BRATTLEBORO — Attendees at the July 21 B.E.A.N. (Brattleboro Essential Arts Network) micro-grant dinner at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) awarded grants of $200 each to two artists to support their community-oriented art projects.
The winners were Scot Borofsky, for “Brattleboro Pattern Project,” and Terri Malloy, for “Sculptures for a Greyt Cause.”
At the dinner, Youth Services/Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windham County won $40 in a raffle. Representatives said the money would help fund an afternoon workshop for children at Brattleboro's River Gallery School.
Since its inception in 2009, the B.E.A.N. Micro-Grant program has awarded more than $14,000 to community-oriented art projects.
According to BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld, approximately 45 people paid $12 each to attend the dinner, which was donated and served by Brattleboro's Elliot Street Café.
Guests read and discussed six funding proposals, then voted for the two they felt most deserving of the dinner proceeds. A portion of the proceeds were set aside for the raffle. Guests were entertained during dinner by the Putney trio Pretty Daddy.
Borofsky's “Brattleboro Pattern Project” is the artist's hometown version of a series of abstract murals he created in New York City's East Village in the 1980s. His B.E.A.N. micro-grant will enable him to purchase the paint for five murals to be created in Brattleboro's Harmony Parking Lot.
Malloy creates papier-mâché sculptures for animal rescue groups to auction or raffle off at their fundraising events. Her B.E.A.N. micro-grant will help pay for materials and the costs of shipping her sculptures to animal rescue groups throughout the country.
“Our goal with this program is to empower our community to support art projects it deems worthwhile,” said Lichtenfeld. He added that the next such dinner is not yet scheduled, but will take place after Nov. 1, 2013.