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National Endowment for the Arts Announces More Than $63 Million in GrantsMore than 950 organizations benefit from second round of FY 06 funding EMBARGOED UNTIL
Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts today announced it will award more than $63 million in grants to arts organizations nationwide in its second major round of funding for fiscal year 2006. The Arts Endowment will provide funding to 970 nonprofit arts organizations for a total of $21,509,500 through its categories of Access to Artistic Excellence, Learning in the Arts, Arts on Radio and Television, and Folk Arts Infrastructure. In addition, the Arts Endowment will distribute $42,230,200 to the state and jurisdictional arts agencies and regional arts agencies in keeping with its mandate to allocate 40% of its grantmaking budget to these partners. "The Arts Endowment is happy to announce these grants which will help make the best of the arts and arts education accessible to communities across the country," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. "What better way to celebrate the NEA's 40th anniversary than to continue our legacy of supporting excellence in the arts for all Americans." Access to Artistic Excellence grants foster and preserve excellence in the arts and provide access to the arts for all Americans. The Arts Endowment funded 635 projects out of a pool of 1,110 applicants for a federal investment of $11,586,500. Individual grant amounts range from $5,000 to $115,000. Projects may include touring of exhibitions or performances to rural or underserved communities, programs for artists and/or audiences with disabilities, public programs, audience development, publications, conservation of art works, historic preservation activities, conferences, symposia, and technical assistance to artists or arts organizations. Projects funded in the Access to Artistic Excellence category include: Support for a documentary film program for Letcher County, Kentucky high school students in which professional independent filmmakers will teach students the history, aesthetics, ethics, and practice of documentary filmmaking. Support for ArtMobile, a specially equipped van that will travel throughout Montana with original art works by Montana artists and provide art instruction, for schools, nursing care centers, correctional facilities, Native American reservations, and libraries. Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth grants fund arts education programs that facilitate student performance, study, and experience of the work of art as well as an assessment of learning outcomes. The Arts Endowment funded 180 projects out of 552 eligible applications totaling $5,478,000. Projects funded in the Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category include: Support for the Guys Speak Out mural project, in which teenage boys from low-income, underserved areas of Brooklyn, New York will create three murals after studying works by artists such as Leon Golub and Jean Michel Basquiat. Support for Lyric Opera of Kansas City's youth opera training program, which will culminate in a performance of Hans Krasa's opera Brundibar. Arts on Radio and Television grants support the development, production, and national distribution of radio and television programs on the arts. The NEA funded 58 projects out of 129 eligible applications for a total of $3,690,000. Selected projects will support the creation and presentation of more than 3,100 hours of arts programming reaching an estimated 300-350 million viewers cumulatively and more than 15 million listeners per week. Projects funded in the Arts on Radio and Television category include: Support for POEM, a series of television interstitials produced by Boston’s WGBH. The project will introduce viewers to a broad spectrum of poetic voices and foster an appreciation for the art of poetry. Support for ARTOPIA, a new half-hour daily children's art series by WNET/New York that will make use of animated characters and story lines to introduce five- to eight-year-olds to the visual arts. Folk and Traditional Arts Infrastructure grants fund projects including state and regional folk arts coordinator positions, documentation and fieldwork initiatives, and statewide apprenticeship programs. Out of 39 eligible applications the NEA funded 33 projects for a total of $755,000. Projects funded in the Folk and Traditional Arts Infrastructure category include: Support for the Michigan Arts Apprenticeship and Michigan Heritage Award programs. Support for Rhythm and Roots, Southern Music Traditions, an exhibit featuring indigenous immigrant music traditions that will be part of Southern Art Federation’s Southern Visions touring program. Previous announcements of grants approved for fiscal year 2006 made in December 2005 included Challenge America, Access to Artistic Excellence: Part I, and Literature Fellowships. Together with this announcement, 1,949 grants have been approved to date totaling $84,960,100. Categories remaining to award in this fiscal year are American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, Summer Schools in the Arts, National Heritage Fellows, NEA Jazz Masters, and Leadership Initiatives. This year, the National Endowment for the Arts marks its 40th anniversary of leadership in the arts. The NEA is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. Grants listings noted in this announcement: Grant listings for these categories are also available by state. 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. The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts – both new and established – bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.
National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency |
