The people speak: Give grant to Springs music projects

You voted for music.

Local arts enthusiasts recently got to vote for their favorite project to receive a $10,000 grant from two local foundations in the Art Creates Community contest.

And, after three weeks of online voting, the winner is: the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs and the local chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, which proposed a series of concerts.

“It was humbling,” said orchestra music director Thomas Wilson of the win. “When I went to vote, I was looking at the other projects and gosh, I’d like to vote for some of those. There was great competition.”

The contest was sponsored by the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, which also provides funding for local arts nonprofits. The foundation split the funding with the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado.

“We’ve started to see these types of things like this all over the country,” said Susan Edmondson, executive director of the foundation. “It’s more than just an ‘American Idol’ kind of effort. It’s people participating in the community and having a say in what’s going on.

“I especially thought the time was right, given the tough times. We wanted to send the message that arts are important now — in fact, more important that ever.”

Twenty-five proposals were submitted by the January deadline and then narrowed to five. The six-person jury looked for projects involving a wide swath of the community and demonstrating the ability to get it done, Edmondson said.

The finalists included a filmmaking contest, a series on philanthropy at the Pioneer Museum, a multi-neighborhood mural project and a summerlong series of T-shirt-making sessions.

Wilson said he got the idea for the winning proposal after working with the popular gospel group during a Colorado Springs Philharmonic holiday concert in 2009. Wilson is also the associate conductor of the philharmonic.

“They were very well received and it was a lot of fun,” Wilson said. “I wanted to look into a larger scale collaboration, but I can only write arrangements so quickly myself. The award money would go largely to creating new arrangements. We could bring in a team of arrangers, which is more typical when you put on a show like this.”

The concert is scheduled for Sept. 10.