I’m delighted to note…

I'm delighted to note that DesiLit has received a $1000 grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, in their Community Arts Assistance Program. Huge thanks to Purvi Patel, who did the bulk of the work on this, and Venu Gupta, who helped out at the last minute. Thanks also to Anita Chandwaney, who pointed us in the right direction initially and loaned us the Rasaka Theater application to use as a guide.

The grant is allocated for $600 towards our incorporation and 501(c)3 costs, and $400 towards documentation of the Kriti festival (hiring a videocamera and making a DVD, essentially).

Y'all may remember me working on this last fall; this grant is considered a 'starter' grant, and from what they told us, is pretty widely granted to most applicants, if they can fill out the forms correctly. No previous accomplishments required, so if you have an arts group in the Chicago area, definitely consider applying. And if you're elsewhere, check into your city's local arts support programs.

Next year, we apply for the larger Illinois Arts Council grants (which require already having your own 501(c)3 status, not just being under someone else's umbrella), and for other, larger, Chicago grants that require having done some programming already. Very pleasing. If I were truly organized, we would be doing these for the SLF, for Strange Horizons, for Carl Brandon, for Broad Universe. Though I'm not sure they're eligible, being incorporated elsewhere. But worth checking out for next fall...

On another note, got halfway through Chapter 15 yesterday evening. Back to it now. I still can't believe that our apartment is on the market; it's hard to take that in. But perhaps the ongoing scrubbing of the floors, the washing of the windows, will help grind it into my bones. :-)