Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

In its first 50 years, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded more than $5 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction, the only arts funder in the nation to do so. Today, the NEA announced awards totaling more than $27.6 million in its first funding round of fiscal year 2016, including an Art Works award of $10,000 of grant to the Moreno Valley Cultural Arts Foundation(MVCAF) to launch their Boundaries BashFest16 event. The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields. NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “The arts are part of our everyday lives – no matter who you are or where you live – they have the power to transform individuals, spark economic vibrancy in communities, and transcend the boundaries across diverse sectors of society. Supporting projects like the one from the Moreno Valley Cultural Arts Foundation offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.” Richard L. F. Archer, President/CEO of the non-profit Moreno Valley Cultural Arts Foundation stated, “MVCAF is proud to become part of the NEA 50 year history of support for the arts, through their Challenge America Grant. This prestigious award will enable us to stage a major event for the purpose of re-defining dis-Abilities utilizing the arts as a universal language to promote awareness.” Boundaries BashFest16 is a weekend Festival and Symposium to unite artists and performers of diverse abilities in an unprecedented all-access concert and inclusivity to showcase a broad range of talent. The Symposium will engage awareness through dialogue on inclusion within Creative Arts & Media Industry creating a ripple effect breaking all barriers and labels across all abilities and ethnicities. The Vanguard Art Gallery at MVCAF will also host a month long arts exhibit with focus on accessibility. Our goal is to engage, entertain and enlighten new audiences to the emerging cultural genres such as American Sign Language (ASL) in performing arts, cinema and music both live and video. Showcases and interactive workshops will feature brilliant Deaf talent from Broadway to Hip Hop in Fashion and Cinema that are changing perceptions, cultures and bridging the arts and people. All performances will be accessible. Archer has been doing an extensive outreach to the various communities in bringing the Boundaries BashFest16 to reality. After discussions with the Riverside Arts Council, the Braille Institute, ARC Riverside, No Barrier Disabled Access Advocacy, California School for the Deaf, and Deaf West Theater, he recruited Jo-Ann Dean a grant writer, consultant, and producer within the Arts and Deaf Entertainment community. Dean collaborated with Archer on NEA grant and signed on as Artistic Director. Sean Forbes, Deaf Hip-Hop Detroit based Recording Artist "Deaf and Loud" who was featured by NEA is slated to headline BashFest16. He is Co-founder of D-PAN (Deaf Professional Arts Network) that recently collaborated on AT&T's "Feel the Music" ASL music video campaign with the band Walk the Moon. Sean also tours schools nationally and is a motivational speaker. MVCAF encourages artists, organizations and sponsors to contact Rick Archer at rarcher@mvcaf.org or call 562-556-5178. MVCAF recently hosted ASL Cabaret at the Vanguard and is booking artists across all abilities for workshops at the Vanguard Gallery culminating with Boundaries BashFest16 in September. Please visit Boundaries BashFest Facebook page for more information. To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEAFall15. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to arts.gov.