Grants
Grants Program Reaches Half a Million Dollar Mark!
Each year the Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival brings the streets of Downtown Cary to life with art, music and food. One of the goals of the Lazy Daze Planning Committee is to return money into the Cary community in the form of grants to non-profit organizations. The Lazy Daze grant program is directed toward projects that benefit the Cary community and its citizens. Since the inception of the Lazy Daze Grants Program, more than half a millilon dollars has been returned to the local community.
Priority is given to grant applications in the following order: 1) Cultural arts organizations or projects with a cultural arts focus; 2) Projects that support overall Town of Cary initiatives; 3) Projects that support downtown Cary initiatives; 4) Other Cary-based, non-profit organization requests.
To be added to the grants interest list, please send your name, organization name, and mailing address to joy.ennis@townofcary.org. Grant applications are available in the fall of the year and are due in November of each year. Grants are awarded in January.
2010 Grant Award Recipients
The American Turkish Association of North Carolina is dedicated to serving NC communities through a variety of educational, cultural, and social activities that focus on sharing Turkish culture and heritage. The Lazy Daze Grant will be used to support community events such as the Nazim Hikmet [nazeem hickmet] Poetry Festival, a children’s festival, art and cooking demonstrations and classes.
The Associacion Puertorriquenos Unidos de Carolina del Norte focuses on promoting events that showcase the richness of the Puerto Rican culture such as last year’s Caribbean Festival held at Herb Young Community Center. They will be using their Lazy Daze Grant to go toward general operating expenses associated with creating and promoting fun cultural events.
The Cary-Apex Piano Teachers Association represents over 1,000 youth and adult piano students comprising a vital part of this area’s cultural landscape. The Lazy Daze grant will allow the Association to sponsor its annual guest recital, which is free and open to the public, as well as the annual student master class, which provides students with an opportunity for focused musical growth.
Cary Ballet will use the Lazy Daze grant to fund its annual “Celebration of Children in the Arts” festival this October. This celebration showcases talented local youth in dance, martial arts, musical and various other performances, and allows families to create art to take home at a free, flexible-time festival. Artwork by local students will be displayed and there will be wide range of craft activities.
The Cary Family YMCA will use its grant to support its Camp Y-Rageous program: an eight week summer day camp free to children who live in selected communities. Many of these children would be home alone during the summer, but through Camp Y-Rageous they are able to participate in educational programs, assemblies, clinics, swim lessons, and other valuable activities at no cost. The grant awarded here will go toward enhancing the arts & craft component of the camp.
Cary Photographic Artists focuses on introducing people to the art of photography and helping to sharpen their skills. They will use their grant for the Fellowship House education program which will provide photographers and finance the printing and mounting of oversized posters to be displayed ant the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s 2011 Hope Gala. Funds will also be used to print and frame photos celebrating the 2011 opening of the new Cary Community Arts Center.
The Cary Players’ mission is to produce family oriented theater— enjoyable for adults, yet appropriate for children — which enables Cary residents of all ages to enjoy live theater together. The Lazy Daze grant will help underwrite the cost of their production of Love Bits and Bites 2011: The Sixth Sense, to be held at Page-Walker Arts & History Center for the Valentine’s Day holiday weekend.
The Cary Public Library offers a variety of adult programs throughout the year including the Aspiring Writer Workshop series featuring different authors and lecturers speaking on their genre specialties. Their grant will assist with implementing these programs.
Each year an outstanding graduating senior who has served the Cary Teen Council with distinction is awarded the Lazy Daze Scholarship. The Teen Council initiates, organizes, supervises and conducts programs and civic projects of all types, benefiting the youth of Cary and surrounding communities and helping to develop leadership qualities in its members. These leadership qualities are demonstrated each year at the Lazy Daze Festival through Teen Council Volunteer efforts.
The Cary Town Band is an important part of this community, as they regularly are requested to play special events for the Town and others. This year they plan to present seven concerts at Fred G. Bond Metro Park and the Cary Senior Center, as well as the annual patriotic concert on July 3rd at the Bond Park Amphitheatre, a pre-symphony performance on July 4th at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre, a performance at Lazy Daze and more. The Band will use its grant for various expenses of its 2011 concert schedule.
Cary Visual Art will use its grant to partially fund its Public Art in Focus Lecture Series at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center. This lecture series features nationally recognized public art professionals and is designed to increase community exposure to a variety of public art forms and to generate interest in Cary’s potential for more public art.
The Center for Volunteer Caregiving is dedicated to meeting the needs of seniors, adults with disabilities and their family caregivers in Cary and all of Wake County. The Lazy Daze grant will be used to create a photography exhibit depicting the mission and services of the Center.
The Concert Singers of Cary seek to enrich the community through the performance of outstanding vocal music from all traditions. The Lazy Daze Grant will be used to support the general operating costs of the organization which includes the Cary Children’s Concert Choir and Cary Youth Chorale.
Diamante, Inc. was founded to be a catalyst for change in our community by nourishing cultural and community participation among Hispanics and Hispanic-Americans. They will be using their Lazy Daze grant money to sponsor a Latin night during the Twilight Concert Series held at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center that will coincide with the presentation of the Ritmo Latino Festival in August.
