Funding for American Masterpieces and Mid Atlantic Tours is going fast - so if you are interested in booking one of our featured artists, you need to act quickly!

American Masterpieces has limited funding availibility for Philadanco. Additional program funding is still available for Martha Graham and Sweet Honey in the Rock. Go to American Masterpieces for more information on the artists and booking info.

Mid Atlantic Tours has announced that the Aquila Theatre tour is completely booked. Funding is still available for Taylor 2, the Morgan State University Choir, Mick Moloney, and Jason Moran and The Bandwagon. Also, Maryland presenters may be eligible for additional support for the Morgan State Choir. Please visit Mid Atlantic Tours for further program and booking information.

Mid Atlantic Art Foundation received 52 eligible Artists & Communities applications for projects taking place between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008. A two-day peer panel will be convened at the MAAF offices on February 21-22 to review the applications and work samples. Applicants will be notified by the first week of March on their application status.

The application deadline for the first round of 2007 USAI grants was January 16 for projects taking place between March 16, 2007 and February 28, 2008. Panel review is scheduled for February 26-27. Written notification of awards will be made by March 15, 2007. The second round USAI application deadline is May 7, 2007 for projects taking place between July 2, 2007 and June 30, 2008.

Thanks to all of you that responded to our website survey. We have made several changes to the site in response to the information gathered.

• Navigation: Now you can link directly from program descriptions
• Contract Samples: In Resources under Toolkit - includes visual artist, presenter, and recording artist samples
• More Employment Opportunity Listings: In resources under Artlinks - more for freelancers and others in creative fields
• Financials: Available in About Us section - audited financial statements from the biennial report
• Festivals: Now includes info on festivals in Bulgaria and Romania, the two new EU countries

We continually update the website for content and user friendliness. Please let us know if there is anything you would like to see in the future.

Grant Application Deadlines
for PennPAT Fee-Support and New Directions grant applications:

February 15, 2007: For projects scheduled between June 1, 2007 and May 31, 2009.
June 15, 2007: For projects requesting $1,500 or less, scheduled between September 1, 2007 and August 31, 2008.

New! As of the February 15, 2007 deadline applicants will be able to use the new eGRANT system by connecting through a link on the PennPAT website at www.pennpat.org. eGRANT is easy to use and allows users to store data in their online profile that can then be used to create final reports and subsequent applications.

Showcases!
Arts Presenters 50th Annual Members Conference January 19-23, 2007 in New York City During the five busy days of the Arts Presenters Annual Members Conference, there will be many opportunities to see showcases by PennPAT Roster Artists. Twelve (12) roster artists are currently scheduled for showcases and more may be added. For an up-to date schedule of Roster Artist showcases click here.

New Development Officer for PennPAT
Denise M. Flynn joins the staff of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in the new position of PennPAT Development Officer. Ms. Flynn will be responsible for PennPAT’s overall fundraising program. She can be reached at 215.496.9424, x 5 or via email at denise@pennpat.org .

Ms. Flynn comes to Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation from Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum where she was most recently the Director of Development.

A long time ago (well, really not that long ago) in a panel room far, far away, MAAF staffers would load thousands of slides into carousels every year. Panelists would come from all over to sit in a darkened room and watch images click by while they wrote scores on individual sheets. Staff would tally those sheets, send the panelists to lunch, and then spend the next hour frantically pulling slides and readjusting carousels based on the results...and then the second round would begin...

No longer! MAAF has completely overhauled its panel room into a state-of-the art review facility. Ceiling mounted computer projectors offer crisp viewing of work samples all generated through a central computer server. Panelists enter scores directly into laptops that are automatically tallied by the panel system. The top scoring applications automatically are realigned in the system and off we go to round two - in a manner of minutes.

The new system gives the panel more time to discuss work samples, as well as the ability to zoom in on detail work. DVD's and CD's can also be reviewed through the system saving staff invaluable time hauling and running ancillary equipment. We're delighted to upgrade our service to the region...and to get rid of a few hundred slide carousels!

email: karen@midatlanticarts.org

web: http://www.midatlanticarts.org