By Barb Van Atta
Tomorrow (March 13), Broome County Arts Council Board Chairman Fred Xlander and Executive Director Sharon Ball will announce the awarding of more than $228,000 in United Cultural Fund (UCF) grants for 2013. Seven arts and cultural organizations will share in $210,428 in UCF general operating support grants. Project grants totaling another $18,298 will be shared by 14 organizations and individual artists.
The announcement will come at a 10:30 a.m. press conference in the offices of the arts council (BCAC), 81 State St., Suite 501, in downtown Binghamton.
The UCF, created in 1987, is one of only seven such programs in all of New York state and the only one in south-central NY.
Recipients Of UCF General Operating Support Grants are:
Tri-Cities Opera ……………………………………………….…. $60,400
Roberson Museum & Science Center……………………………… $58,500
Binghamton Philharmonic………………………………………….. $51,228
Endicott Performing Arts Center………………………………… $20,800
Art Mission & Theater……………………………………………… $10,500
Goodwill Theatre…………………………………………………… $6,500
Cider Mill Playhouse………………………………………………… $2,500
Recipients of UCF Project Grants are:

  • Barb Slocum, playwright: $1,000, production of Sandwiched, an original play.
  • Binghamton Center for Writers: $1,500, “The Binghamton Poetry Project” workshops.
  • Binghamton Community Dance: $1,000, “The Contradance Tradition with Live Music.”
  • Binghamton Community Orchestra: $1,000, Southern Tier Music Teachers Association Concerto Competition Winners Concert.
  • Binghamton Downtown Singers: $2,235, Spring Concert 2013.
  • Binghamton Youth Symphony: $1,500, Annual Spring Concert 2013.
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Binghamton: $1,000, “After School Drama Workshops for Underserved Youth.”
  • Brian Murphy, filmmaker: $1,000, “Transient Visions: Festival of the Moving Image.”
  • Discovery Center of the Southern Tier: $1,000, “What’s The Buzz” mural.
  • First Ward Action Council Inc.: $1,000, “Art for the Aging II”
  • Phelps Mansion Museum: $1,500, “Second Sunday at the Phelps” concert series.
  • SRO Productions III: $1,800, the musical Next to Normal.
  • Vestal Museum: $1,000, 2013 exhibit series.
  • Windsor Partners Inc.: $1,763, 2013 Window on the Arts Festival.

The BCAC’s annual combined campaign for the arts in Broome County is supported by local donations. Major 2013 donors include the Hoyt Foundation, Broome County Government, the Decker Foundation, the Gaffney Foundation, the M&T Charitable Foundation, IBM Corporation, the Akel Family, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Security Mutual, Gene and Judy Peckham, and other generous businesses and individuals.
In a press release, Ball pointed out that “continuing local investment in the United Cultural Fund Campaign recognizes the value of the arts to Broome County’s economic development and quality of life.”