The new board of directors of the Essex County Arts Council announces the recipients of the 2013 Cultural Assistance Program (CAP) Grants. The organizations receiving project support are:

• Adirondack Art Association
• Adirondack Shakespeare Company
• Champlain Valley Film Society
• East Branch Friends of the Arts
• Essex Community Concerts
• Essex Initiatives
• Fort Ticonderoga
• Lake Placid Sinfonietta
• Lakeside School
• Moriah Chamber of Commerce
• Piano By Nature
• PRIDE of Ticonderoga
• Ticonderoga Festival Guild
• Ticonderoga Revitalization Alliance
• Upper Jay Art Center
• Westport Heritage House

Organizations receiving general operating support include: Adirondack Architectural Heritage, Appleby Foundation, Depot Theatre, Historic Saranac Lake and Seagle Music Colony.

CAP Grants are made possible with public funds from Essex County in recognition of the importance of the arts to its communities, citizens and visitors. Any recognized arts, historical, preservation, library, museum or other non-profit organization providing a cultural enrichment program for Essex County residents may apply.

About the Essex County Arts Council

The Essex County Arts Council was incorporated in 1983 and its name changed to the Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks (ACNA) in 1994. In 2012, ACNA experienced the loss of New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) funding, which supported the Decentralization Program (DEC) and paid for the arts council’s staff and office. The name ACNA, which was used when the arts council’s territory included southern Franklin County, will no longer be used because the arts council now serves only Essex County. The organization has reverted to its original name, the Essex County Arts Council.

In the spring, the retiring ACNA board of directors elected a new board to continue the work of the arts council in a new environment of reduced funding. The new arts council board members are:

• Sharon Reynolds, President, Ticonderoga
• Kalora Finucane, Treasurer, Essex
• Bill Johnston, Assistant Treasurer, Wadhams
• Debby Rice, Secretary, Keene
• Margaret Gibbs, Elizabethtown
• Tony Kostecki, Schroon Lake
• Leslie Shipps, Keene Valley
• Linda Smyth, Port Henry

For more information, please contact Margaret Gibbs at 518-873-6466 or email mgibbs@adkhistorycenter.org.