Nominations sought for area’s richest arts awards

The Windsor Endowment for the Arts has $29,000 to give local artists.

Organizers of the WEA Awards, the richest arts prizes in Windsor and Essex County, are seeking nominations for a number of categories: four Arts Leadership Awards of Merit, four Arts Infrastructure Grants, and four Emerging Artists Grants.

The WEA also will hand out the Elizabeth Havelock Grant in the Arts for a mid-career artist, the Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation Youth Grant in the Arts, and the Eric Jackman Youth Grant in the Arts.

The grants — for community, literary, performing and visual arts — range up to $3,000 each.

“The WEAs cover the whole gamut of what arts and culture are about,” Carolyne Rourke, president of the Windsor Endowment for the Arts, said Tuesday. “The money is to help artists and organizations to grow and develop and hopefully stay in the Windsor area.”

The Windsor Endowment for the Arts started in 2001, when it was just a dream by local citizens to help the arts flourish, and has grown into a $500,000 trust fund — all built on donations.

The fifth Windsor Endowment for the Arts Awards, awarded biennially, will be handed out at a gala May 24 at the WFCU Centre.

As part of the same event, the Mayor’s Arts Awards — rejuvenated several years ago — will also be given out. The City of Windsor is therefore also seeking nominations for its three non-monetary awards for: artist, arts organization, and volunteer of the year.

The deadline for applying to both awards is March 9. For more information visit the WEA Awards site, wea-arts.com, or the City of Windsor’s arts awards page.