St Cecilia gives ArtPrize music a stage

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Could a musical act win Artprize? It has never happened before -- but this year, music is taking a much bigger stage in the world's biggest art competition.

It has been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. That's an artsy statement, but if St. Cecilia Music Center has its way, one band could write its way into the ArtPrize history book.

The St. Cecilia Music Center -- located at 24 Ransom Avenue NE downtown -- is one of the ArtPrize exhibition centers this year. There is visual art to be seen there.
 
But what makes the venue unique is that over the course of four days, 58 bands will spend 20 minutes each on the stage at St. Cecilia's.

Since every act that takes the stage through Sunday is also an ArtPrize entry, that means they are all potential winners of ArtPrize.

And this year, the juried award for performance pays $20,000.

"It's hard for a song to compete on the same level as some of those huge pieces of art that are out and about and so many people get to see," said Cathy Holbrook of St. Cecilia's. 

So St. Cecila's, which is the ArtPrize Music Hub, has made it easier to hear the art.

At each of the listening stations at St, Cecilia's, ArtPrize-goers can hear all 79 musical selections and vote for their favorites.

The organization -- the 129-year-old mission of which is to promote the appreciation study and performance of music -- has formed a duet of sorts with ArtPrize this year for a new award in five different genres of music.

"We will learn from ArtPrize, from the ArtPrize website, who in those categories got the most votes will receive $2,000 from St. Cecelia's," explained Holbrook.  

The hope is that one day -- maybe even this year -- a musical act or artist can catch their big break compliments of ArtPrize.

"The Short List," which airs Monday at 7 p.m. on WOOD TV8, will unveil the Top 25 for the public vote and the Top 5 for each of the five juried awards.

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Online:

St. Cecilia's website's list of every ArtPrize performance

St. Cecilia Music Center at ArtPrize.org