NEW YORK, NY.- Creative Capital, the national organization that supports individual artists, announces the recipients of its 2009 grants. Initial awards of $10,000 have been made to 41 projects in emerging fields, innovative literature and performing arts. These projects represent 61 artists across the country working individually and in collaboration. Each project becomes eligible for additional funds of as much as $50,000 over the course of the organization’s multi-year commitment.

Artists also participate in Creative Capital’s distinctive Artist Services Program valued at $25,000 per artist. This program offers artists skills-building assistance in areas such as fundraising, networking, marketing, and strategic planning with the goal of advancing both their projects and their careers. So far Creative Capital has devoted more than $7 million to the Artists Services Program and has served more than 400 artists in its ten-year history.

The panelists who chose the 16 emerging fields projects were Sarah Cook (CRUMB/Eyebeam, New York, NY); Steve Dietz (ZERO1, San Jose, CA); Susan Kennard (Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada); Gunalan Nadarajan (Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD); Paul Vanouse (Creative Capital artist, Buffalo, NY); and emerging fields lead program consultant Pamela Winfrey (The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA).

The panelists who chose the six innovative literature projects were Jeffrey Renard Allen (Creative Capital artist, New York, NY); lead program consultant for innovative literature Ethan Nosowsky (Graywolf Press, New York, NY); Robert Polito (New School, New York, NY); Matthew Stadler (Clear Cut Press, Portland, OR); Suzanna Tamminen (Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT); and Diane Williams (NOON, New York, NY).

The panelists who chose the 19 performing arts projects were Tamara Alvarado (1stACT Silicon Valley, San Jose, CA); Philip Bither (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN); Grisha Coleman (Creative Capital artist, Tempe, AZ); lead program consultant for performing arts Boo Froebel (Lincoln Center Festival, New York, NY); George Lugg (REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA); and Ruth Waalkes (Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD). Creative Capital’s director of grants and services, Sean Elwood, served on all three panels, which were moderated by Ruby Lerner, president of Creative Capital.

Selected from 2,068 applications, the funded projects come from across the country. Creative Capital artists now represent 29 states in total. About the new class of grantees, Lerner said, “The breadth of ideas and issues that these projects address confirms that American artists are rising above global uncertainty and unsettlement, propelled by the spirit of invention. These artists are each reinventing the world they live in, and as their projects come to life I think we can expect their influence to ripple outward.”

With these awards, Creative Capital’s roster of artist projects grows to 324. In 2008 the foundation issued 41 grants in film/video and visual arts. Many of those grantees attended Creative Capital’s Artist Retreat in July 2008, the kickoff event of the Artist Services Program. Through the grant program and its Professional Development Program (a series of public workshops for artists held nationwide), Creative Capital has now served more than 2,500 artists.