2003 Grant Awards: Arts on Radio and Television

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

American Documentary, Inc.
New York, NY
$250,000
To support the selection, acquisition, packaging and promotion of films for the 2004 broadcast of P.O.V. (Point of View). As public television's longest running series devoted exclusively to the art of independent, non-fiction film, P.O.V. brings documentary artworks--rarely found in the mainstream media--into America's living rooms.

American Film Foundation
Santa Monica, CA
$45,000
To support production and post-production costs for a documentary film about Tony Kushner. Wrestling with Angels will be a portrait of the playwright and his creative process.

Atlanta Educational Telecommunications Collaborative, Inc.
(on behalf of Gancie Television)
Atlanta, GA
$45,000
To support production and post-production costs for a documentary about Jacob Lawrence. Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence will be a one-hour program that will examine the painter's professional and personal life.

Capital Concerts, Inc.
Washington, DC
$25,000
To support The National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth, two patriotic concerts at the U.S. Capitol to be nationally broadcast live on PBS in 2003. A national television audience of 10-12 million watches each of these 90-minute programs every year.

Choral Arts Society of Washington
Washington, DC
$15,000
To support the production and distribution of the radio series Celebrating the Choral Arts. Five, two hour holiday specials will provide national audiences with concerts by the Choral Arts Society of Washington performed at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Columbia Music Festival Association (on behalf of EdArts)
Columbia, SC
$25,000
To support the research and development of scripts for an educational television series about music intended for children ages eight to 10. A character-driven dramatic series, SlamJam will provide young viewers with exposure to a variety of musical styles and genres.

Concert Productions, Inc.
Boston, MA
$115,000
To support the production of the public radio series From the Top to be broadcast in 2003-2004, as well as a two-hour From the Top television special to be taped in Carnegie Hall. The weekly, hour long radio program features performances by exceptional young classical musicians, ages nine to 18, interviews, guest artists and a 15-year-old "roving reporter" who profiles the young musicians.

Council for Positive Images, Inc. (aka CPI)
New York, NY
$40,000
To support post-production costs for a documentary on Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham: A Portrait of the Artist will be a 90-minute television program on the life and work of this African American anthropologist, dancer and choreographer.

Educational Broadcasting Corporation (aka Thirteen/WNET New York)
New York, NY
$500,000
To support the development and production of the television series American Masters for PBS broadcast in 2003-2004. Definitive documentary profiles of major cultural figures will be made available to millions of viewers in all 50 states over 345 public television stations.

Educational Broadcasting Corporation (aka Thirteen/WNET New York)
New York, NY
$550,000
To support the development and production of Thirteen/WNET's Performing Arts Series, including Great Performances and Dance in America for broadcast on PBS in 2004-2005. Regardless of geographic or economic limitations, American television audiences in all 50 states will be provided free access to a diverse range of cultural programming.

ETV Endowment of South Carolina, Inc.
(on behalf of South Carolina Educational Radio)
Spartanburg, SC
$65,000
To support the production of new programs for the weekly radio series Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. National Public Radio will distribute the programs to American audiences on more than 242 stations in the United States, and to international audiences via NPR Worldwide.

Film Arts Foundation (on behalf of Performance and Media Art)
San Francisco, CA
$40,000
To support production and post-production costs for a documentary on composer Lou Harrison. Lou Harrison: A World of Music will be a feature-length film that will examine Lou Harrison's personal and professional life.

Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc. (on behalf of Ambrica Productions)
Waltham, MA
$50,000
To support production and post-production costs for a documentary film on Mary Pickford. Using home movies, archival footage, photographs, interviews, atmospheric shots and Ms. Pickford's own films, the documentary will provide a portrait of a complex and powerful woman.

Independent Television Service, Inc. (aka ITVS)
San Francisco, CA
$100,000
To support the selection, acquisition and packaging of films for the 2003-2004 broadcast of the primetime public television series, Independent Lens. The series will provide the public with access to innovative dramatic, animated and documentary works by independent filmmakers.

Jack Straw Memorial Foundation (aka Jack Straw Foundation)
(on behalf of Reel Women Productions)
Seattle, WA
$10,000
To support a documentary radio series that will profile objects held in museums that are rarely or never displayed. The Hidden Treasures Radio Project is intended for broadcast on National Public Radio's Morning Edition or Public Radio International's Studio 360.

