3 Dots Downtown in State College has been awarded $20,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Grants for Arts Projects program to support its Centre Media Arts Project Accelerator Lab programming and workshops.
The Centre Media Arts Project Accelerator Lab brings together 3 Dots Downtown, Gorinto Productions and Open Music as partner coordinators of a new media project lab with an educational outreach component. The lab will feature a series of events and projects that will amplify and create new programming at the nexus of music, visual art and technology with a national scope of engaged artists.
“The inclusive, boundary-stretching media arts initiatives we’ve established with partners Gorinto Productions and Open Music have been among 3 Dots’ most impactful work,” 3 Dots Executive Director Erica Quinn said in a press release. “We’re honored to collaborate with them to bring these approaches to arts and technology to audiences of all ages.”
3 Dots Downtown’s project is among 1,130 projects across the country receiving a combined $31 million from second round of the NEA’s Grants for Arts Projects funding for fiscal year 2023.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to support a wide range of projects, including 3 Dots Downtown’s Centre Media Arts Project Accelerator Lab, demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson said. “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.”
The Media Arts Project Accelerator Lab will serve an inclusive, intergenerational audience in Centre County, and is comprised of four main components:
- Rhoneymeade Fest: An annual experimental music and visual arts festival presented with Gorinto Productions that showcases a national array of artists whose work includes live-coding, live visuals and hacked electronic instruments.
- DJs, Beats, Buttons and Drums: An annual electronic music summer camp that engages K-12 students in electronic music exploration in partnership with Open Music.
- Media Arts Exhibit + Workshop Series: To support a major arts and technology exhibit in the 3 Dots gallery and a series of related new media workshops.
Located at 137 E. Beaver Ave., 3 Dots Downtown is a community arts space founded in 2019 to promote local arts, innovative experiences and civic engagement.
