ArtServe, South Florida’s historic arts incubator and innovative creative laboratory, which supports nonprofit organizations with the goal of building stronger and more vibrant communities through engagement in the arts, was awarded a $15,000 grant from the PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive.
The grant will help fund the educational component of ArtServe’s “Changing Landscapes” exhibition, which runs from April to June 2020. The multi-disciplinary exhibition highlights the importance of environmental protection and preservation with a focus on the ever-fragile Everglades ecosystem. Approximately 1,000 third-grade students from Broward County Title I public schools will experience the exhibition and learn about environmental stewardship during field trips across the region.
“Through PNC’s Arts Alive, the Foundation is able to challenge local arts organizations to put forth their best, most original thinking to expand visual arts, audience participation and community engagement,” said Cressman Bronson, PNC regional president for southeast Florida, speaking on behalf of the Foundation. “As a 2019 PNC Arts Alive award recipient, ArtServe’s ‘Changing Landscapes’ exhibit creatively illustrates how the arts have helped to define, enrich and promote the ever important topic of the environment and the impacts it has on the climate, eco-system and the economic development of our state.”
In southeast Florida, PNC Arts Alive has pledged more than $1 million to area organizations since 2016.
“We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of the PNC Foundation,” said Craig W. Johnson, executive director of ArtServe. “With their support of ‘Changing Landscapes,’ we’re able to inspire awareness of issues affecting the environment and engage and educate young people about environmental advocacy through the arts. This is the core of ArtServe’s position as a creative laboratory – leveraging art as a tool to fundamentally improve the current and future state of our community.”
In addition to students, residents and tourists are also invited to experience “Changing Landscapes.” Utilizing 10,000 square feet of gallery space and a 200-seat auditorium, the exhibition features installations by environmental artists and EcoArt organizations including Cheryl Maeder, 1,000 Mermaids and Before It’s Too Late. The result is an immersive environmental intervention through visual arts, film, dance, poetry and music.
“With the educational component of ‘Changing Landscapes’ fully funded by the PNC Arts Alive grant, we are actively seeking additional partners to help us bring the totality of this groundbreaking exhibition to life. This includes experiential art elements such as performances, hands-on art activities and much more,” added Johnson.
Included in “Changing Landscapes” are:
- creative works that highlight and bring awareness to the Florida Everglades, juxtaposed against performing and visual art works that ask audiences to consider the needs of our global environment and its inhabitants;
- reading, video and listening stations located throughout the exhibition that will provide participants with facts, insights and actionable items that cultivate knowledge and individual participation in areas of conservation, climate protection, sustainability and environmental advocacy; and
- a fully realized performance during select exhibition days that brings together the visual and performing arts to take audiences on journey through the Florida Everglades.
A “Changing Landscapes” VIP reception is set for Saturday, April 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. and a community reception on Saturday, April 25 from 3 to 5 p.m. at ArtServe, located at 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. For more information and tickets, visit www.artserve.org.
Admission to the ongoing visual art exhibition is free and does not include performances. ArtServe gallery hours are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit artserve.org for details.
PNC Arts Alive is a multi-year initiative of the PNC Foundation dedicated to supporting visual and performing arts groups with the goal of increasing arts access and engagement in new and innovative ways. For more information about PNC Arts Alive, please visit www.pncartsalive.com
PNC Foundation
The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group (www.pnc.com), actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. Through Grow Up Great, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a bilingual $500 million, multi-year initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life.
About ArtServe
For 30 years ArtServe has been the cultural core of Broward County’s burgeoning arts ecosystem. As one of the nation’s original six arts incubators, ArtServe functions as a socially responsible creative laboratory, connecting artists, business leaders, educators and cultural groups in their efforts to experiment with innovative models in arts education, entrepreneurship and presentation that advance diversity, inclusion and community prosperity. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ArtServe also provides critical services, education and opportunities for creatives of all backgrounds to successfully enter and sustain their place in South Florida’s arts services industry, positively impacting our community both culturally and economically.
ArtServe is a four-time finalist of the 2-1-1 Non-Profit of the Year Awards and has been recognized as the Best Non-Profit of the Year for Arts. Additional recognitions include the Salute to Business and Innovation Award for Arts/Culture from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, three consecutive Brazilian International Press Awards, the Doyle Award for Non-Profit Excellence and the 2014 Nonprofit Academy Award for Best Non-Profit Arts Organization. ArtServe programs are supported in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council, the State of Florida, the Department of State and the Division of Cultural Affairs.