Arts Receive $58 Million From Nea
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded nearly $58 million through 576 grants in the second major round of grantmaking for Fiscal Year 2004.
The Arts Endowment will distribute $57,958,600 to nonprofit, national, regional, state, and local organizations across the country, funding projects in the categories of Arts on Radio and Television, Folk Arts Infrastructure, Heritage and Preservation, Learning in the Arts, and State and Regional Partnerships. The NEA’s budget for the year is $122.5 million.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to supporting excellence in the arts – both new and established – bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “From television and radio broadcasts of performances by our country’s finest artists, to the preservation of our unique cultural traditions, to rigorous arts education programs for our young people, these grants support projects that successfully combine artistic excellence with public outreach.”
The Arts on Radio and Television category supports the development, production, and national distribution of radio and television programs on the arts. Priority is given to programs that have the potential to reach a significant national audience. The 45 projects funded for a total of $3.86 million will support the creation and presentation of more than 2,300 hours of arts programming, reaching Americans in every state.
Project examples include:
–“Exiles in Hollywood”, a documentary to be produced by Film Odyssey of Washington, D.C., which will trace the personal journeys of European writers, directors, producers, composers, and actors who contributed to many of Hollywood’s enduring films.
–La Jicarta of Penasco, New Mexico, which will produce a new public radio series, Calling America, showcasing contemporary writers reading their poems, essays, and stories.
Folk Arts Infrastructure grants support state, regional, and local folk arts positions and their related activities including statewide apprenticeship programs, documentation initiatives, and arts learning projects. Panels reviewed 38 applications and recommended 32 of them for a funding total of $800,000.
Project examples include:
–North Carolina’s Folklife Institute, which will help initiate and shape heritage tourism development in the state, support public projects that have statewide impact, and make folklife documentation accessible to the public.
–Folk Arts in the Parks, which will develop programs connecting many of Washington state’s 120 parks with local communities through concerts, festivals, exhibits, and demonstrations.
Heritage and Preservation grants seek to preserve those forms of artistic expression and practice that reflect our nation’s many cultural traditions. Panels reviewed 356 Heritage and Preservation applications, with 197 projects recommended for funding totaling $4.2 million.
Project examples include:
–The Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild MCGJazz concert series, which will feature NEA Jazz Masters such as David Baker and Herbie Hancock, whose performances will be recorded for the Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy archive.
–Alaska’s Ketchikan Indian Community, with the help of master carvers, which will create and raise traditional totem poles for the first time in its history.
The Learning in the Arts category funds projects that take place in school and community-based settings in the full range of arts disciplines. Panelists reviewed 806 applications, of which 239 projects were recommended for funding totaling $7.7 million.
Project examples include:
–The Austin Symphony Orchestra’s String Fellows program, designed to revitalize public high school orchestral programs, which will place teachers and students in strings workshops with ASO musicians.
–ReStart of Kansas City, which will provide homeless children with professional arts instruction, live performances, and field trips, while providing opportunities for creative self-expression.
State Partnership Agreements provide support for state arts agencies’ basic state plans to address local priorities, as well as fund arts education, fostering the arts in underserved communities, and local Challenge America initiatives. Regional Partnership Agreements provide basic support for regional arts organizations’ regional plans, in addition to regional touring initiatives. In this round, state and regional partnerships will receive 63 grants totaling $41,337,600.