The Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Chicago Jazz Philharmonic are among 12 Chicago arts organizations that will share in $504,000 awarded Wednesday by the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation.
The foundation's International Connections Fund underwrites the grants to foster collaborations between Chicago arts groups and organizations in various countries. A second wave of funding will bring the total for the project to $1 million by the end of 2012.
Only Chicago-area non-profit arts and culture organizations are eligible.
Following is the complete list of grantees:
Aguijon Theater Company. $24,000 for a project in Cartagena, Colombia and to feature Spanish-language, Caribbean playwrights in Chicago.
Chicago Humanities Festival. $45,000 to partner with the Imaginate Festival in Edinburgh to exchange theatrical productions in 2013.
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. $30,000 for a conductor and composer residency and exchange with the Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater. $50,000 to bring a hip-hop interpretation of "Othello" to the Globe Theatre as part of the 2012 London Cultural Olympiad.
DanceWorks Chicago. $50,000 to bring a DanceWorks production to an audience in Mexico, in partnership with a youth orchestra and dance group from Mexico City.
Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance. $50,000 to collaborate on art works and performances for low-income housing complexes in Brazil.
International Contemporary Ensemble Foundation, Inc. $50,000 for a collaboration among Chicago composer Marcos Balter and four Brazilian counterparts to forge new works for Chicago and Brazil.
Links Hall. $20,000 for multi-disciplinary works by artists from Chicago and Havana.
Lucky Plush. $45,000 for contemporary dance events with three groups in New Zealand.
Luna Negra Dance Theater. $50,000 for a project with OtraDanza dance troupe in Alicante, Spain.
Museum of Contemporary Art. $50,000 for the adaptation of a short story by Mexican author Juan Rulfo with Teatro Buendia (of Cuba), Goodman Theatre and Northwestern University's Theatre and Interpretation Center.
The Seldoms: $40,000 for an exchange with WCdance company in Taiwan.
--- Howard Reich