Kitchen Sisters Productions
San Francisco, CA
$25,000
To support planning, research and development of Lost and Found Film, a series of stories for television, created from rare, unusual and little-known moving image footage. Evolving from the Kitchen Sisters' Peabody Award-winning NPR series Lost and Found Sound, the series will use personal and archival film, found footage and "orphan films" to produce richly layered stories about daily life.

Koahnic Broadcast Corporation
Anchorage, AK
$20,000
To support the production of the weekly radio series Earthsongs. The one-hour program features recordings and live performances of contemporary Native-American music and reaches an estimated audience of nearly 60,000 people per broadcast.

Koahnic Broadcast Corporation
Anchorage, AK
$25,000
To support arts reporting, performance and features on the nationally distributed radio programs National Native News and Native America Calling. The daily news and information programs reach 360,000 listeners each week and are available via the Internet.

L.A. Theatre Works
Venice, CA
$40,000
To support the production and distribution of The Play's The Thing, a weekly radio theater series intended for broadcast on satellite and public radio stations nationwide. Up to 17 new radio plays, recorded live before audiences in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, will be produced.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
New York, NY
$140,000
To support telecasts in 2004 of the series Live From Lincoln Center. The series is broadcast on approximately 300 PBS stations across the 50 states and U.S. territories and reaches an average of five million viewers per program.

MediaRites
Portland, OR
$10,000
To support the production of Stories 1st, a series of radio specials and a related online magazine featuring stories by independent radio producers and writers. Stories will be curated around themes such as Earth Day, Summer and Women's History Month, and will be broadcast by public radio stations as specials throughout the year.

Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc. (aka The Met)
New York, NY
$100,000
To support post-production costs for a national PBS telecast of Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. The plot revolves around the efforts of a young knight in 16th-century Germany to win the hand of his beloved by proving himself in a song contest with the help of a warm-hearted cobbler who happens to be a master singer.

Minnesota Public Radio, Inc.
St. Paul, MN
$125,000
To support the production and national broadcast of classical music programming in 2003-2004. St. Paul Sunday, Pipedreams, Composers Datebook and broadcast concerts by the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will reach more than 1.3 million listeners each week.

National Association of Latino Arts and Culture
San Antonio, TX
$50,000
To support post-production costs for a three-part television series examining the cultural and artistic expression of Latino communities within the United States. Visiones: Latino Art and Culture will give viewers an overview of the growth of cultural arts centers, dance and theater companies, and other cultural organizations within the Latino Diaspora.

National Public Radio
Washington, DC
$150,000
To support the NPR Classical Music Initiative. The initiative will fund Performance Today, SymphonyCast and World of Opera broadcasts, as well as the production of music segments for NPR's news programs.

National Public Radio
Washington, DC
$45,000
To support the production and national broadcast of new documentary profiles of notable American artists. Twenty-six NPR Biography features will be aired in 2003-2004 on National Public Radio's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

New York Foundation for the Arts, Inc. (on behalf of Toots Crackin Productions)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support post-production costs for a documentary about the "Silver Belles." Been Rich All My Life will focus on five women tap dancers who performed between sets by bandleaders Cab Calloway, Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

New York Foundation for the Arts, Inc. (on behalf of Robert Levi Films)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support production and post-production costs for a documentary film on Billy Strayhorn. Piano in the Background: The Story of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington will chronicle Mr. Strayhorn's career as composer and arranger for the Ellington Orchestra, as well as his relationship with the maestro.

New York Foundation for the Arts, Inc. (on behalf of Lumiere Productions, Inc.)
New York, NY
$100,000
To support the production of a six-part documentary television series on the history of documentary film. Intended for national PBS broadcast, To Tell the Truth will shed light on the art of non-fiction filmmaking from the advent of cinema to the 1970s.

Newark Public Radio, Inc. (aka WBGO)
Newark, NJ
$65,000
To support the production of JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, a weekly radio series of jazz concerts. The series is produced by WBGO/Newark and distributed by NPR to approximately 120 public radio stations throughout the country.

Paradigm Productions, Inc.
Berkeley, CA
$45,000
To support production and post-production costs for a documentary film on Jose Clemente Orozco. A member of the Mexican mural movement, Orozco rivaled Diego Rivera in technique, authenticity and talent, but never achieved the same recognition.

Pennsylvania Public Radio Associates, Inc.
Uwchland, PA
$40,000
To support the production of concerts and feature programs for Echoes, a radio series of contemporary music. The series will serve a weekly audience of more than 300,000 listeners over 150 stations in 35 states and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc. (aka New York Philharmonic)
New York, NY
$55,000
To support the production of live, monthly radio broadcasts of performances by the New York Philharmonic in 2003-2004. Approximately five million listeners will hear each two-hour program.

