First Arts Endowment Grants of 2001 Support The Arts Nationwide With $20.5 Million

First Arts Endowment Grants of 2001 Support The Arts Nationwide With $20.5 Million

On January 11, the National Endowment for the Arts announced $20,452,500 awarded through 825 grants in the first major funding round of fiscal year 2001. The awards, constituting 24% of the Endowment’s grant funds for the year, will be distributed to nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations across the country. The Arts Endowment’s FY… Read more »

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NewMusicBox Staff

On January 11, the National Endowment for the Arts announced $20,452,500 awarded through 825 grants in the first major funding round of fiscal year 2001. The awards, constituting 24% of the Endowment’s grant funds for the year, will be distributed to nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations across the country. The Arts Endowment’s FY 2001 budget appropriation is $105 million, an increase of $7 million over last year’s budget and the agency’s first increase since 1992. Of the $105 million, $87 million is designated for grantmaking.

Grants will be distributed through two of the Endowment’s major Grants to Organizations categories, Creativity and Organizational Capacity, as well as through Leadership Initiatives and Literature Fellowships. Creativity awards comprise the largest single element of the Endowment’s direct grantmaking work.

Grant distribution is Creativity with 718 grants totaling $16,335,500; Organizational Capacity with 60 grants totaling $2,272,000; and Leadership Initiatives with seven grants totaling $1,045,000. Within these categories, multi-state projects—those with broad impact reaching audiences in several states—constitute $7,530,500 in grant funds. All grants to organizations must be matched at least dollar for dollar. In addition, the Endowment will award $800,000 through Literature Fellowships, 34 fellowships in poetry and six fellowships for translation of poetry into English from other languages.

Creativity (formerly Creation & Presentation) grants will support all aspects of the creation and presentation of artistic work. Projects funded with these grants will result in the anticipated creation of 170 new works, including 70 commissions; 87 exhibitions; 150 publications; and 500 performances, readings and festivals. 200 artists will participate in residencies and workshops supported by Creativity grants. Among the grant recipients whose projects dealt with new American music, the Albany Symphony received a grant to support Composing the Future; Minnesota Orchestra received a grant to support a series of eleven commissions; Portland Stage Company, in partnership with the Women’s Project and Productions, received a grant to support the development and co-production of Kim D. Sherman and Kate Moira Ryan’s Leaving Queens; and Michigan Opera Theatre received a grant to support the commission of a new opera by Richard Danielpour and Toni Morrison. For a complete list of Creativity grant recipients, click here.

For more information on the Albany Symphony’s $25,000 grant, click here.

For more information on the Minnesota Orchestra’s $75,000 grant, click here.

For more information on the Portland Stage Company’s $22,000 grant, click here.

For more information on the Michigan Opera Theatre’s $25,000 grant, click here.

Organizational Capacity grants will support projects that develop future arts leaders and enhance the skills of those already working in the field. This new grant category is the result of ten colloquia convened in 1999 by the Arts Endowment to discuss strategies for strengthening arts organizations. It refines the goals of the Endowment’s earlier grant category, Planning & Stabilization. For a complete list of Organizational Capacity grant recipients, click here.

Through the Endowment’s Leadership Initiatives, funds will support significant national projects in accessibility, dance creation and touring, and the commissioning of music. An example of projects supported is Adaptive Environments Center in Boston and its Access to Design Professionals program, a first-time effort to increase the number of and support for people with disabilities in design professions. For a complete list of Leadership Initiatives grant recipients, click here.