COLUMBIA, S.C. The South Carolina Arts Commission has recently awarded $120,190 to South Carolina arts organizations and schools through three programs: American Masterpieces in South Carolina, Cultural Tourism Initiative and Statewide Arts Participation Initiative. Funding will support 15 grantees in ten counties. For a complete list of grant recipients by program, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com/awards.

Arts organizations throughout the state have used funds from these grant programs to increase public participation in the arts and to boost their local economies," said Ken May, acting executive director of the S.C. Arts Commission. I have high hopes for these grantees, and I am confident they will achieve significant results in their communities.

Cultural Tourism:

Cultural Tourism funding improves conditions for economic growth by providing funds to arts-based projects that generate tourist expenditures and positively impact local, regional or statewide economies. The Arts Commission awarded $2,200 to Salkehatchie Arts to promote Allendale's Salkehatchie Stew Storytelling Initiative.

American Masterpieces:

As a part of the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius project, the Arts Commission is distributing $18,000 to four projects that will combine artistic performances with educational programming to introduce South Carolinians to American master works of dance. Organizations will use funds to restage a historically and artistically significant dance work by a distinguished American choreographer.

Those organizations, their performances, locations and grant amounts are:

Ballet Theatre, Lark Ascending, Charleston, $5,000

Columbia College, Four Screaming Women," Richland, $4,000

S.C. Contemporary Dance Company, Maple Leaf Rag, Richland, $5,000

USC Dance Department, Great Galloping Gottschalk, Richland, $4,000

Statewide Arts Participation:

Funding from the Statewide Arts Participation Initiative, which receives support from the Wallace Foundation, will help 10 South Carolina arts providers develop initiatives that will broaden, deepen or diversify public participation in the arts.

Those organizations, their locations and grant amounts are:

Pure Theatre, Charleston, $10,000

Cheraw Arts Commission, Chesterfield, $10,000

Black Creek Arts Council, Darlington, $10,000

Hampton County Arts Council, Hampton, $10,000

The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, Horry, $10,000

Marlboro Area Arts Council, Marlboro, $10,000

Upstate Center for the Arts, Pickens, $9,990

S.C. Orchestra Association, Richland, $10,000

Hub Culture, Spartanburg, $10,000

Music Foundation of Spartanburg, Spartanburg, $10,000.

Visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com/awards to see a complete list of all of the agency's fiscal year 2010 grants, including $314,109 in Arts Recovery Grants, which will help preserve 139 jobs in the state. For more information about S.C. Arts Commission programs and services, call (803) 734-8696.