Badger Prairie Needs Network (BPNN) will soon offer bilingual painting workshops for the public with the help of a “Dane Arts” grant from Dane County.

On Thursday, Nov. 9, County Executive Joe Parisi, along with the Dane County Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, announced that dozens of local organizations promoting community arts, history and culture will receive $94,500 in grants. 

BPNN was awarded $798 to offer classes at Latina artist Monica Cliff’s studio. A total of 10 adults will soon have the chance to paint food preferences reflecting and celebrating each artists’ cultural heritage. Finished paintings will be on public display at BPNN through August 2024.

“Congratulations to this year’s recipients of Dane Arts grants,” Parisi said in the release. “Through county funds, private donations and ongoing partnerships, Dane Arts grants support programs and performances that bolster our arts and culture community and make Dane County a vibrant place to call home. We are fortunate to have so many talented local artists and look forward to what they, along with our arts organizations, have planned.”

Dane Arts grants are funded through county dollars in conjunction with private donations from the Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the release states. This year, Parisi and the County Board of Supervisors allocated $40,000 more to fund project grant requests that provide “equitable opportunities for youth to participate in the arts.”

According to the release, Dane County’s Dane Arts grants will provide over $220,000 in public-private funds to nonprofit organizations, schools, individuals and municipalities for arts, cultural, local history projects and other community arts programs.

These recent awards were part of Cycle 2 for Dane Arts grants in 2023, the release states. The next project grant deadline is 4 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2024.