The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council awards grants in every artistic medium to artists working in Manhattan. The LMCC provides funding up to $5,000 to arts organizations and individual artists for substantial arts projects. The deadline for submissions is September 22, 2009. For more information about this opportunity, visit http://www.lmcc.net/grants/infosessions.html.

Beginning at 8pm on July 31^st, Lucas Blalock will be signing copies of his self-published book I Believe You, Liar at Eighth Veil in Los Angeles.

Like the book’s opening image of a woman caught open mouthed, mid-sentence, Blalock’s photographs speak in a manner that seems to disclose as much as it withholds—they are semaphores without sense, smoke signals sent at the hour before dawn. Together, they make for a hallucinatory gem of a book, which seems to be structured according to the logic of dreams.

Here’s the “publisher’s description”:

Visual Studies Workshop provides residencies for artists working in photography, artists' books, digital video and multimedia, 16mm film and analog video. Residencies are project-based and are for a period of one month. VSW provides access to facilities, and housing. An honorarium of $2000 is provided. Applications are being accepted through October 16, 2009 for residencies in 2010. For more information about this opportunity, visit http://www.vsw.org/artists/artstsprogs.html.

Shots Magazine is an independent journal that has been in print for the past 23 years. The magazine has an international audience that includes galleries, collectors, editors, museums and educators. Shots is now excepting submissions for their 105th issue on the theme of Male/Female. The deadline is August 5th. For more information about this opportunity, visit http://www.shotsmag.com/shotssubmission.htm