DanceSpirit hits the Jackpot (Grant) with funding for its holiday show

With more than a month until Halloween, most people aren't thinking about Christmas. But it's been on Sandi Scheer's brain for weeks.

Not that she minds, because her forethought garnered her and danceSpirit Performing Arts $1,000 in grant funding toward a holiday performance.

The Nevada Arts Council awarded danceSpirit, a nonprofit organization that produces performances, a Jackpot Grant to help defray costs for its holiday show, "Ebenezer Scrooge - Jazz'd up like the Dickens!"

"We will use the money for costuming and to help rent the Community Center for the performances," said Scheer, artistic director for the show.

This is the inaugural year of the show, a change in direction from the "The Nutcracker Ballet - All Jazz'd Up" show that danceSpirit has done for six years.

"We are burned out on the 'Nutcracker,' and we thought about bringing in another Christmas classic and jazzing it up," Scheer said.

"It's not a kiddie show. They are more advanced dancers."

Because this show involves a smaller cast, it makes the grant funding especially helpful.

"This year, the grant is quite beneficial because we have a smaller cast, so there are less people to shoulder the costs of putting on the show. We are relying on ticket sales and grant funding to help us put it on," Scheer said.

The total cost for three shows is estimated at $25,000, with an average of $100 to costume each of the 41 performers. Previous shows have had casts up to 100 people.

"Ebenezer" will show at 1 p.m. Dec. 2 at Piper's Opera House in Virginia City, 7 p.m. Dec. 16 and 1 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Carson City Community Center. Tickets for the shows go on sale Nov. 1.

Four individuals and three organizations shared $6,514 in second-quarter Jackpot Grant funding.

The grants support a variety of arts projects and professional development opportunities for artists. All events or projects must take place between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31.

"All our grants are of a supportive nature. The idea is that they are doing something they want to that is artistic in nature," said Mary Vargas, NAC interim grants program coordinator.

Other NAC quarterly grant winners:

Better Learning through the Arts Grants

• Catherine de Mers, Center for Creative Therapeutic Arts, Las Vegas, $500. To support attendance at the National American Music Therapy Association in Kansas City, Mo., for professional development.

• Panaca Elementary School, Panaca, $500. To support a residency by Juan Escobedo to work with students from the Caliente Youth Center to paint a mural on an external wall of the school.

• Judith Pinkerton, Center for Creative Therapeutic Arts, Las Vegas, $500. To support attendance at the National American Music Therapy Association in Kansas City, Mo., for professional development.

• Ron Walker, professional dancer, Smith, $500. To support movement and music classes at Smith Valley Elementary School.

• Malia Walter, Silver Lake Elementary School, Reno, $500. To support attendance the National Conference for the American Orff-Schulwerk Association in Omaha, Neb., to enhance teaching skills.

• Washoe County School District, Reno, $500. To support a full-day of staff development for all 30 band teachers and a full-day of workshops for students by Dr. Barbara Payne from the University of Hawaii.

• Western Folklife Center, Elko, $500. For program outreach coordinator Christina Barr to attend the meeting of the American Folklore Society in Milwaukee, for professional development.

Jackpot Grants

• danceSpirit Performing Arts, Carson City, $1,000. To support production of "Ebenezer Scrooge - Jazz'd up like the Dickens!" to be performed at the Carson City Community Center in December.

• Jennifer R. Baumer, Reno, $514. To support attendance at the MileHiCon 38 writing conference in Denver.

• Cecelia Gable, Reno, $1,000. To support the creation of an arrangement for vocal performances with orchestras and symphonies.

• John R. Mincer, Fallon, $1,000. To support training and study with Franz Marktl, a master engraver and silversmith.

• The Reno Dance Company, Inc., Reno, $1,000. To support the performance of "Reno's Hometown Nutcracker" at MontBleu Resort Casino and Spa in Lake Tahoe in December.

• Sierra Nevada College English Program, Incline Village, $1,000. To sponsor a poetry reading by Ingrid Wendt and Ralph Salisbury.

• James C. Christison, Golconda, $1,000. To support the presentation of painting workshops for the Northern Nevada Art League in Winnemucca.