A Memphis-based ballet organization has just been named a “Southern Cultural Treasure.”
Because of that designation, Collage Dance Collective will receive up to $300,000 in general operating grants — distributed over three years — and a project grant of up to $7,500 from nonprofit regional arts organization South Arts.
Collage and 16 other organizations located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee were named to South Arts’ first Southern Cultural Treasures Cohort.
For its cohort, South Arts selected minority-led and serving arts and cultural organizations, based on their community impact and work helping to define and preserve the uniqueness of the arts ecosystem in the region.
“These groups push the boundaries of creative expression, anchor their local communities, and advance the arts in our nine-state region,” Susie Surkamer, South Arts president and CEO said. “Our hope is that this initiative, with the help of these organizations, will foster a more equitable art community throughout the Southeastern region.”
Marcellus Harper, Collage’s executive director, said it is “deeply humbling” to be considered a treasure by South Arts, adding that Southern art organizations deserve more acknowledgement.
“I’m really excited that organizations in the American South are being recognized in this way,” Harper said. “Because a lot of times, performing arts groups in the South do not get the shine that some of our peers in coastal cities like New York and California receive.”
