ARISE awarded $99,000 grant from New York State Council on the Arts

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — ARISE, a nonprofit independent-living center run by and for people with disabilities, recently announced it has received a $99,000 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support the recovery of the nonprofit arts and culture sector. 

This two-year grant is essential to ARISE’s UNIQUE Art & Literacy Magazine and Exhibit Program. UNIQUE shares the artistic visions and voices of individuals with disabilities. The creative work published in the magazine includes poems, paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and computer-based art. It showcases artworks from Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Seneca, Madison, and surrounding counties.

Following New York State’s $105 million budget allocation for the arts for the 2022 fiscal year, NYSCA has awarded more than $80 million in grants since June 2021. 

“… ARISE supports every aspect of the lives of people with disabilities, and that includes their creativity,” Tania Anderson, CEO of ARISE, said in a release. “We know that communities thrive when all people are included, and this applies to people with disabilities and our arts community. We are grateful for New York’s support of our UNIQUE project.”

The magazine is published in August and the exhibit goes on display for a month at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. ARISE will start taking submissions from Central New York artists in March for the August publication.

ARISE says it has been providing advocacy and services since 1979, and each year it works with about 7,000 people of all ages who have all types of disabilities. ARISE has offices in Onondaga, Oswego, Madison, and Cayuga counties, and operates ARISE at the Farm, a recreational facility in Chittenango.