Southwest Orgs Win Major Arts Grants

 and the Kairos Dance Theater, two prominent Southwest Minneapolis cultural institutions, and Rock Star Supply Company, an arts-based tutoring organization that serves students, have all won large awards in the latest round of grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

The grants are funded through funds raised by the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, passed by Minnesota voters in 2008.

Leonardo's Basement won $56,600 to help pay for their arts and science programming, including scholarships for low-income students and programming for cognitively disabled people. Kairos won two grants, for $87,821 and $150,000. The former will help fund their "Warrior Dancing Heart" program for military veterans, and the latter will support another movement-based program for the elderly and their caregivers. Rock Star won $35,333 for a program teaching 36 high school students with emotional behavioral disorder basic song writing as a medium for self-expression and anger management.