Public Radio International, Inc. (aka PRI)
Minneapolis, MN
$65,000
To support the production, distribution and marketing of Studio 360 in 2003-2004. A weekly arts and culture radio program designed to illuminate the role of the arts in our society, the series is a co production of PRI and WNYC/FM.

Radio Diaries, Inc.
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the production of up to eight, 30-minute documentaries for the series Radio Diaries. A fusion of art and journalism, the program uses sounds, scenes, conversations and personal reflections to chronicle the lives of people over time, while weaving together a narrative thread to create drama.

Radio Foundation, Inc.
New York, NY
$25,000
To support the production of a new series of public radio programs featuring the legendary American humorists Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding. Up to 52, half-hour Bob & Ray programs will be created using archival material that has not been heard since its original broadcast (1946-76).

San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco, CA
$200,000
To support a public television series featuring Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. The Music Show is designed to help a national audience appreciate the power and relevance of classical music in contemporary life.

Sound Portraits Productions, Inc.
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the production of up to ten new programs for the American Talkers radio series. Produced by David Isay for broadcast on NPR, the series presents the voices of ordinary Americans with an extraordinary penchant for storytelling.

Sylvan House, Inc. (on behalf of Ghostlight Films)
Orange, CT
$100,000
To support the development and production of a television series on the history of the Broadway musical. Broadway: The American Musical, a co-production of Ghostlight Films and WNET/New York, will be a six-part series intended for national PBS broadcast.

Symphony Space, Inc.
New York, NY
$40,000
To support the production of the public radio series Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story, and the distribution of related audiocassettes. The series, which will air on more than 130 NPR stations in 2004-2005, will present leading stage and screen actors reading both classic and new short fiction by established and emerging authors of diverse cultures.

Texas Public Radio (on behalf of Riverwalk)
San Antonio, TX
$20,000
To support the weekly public radio jazz series Riverwalk, Live From the Landing. Distributed by PRI to 153 stations nationwide, each hour-long program combines live performance with interviews, oral histories and historical recordings to showcase the contributions of important artists and eras in jazz history.

Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. (TPT) (aka KTCA-TV)
St. Paul, MN
$100,000
To support the production of a three-part documentary film The American Home. The series, intended for broadcast on PBS, will explore the history and evolution of the single-family home in the United States in the 20th century.

University of New Orleans Foundation (on behalf of American Routes)
New Orleans, LA
$45,000
To support the production and national distribution of American Routes, a weekly radio series from New Orleans devoted to the roots of popular music and popular roots music. Folklorist Nick Spitzer hosts the two-hour, weekend-oriented program, in which he combines recordings of popular, folk, jazz and classical forms with in-studio performances, field features and interviews.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation, Inc. (aka Mountain Stage)
Charleston, WV
$30,000
To support the production and broadcast of the radio series Mountain Stage. Distributed by Public Radio International to 115 stations throughout the United States, the weekly, two-hour program presents contemporary music and traditional roots performers.

WHYY, Inc.
Philadelphia, PA
$70,000
To support the production and national broadcast of the radio series Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The award-winning daily journal of contemporary arts, culture and issues is broadcast on 406 NPR stations and heard by four million people each week.

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
Portland, OR
$20,000
To support the production of Turtle Island Storytellers, a series of traditional storytelling segments to be featured on the weekly Native-American radio program Wisdom of the Elders. Twenty-six, eight minute modules will showcase indigenous storytellers from around the country with stories, narration and music.

WNYC Radio, Inc.
New York, NY
$35,000
To support the production of The Next Big Thing, a weekly public radio series reflecting the cultural life of the city. Hosted by Dean Olsher and distributed nationally by PRI, the series commissions radio producers, writers, musicians, artists and performers to create new works for the radio medium.

World Music Productions
Brooklyn, NY
$45,000
To support the production and distribution of the weekly public radio program Afropop Worldwide in 2003-2004. The series showcases the contemporary musical cultures of Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas, and is distributed by Public Radio International to approximately 100 radio stations in the U.S.

Youth Radio
Berkeley, CA
$20,000
To support Youth Voices on Art and Culture, a series of nationally distributed radio programs about art and culture, produced by young people. Youth-produced commentaries and short modules will air on NPR news programs, and half-hour specials covering youth culture will be produced for Public Radio International.

TOTAL ARTS ON RADIO & TV GRANTS: 49
TOTAL ARTS ON RADIO & TV DOLLARS: $3,805,000

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506