FY 2008 Grant Awards: American Masterpieces:
Presenting

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

Aaron Davis Hall, Inc. (aka Harlem Stage)
New York, NY
$60,000
To support the restaging of Chapel/Chapter (2006) by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and the work's collaborators presented at the Harlem Stage. The work was commissioned for the opening of its new space, the historic Gatehouse.

Brooklyn Information & Culture, Inc. (on behalf of Celebrate Brooklyn)
Brooklyn, NY
$50,000
To support Celebrate Brooklyn's presentation of the Godfrey Reggio/Philip Glass film Powaqqatsi - Life in Transformation, with a live performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble. The free event will be part of the festival's 30th anniversary at the Prospect Park Bandshell.

City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs
Los Angeles, CA
$70,000
To support the presentation of Charles Mingus -- Son of Watts -- Musical Caravan. The citywide tour will include musical performances, exhibitions, a television broadcast, and outreach activities.

Cityfolk, Inc.
Dayton, OH
$35,000
To support Celebrating Strayhorn: Exploring the Legacy of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. The project will feature concerts, film screenings, and panel discussions.

FirstWorks
Providence, RI
$15,000
To support the American Masterpieces Series of music and dance. Works by composer John Adams will be performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra, Providence Singers, and Rhode Island and Boston Children's Choirs; and the Thunderbird American Indian Dance Ensemble will perform traditional Native dances and music.

Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Ltd.
Burlington, VT
$55,000
To support American Masterpieces: The Art of Improvisation. NEA Jazz Master and pianist Cecil Taylor and choreographers/dancers Dana Reitz and Eiko and Koma will perform seminal works that influenced their art forms.

Harvestworks, Inc.
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the retooling and presentation of Hand-drawn Spaces (1998). The seminal virtual dance installation by choreographer Merce Cunningham, composer/sound artist Ron Kuivila, and digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar will be updated by using current technology and then presented during the New York Electronic Arts Festival.

Hult Center for the Performing Arts
Eugene, OR
$20,000
To support a residency by choreographer Ronald K. Brown and his company EVIDENCE and an exhibition of the photographs of Charles Teenie Harris. Activities will include performances of Brown's Grace and One Shot.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
New York, NY
$50,000
To support the American Masterpieces at Lincoln Center series. Works by composer John Adams, and a film festival on composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein will be presented in conjunction with symposia and educational materials.

Maui Community Arts & Cultural Center
Kahului, HI
$45,000
To support the Kūlanihāko'i project. A series of performances and related residency activities will be presented by Hawaiian master artists Sonny Ching and Keali'i Reichel.

Montclair State University
Upper Montclair, NJ
$70,000
To support the remounting of The Mysteries and What's So Funny? (1990) by David Gordon, Red Grooms, and Philip Glass. Originally commissioned by Lincoln Center and the Spoleto Festival, the interdisciplinary work combines dance, theater, music, and the visual arts in an exploration about the aesthetics of the performing arts.

Montgomery County Community College
Blue Bell, PA
$20,000
To support An American Vision: Music, Theater, and Poetry series. The Turtle Island String Quartet, Matt Wilson Ensemble, and Montana Repertory Theater will perform and interpret works by musician John Coltrane, poet Carl Sandburg, and author Harper Lee, respectively.

New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (on behalf of New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
New York, NY
$40,000
To support the 100 Years of Women in Stage Design exhibition at The New York Library for the Performing Arts. The library will present a series of public programs including discussion panels, lectures, film screenings, and oral histories of notable women set, costume, and lighting designers.

Pregones Touring Puerto Rican Theatre Collection, Inc. (aka Pregones Theater)
Bronx, NY
$30,000
To support the presentation of master Puerto Rican artists as part of the March Is Music - May Is Dance Series at the Pregones Theatre. NEA National Heritage Fellow and bomba and plena musician Juan Gutierrez, singer/songwriter Danny Rivera, and dancer/choreographer Merian Soto will perform and participate in residency activities.

Savannah Music Festival, Inc.
Savannah, GA
$30,000
To support the American Jazz Masterworks Music and Dance project. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and jazz artists will develop and present jazz masterworks choreographed to dance.

Scottsdale Cultural Council (aka Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art)
Scottsdale, AZ
$60,000
To support American Masterpieces: The Blood Memories Project, a reconstruction of the work Blood Memories (1976) by choreographer Donald McKayle and composer Howard Roberts. The work incorporates dance and choral and orchestral music to express the African American experience.

Susquehanna Folk Music Society, Inc.
New Cumberland, PA
$15,000
To support the American Masters: Preserving Folk Traditions Series. Performances by master musicians, dancers, and storytellers will be complemented by lectures, workshops, and educational activities.

Symphony Space, Inc.
New York, NY
$35,000
To support the American Masterpieces 1939 Festival of music, literary, film, and dance presentations. Program activities will celebrate and examine outstanding artistic works created in 1939 during a time in U.S. history when growing optimism joined the realities of a world on the brink of war.

University Musical Society
Ann Arbor, MI
$60,000
To support the multidisciplinary arts series American Masterpieces: Defining and Re-Defining American Art. Programming will include orchestral and chamber music, dance, jazz, folk music, and Arab American works.

University of Washington (on behalf of UW World Series)
Seattle, WA
$35,000
To support the Director's Choice: American Masterpieces program of the UW World Series. Masterworks will be performed by the Paul Taylor Dance Company, pianist Terrence Wilson, Emerson String Quartet, and pianist Leon Bates, singer La-Rose Saxon, and actor Cedric Cannon.

Walker Art Center, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
$95,000
To support the remounting of John Cage and Merce Cunningham's Ocean (1994) within the Rainbow Quarry near St. Cloud, Minnesota. Inside a massive amphitheater cut into granite, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company will perform on a circular stage, surrounded by the audience and 150 classical musicians from the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra and four state college orchestras.

Wexner Center Foundation
Columbus, OH
$50,000
To support a series of performances and installations by American dancer/choreographer William Forsythe. Recognized not only in the field of dance, but also in visual arts and design, Forsythe's gallery-based performances and installation works Everywhere and Nowhere at the Same Time, City of Abstracts, White Bouncy Castle, Antipodes, and Solo will be presented by the Wexner.

World Music Institute, Inc.
New York, NY
$40,000
To support a music and dance concert series celebrating NEA's National Heritage Fellowship recipients. Brass band McCullough Sons of Thunder, bomba and plena musician Juan Gutiérrez, Hawaiian hula artists Nalini Kanaka'ole and Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele, tap dancer Jimmy Slyde and protégés, and Guinean dancer/musician Sidiki Conde will perform and participate in educational workshops.

Number of Grants: 23          Total Amount: $1,000,000

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