The Madison Arts Commission (MAC) is pleased to announce that it has received a matching grant of $5000 from the Wisconsin Arts Board. This grant was awarded through the Wisconsin Re-granting Program and will support the Madison Arts Commissions Annual Grants Program. Wisconsin Arts Board grants are awarded on a matching basis. Organizations that receive WAB funds are required to match state tax dollars with additional public and private funds. State grants are awarded through a competitive process. This grant indicates that the Madison Arts Commission provides the highest level of quality in its programs, community outreach and administration.

MAC's annual grant program sponsors diverse artistic and cultural activities by emerging and established artists and organizations while preserving Madison's rich artistic tradition. In a strong show of support for the program, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz increased MAC's annual grants program funding by 30% during his first term in office bringing the amount budgeted for annual grant awards to $67,000.

The money awarded by MAC, including the addition of the matching re-grant money from the WAB, leverages hundreds of thousands of private dollars towards these community projects. In the 2007/2008 funding cycle MAC awarded grants to 29 local artists and organizations. For a complete list of 2007/2008 MAC grant award winners please follow this link http://www.cityofmadison.com/mac/documents/ProjectGrantWinners2007-2008.pdf

The Madison Arts Commission is the local agency that exists to make the arts an essential part of the lives of all of Madison's citizens. The Wisconsin Arts Board is the state agency that nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage in Wisconsin's communities.

For more information about the Madison Arts Commission Annual Grants Program contact Karin Wolf, MAC Arts Program Administrator at kwolf@cityofmadison.com, 261-9134 or visit MAC's website at www.cityofmadison.com/mac.