Fine Arts League of Cary provides continuing education for its members through regularly scheduled programs and encourages artists by offering opportunities to exhibit their visual art and contribute to the cultural environment of the community. They are planning to use the funds to offer a series on creativity.
In order to better serve as the guardians of the Page-Walker Arts & History Center and advocate of preservation of all Cary historic sites, The Friends of Page-Walker plan to use their grant money to better preserve and archive the artifacts and documents donated to them as part of Cary’s history.
The Friends of the Brussels Chamber Orchestra organize an annual classical music festival in creative collaboration with a wide range of artists and artistic groups. The purpose of this festival is to foster a broader audience and appreciation for classical music, especially among young people. The grant will be used to help fund the Cross Currents Music Arts Festival.
The Heart of Cary Association will be using grant funds as start-up capital to begin the planning process for a Downtown Cary Children’s Museum.
Hum Sub, Inc. will be using funds from their grant to bring the Indian festival of lights celebration, Diwali, as well as the spring festival, Basant Bahaar, free to the people of Cary. They will be promoting greater awareness of the Indian social and cultural traditions through family oriented cultural activities.
The International Ballet Company was formed exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. They provide lecture demonstrations to local schools and preschools. The Lazy Daze grant will be used for general operating expenses.
Ivy Community Service Foundation of Cary uses grants and donations to fund community service programs focused on the arts, economics, education, health and family. Grant funds will be used as seed money for a mentoring program called Cultivating Adolescent Potential which is designed for rising 6th grade girls to support them in their transition from elementary to middle school.
Kids Together, Inc. was started in 1995 to raise funds and build public awareness for the Kids Together Playground, an interactive, handicap accessible park. When it was originally built, there were plans for a water play feature that had to be cut. Ten years after the park was built, the plans for the water play are now coming to fruition and the funds from the Lazy Daze Grant will be used toward this new interactive feature of the park.
Life Experiences is an organization that works to provide fulfilling employment for adults with developmental disabilities allowing them to function as independent, productive citizens. By implementing an arts and crafts program using the Lazy Daze grant money, they hope to help these adults explore their creative side as well as expose them to cultural activities they may not have been able to experience before such as going to a play or visiting the art museum, enriching their lives and improving their quality of life.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Taskforce of Cary is a cultural organization whose purpose is to continue the tradition of annual observance celebrating the life, work and mission of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to dismantle racism and to promote the beloved community. Funds from the Lazy Daze grant will be used to support events throughout the year commemorating Dr. King’s life, showcasing artists, performers, African Americans and other diverse people’s contributions to the world.
The NC Eid Festival, Inc. will be using their Lazy Daze Grant to offer an opportunity for the community to learn a more about Muslim culture. Eid, or the Festival of Feasts marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and this cultural festival will bring a bazaar, food, music, arts and dance from all over the world to our corner of the Triangle.
NC Historical Enrichment Society focuses on the promotion and preservation of the arts, history, culture, fantasy and folklore of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. They will be using their grant to improve their Environmental Theater program that trains actors to create an environment for patron interaction.
The Philharmonic Association has a mission to provide an opportunity for young musicians to learn, understand and perform great symphonic and jazz music. This year, they have added a fourth orchestra, the Triangle Youth String Orchestra, open to musicians in the 4th through 12th grades. The grant will help off set the costs of sheet music, financial aid for needy students, expenses for guest soloists, conductors and composers and rehearsal spaces.
The Scottish Cultural Organization of the Triangle is dedicated to bringing high quality Scottish cultural presentations to the citizens of Cary and the Triangle. Funds will be used to sponsor a ceilidh “kay-lee” concert featuring Scottish fiddle music, dance, songs and poetry.
The Carying Place provides housing and support services to homeless, working families with children. Lazy Daze grant funds will be used to continue and expand the art component for the Children’s program which allows the children of The Carying Place to express their feelings through their creativity.
The Mariposa School offers intensive instruction and a supportive environment for children with autism. Each year the school hosts Maripalooza, a free, family-themed event. Grant funds will be used to support this annual “festicause” (festival benefiting a cause).
Over the past several years, the Triangle British Brass Band has established a strong tradition of playing summer pops concerts in communities throughout central North Carolina. This coming year they are planning three free performances at Sertoma Amphitheater in Bond Park during June and July. The Lazy Daze Grant will help fund these concerts.
The Triangle Jazz Society seeks to foster increased awareness, understanding and appreciation of jazz music and to bring the best live jazz to the forefront of the Triangle audience. Funds from the Lazy Daze Grant will fund the Smooth and Sweet Jazz Social with Marcus H. Mitchell.
Western Wake Artists Studio Tour’s goal is to share the knowledge, involvement and appreciation for the visual fine arts and promote all those involved in the Arts community. The event, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, November 11-12 will showcase artistic talent in the towns of Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina. The tour will be preceded by two free public art exhibitions. Funds from the Lazy Daze Grant will go towards promotion of the event.
