Left to right: Andrew Witt, executive director of the Cultural Council; Cheryl Behymer, 2010–11chair of the council’s board of directors; and Jerry Davis, Council’s allocations chairman along with members of the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties. It’s Christmastime in July for 15 local arts groups.

On July 28 at a mid–morning press conference, The Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties revealed the organizations that have been awarded $175,000 in grants for the 2011–11 fiscal year. The group awarded the same amount last year.

Those with big boxes under their July tree include the Columbia Museum of Art, which will receive $30,945 for new exhibitions and education, and the South Carolina Philharmonic, which will use some of its $29,000 grant to debut a program called “Where in the World is Morihiko Nakahara?” that will involve the conductor and musicians showing up for surprise concerts all over the Midlands.

Another program of interest, according to Cultural Council Executive Director Andy Witt, will benefit the Trustus Theatre. The $8,230 grant will be used to fund a play–writing collaborative effort between Trustus and the Firehouse Theatre in New York.

The play, called On Common Ground will be put together and performed in Columbia in October, then travel to a theatre in Atlanta, and complete its run in New York City.

“This will be a great effort that originates in Columbia and will receive a lot of exposure in other cities,” Witt said. “It’s very innovative.”

Speaking of innovation, Witt said that the method by which the arts organizations were chosen underwent a major overhaul, one that took more than a year to fine tune.

“We wanted to be attentive to the desire of many donors who asked for a level of accountability as to where their dollars were going,” Witt said. “We developed a process that addressed three specific areas – innovation, education, and collaboration with other agencies.”

The interviewing process was also reworked, Witt said.

“We asked the applicants to give a five–minute presentation and leave five minutes for questions and answers from our panel,” he said. “Each applicant was scored on a 100–point scale, keeping our objectives in mind, and then weighted as to the overall budget of the organizations.”

The award winners must also be accountable for the funds they receive.

The hope is, Witt said, that donors will see better the benefits of giving, thus spurring them to continue giving or increase their donations.

The full list of grant award winners include:

Quarterly Inspiration grants are available for individual artists, schools/arts education, and emerging arts organizations. The next deadline for quarterly grant applications is August 15. Applications and information can be found the council’s website www.SmartArts.info. During the 2009–10 fiscal year, the council awarded 27 quarterly grants totaling $13,947.

Founded in 1984, the Cultural Council has contributed more than $11 million dollars to support the arts in the two–county area.