The following is an excerpt from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Grant Application for 2009. This application was made through an existing non-profit – St. Mary's Church in Cortland. This project was awarded $3100.

   Each festival typically consists of four hours of music provided by local musicians, with each musician or group typically performing ½ to 1 hour. The summer festival has been extended to eight hours of music. The talents of local professional, semi-professional, amateur and student musicians will be used. Professional, semi-professional, college music majors and mentor musicians will be paid for their effort, according to definitions and rates given below. Student, amateur and volunteer musicians will be unpaid.

    Each festival will be promoted through articles in local newspapers, posters in local businesses, web calendar announcements, and postings on the cable access channel. In addition, posters and flyers will be made available to senior apartment complexes, special needs organizations and to child day care centers in the area. In the past, this has been successful in attracting a diverse audience.

We have been organizing music for the summer arts festival since 2005, which is now called the Arts and Wine Festival. The Cultural Council of Cortland County handles the overall organization, now consisting of visual artists, food vendors and wineries. They provide the rental of the music tent, chairs and tables, as well as contributing (typically) $800 toward musicians’ fees. The stage that we use is borrowed from SUNY Cortland.

   In addition to the festivals, a small number of individual concerts will be arranged.

Each event will be promoted through articles in local newspapers, posters in local businesses, web calendar announcements, and postings on the cable access channel. In addition, posters and flyers will be made available to senior apartment complexes, special needs organizations and child day care centers in the area. In the past, this has been successful in attracting a diverse audience.