L to R: Felecia Jones, BBCF Executive Director; Carol Zippert BBAI Grants Committee Chairperson; Judge Lillie Jones-Osborne; BBCF Community Associates Delphine McKenzie and Johnny Williams.

The Black Belt Arts Initiative Project (BBAI) awarded five community arts grants to local Greene County non-profit groups in the recent 2012 arts grant cycle. Across the 12 Black Belt counties served by BBAI, 42 community arts grants were given totaling $100,000.  No single grant exceeded $3,000 and the combined funded projects will touch approximately 95,000 residents.

The Greene County recipients included Alabama Art Casting, Greene County Children’s Policy Council, Harambe Community Youth Organization, Society of Folk Arts & Culture and the Greene County Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

The BBAI is a collaborative of the Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF), the Cultural & Youth Committee of the Black Belt Commission and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.  “BBAI was founded in 2006 to promote artists and arts awareness in the Black Belt region and to stimulate creativity among out youth,” stated Felecia Jones, executive director of the BBCF.

She explained that groups receiving grants in the 2012 arts cycle included community theatres, festival committees, fine arts councils, local museums and various community groups focused on youth in the arts.

A gala event was held Saturday, June 2, 2012 at Wallace Community College Selma to honor all 42 community group recipients from the 12 Black Belt counties .  “This affords local people in the region an opportunity to lift the good works moving their communities forward.  Various project ideas are celebrated and shared throughout the reception event,” stated Carol P. Zippert, chairperson of the BBAI Grants Committee.

“Every BBAI grants award gala has the spirit of a family reunion,” said Zippert

Other counties served by  BBAI include Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, and Wilcox.