The Joyce Foundation is proud to announce the 2009 Joyce Awards winners in the Midwest cities of Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. Since 2003, the Joyce Awards program has been the only award exclusively supporting artists of color in major Midwestern cities. This year's outstanding arts organizations will each receive grants of $50,000 to support new works in dance, music, theater, and visual arts.

Winners in each artistic category include:

• DANCE: Ravinia Festival (Chicago) to support "Fondly Do We Hope, Fervently Do We Pray...," a full-evening dance production commissioned from African American choreographer Bill T. Jones, inspired by Abraham Lincoln in recognition of the Lincoln bicentennial;
• MUSIC: Detroit International Jazz Festival (Detroit) to support a new jazz composition that would pay tribute to two Detroit jazz icons: the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit and the music family dynasty of the Jones Brothers by African American bassist, composer, and arranger John Clayton;
• THEATER: Goodman Theatre (Chicago) to support a new play that draws on the cultural heritage of traditional Jibaro music by Latin American playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes;
• VISUAL ARTS: Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (Cleveland) to support an exhibition and commission a series of new works by African American visual artist Iona Rozeal Brown.

Joyce Awards video by Greg Jackson, gjac527157@aol.com

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Read the entire 2009 Joyce Awards Press Release here

Coverage:

Chicago Sun-Times

Detroit Free Press (Detroit, MI)

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH)

WBEZ-FM (Chicago Public Radio)