National Endowment for the Arts Announces $1.7 Million in Challenge America Fast-Track Review Grants

Awards Seek to Diversify Arts Audiences and Reach Underserved Populations

December 15, 2004

		Contact: Garrick Davis 202-682-5551

Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that it will award $1.7 million through 171 grants in its Challenge America Fast-Track Review Grants category. These awards support projects that provide opportunities for people to experience and participate in a wide range of art forms and activities, enable arts organizations to expand and diversify their audiences, and emphasize the potential of the arts to help strengthen communities. All of the projects extend the arts to underserved populations whose access to the arts is limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability.

"The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to bringing programs of artistic excellence to all Americans. For the first time in NEA history we are now reaching every community in America, " said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. "These Challenge America grants support that goal by helping arts organizations reach new, traditionally underserved audiences in communities large and small."

Challenge America Fast-Track Review Grants project examples include:

• Delaware Music School, of Milford, Del., will present the Butterfly Lovers Concerto. Produced and directed by concert violinist Xiang Gao, the multimedia production recreates a popular ancient Chinese fairytale using piano accompaniment, a violin solo, a synchronized visual presentation, and a dramatic reading

• Near West Theatre of Ohio, will develop architectural plans to renovate a former furniture showroom/warehouse in a blighted area of Cleveland. The project will create schematics for reusing the facility for musical theater and human services programming.

• Cine Las Americas, of Austin, Texas, will produce the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, celebrating Latino American and Native American communities and cultures, portraying stories and myths from award-winning filmmakers like Carlos Bolado from Mexico and Hart Perry from the United States.

Please see the complete listing of Challenge America Fast-Track Review Grants.

Some details of the projects listed in this grant announcement are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval. For additional information, contact the National Endowment for the Arts' Office of Communications at 202-682-5570.

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