FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Arts Council has awarded a total of $17,451 in Kentucky Touring (KYT) Grants to eight nonprofit organizations. The funding helps nonprofit organizations pay artist fees and marketing and promotion expenses.
Organizations present professional performers from the arts council’s Performing Artists Directory, an adjudicated roster of Kentucky performing artists that serves as a resource for identifying performers for bookings and projects.
In March, nonprofit touring grant recipient Glema Mahr Center for the Arts at Madisonville Community College presented Orchestra Kentucky.
Interim Director Brad Downall reported, “The concert was a marvelous evening of music. The older segment of the audience recognized most of the pieces because they grew up with them. The younger contingent was carried away into a world of Mozart, Gershwin, Strauss and Tchaikovsky. No one left early, and when they did leave, many asked for ‘more programming like this’ or ‘Wow! I had no idea that I would get goosebumps from an orchestra!’”
Executive Director Chris Cathers says the Kentucky Touring Grant program is integral to the agency’s mission. “The Kentucky Touring Grant serves two of the Kentucky Arts Council’s essential objectives of eliminating barriers to accessing and participating in the arts and connecting nonprofit organizations and communities with Kentucky’s professional artists. We’re especially thrilled to see artists performing in senior centers, schools and public libraries where the performing arts aren’t necessarily their primary focus,” said Cathers. “We believe in the power of the arts to enrich lives in any setting.”
Fiscal year 2025 KYT Grant recipients and artists are as follows:
|
County |
Applicant |
Artist |
Award |
|
Casey |
Casey County Public Library |
$375 |
|
|
Fayette |
Friends of Lexington Senior Centers |
$2,650 |
|
|
Fayette |
Southland Jamboree |
$1,000 |
|
|
Franklin |
Grand Theatre |
$500 |
|
|
Franklin |
Kentucky Storytelling Association |
$1,926 |
|
|
Hopkins |
Glema Mahr Center for the Arts at Madisonville Community and Technical College |
$5,000 |
|
|
Leslie |
Leslie County Schools/W.B. Muncy Elem. |
$1,000 |
|
|
Montgomery |
Gateway Regional Arts Center |
$5,000 |
The Kentucky Touring Grant is a matching grant of up to $5,000 that helps to make quality public performances available to communities across the commonwealth by making it possible for nonprofit organizations to hire professional performing artists. The program is open to small and medium-size nonprofit arts organizations, local community organizations and government agencies, including parks, nursing homes, community centers and substance abuse recovery centers. Performances must be open to all members of the community except for grantees that are residential facilities. Funding for the Kentucky Touring Grant and other Kentucky Arts Council programs is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.
