The Kentucky Center's ArtsReach Program Receives Grant from the Dizzy Feet Foundation

For its dedication to providing arts education to under-served youth in community settings The Kentucky Center's ArtsReach program was recently awarded a Community Program grant from the Dizzy Feet Foundation (DFF). The Dizzy Feet Foundation was founded in 2009 by Nigel Lythgoe, Adam Shankman, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Katie Holmes, among others, to support, improve, and increase access to dance education in the United States.

The Dizzy Feet Foundation provides grants to community organizations and other tax-exempt entities in the United States which provide dance education programs to children in low-income areas and disadvantaged communities. Through its grant recipients, DFF seeks to give children the experience of dance, to educate them about the many styles of dance, and to expose them to the lifelong benefits of dance. Other recipients of 2013 grants include: Axis Dance Company, BalletMet Columbus, Chance to Dance, Children's Dance Foundation, Culture Shock D.C, Dynamic Forms, Kids Excel El Paso, Luna Dance Institute, and The Wooden Floor & the Vancouver Public Schools Arts Program.

The Dizzy Feet Foundation Grant received by ArtsReach will support the expansion of the dance studio experience which provides on-going dance classes, performance opportunities, tickets to see world-renowned dance performances, and residency opportunities with organizations such as the Dance Theatre of Harlem. The 2012 ArtsReach Dance Ensemble, which blends contemporary and hip hop dance, currently rehearses at the Shawnee Arts and Cultural Center, and earlier in the summer the organization worked with Safiyyah Dance to offer an onsite hip-hop dance camp for one-hundred and twenty students. The DFF grant will provide support for similar programs well into 2013.

Since 1991, The Kentucky Center's ArtsReach program has collaborated with community centers throughout Metro Louisville to provide quality arts programs and professional development with a strong emphasis on hands-on arts experiences. Through an innovative approach and connection to the cultural heritage of Louisville's communities, the arts are no longer an afterthought in the development of healthy, self-assured, dynamic youth, families and adults with disabilities. ArtsReach works with community non-profits including libraries, parks, church-based non-profits, boys & girls clubs and neighborhood community centers. For more information, please visit www.kentuckycenter.org.

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