National Endowment for the Arts Announces $25.3 Million in Grants for the First Round of Fiscal Year Funding

December 17, 2003

		Contact: Victoria Hutter 202-682-5570

Washington, D.C. -- The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that it will award more than $25.3 million through 915 grants in the first major grant announcement of Fiscal Year 2004. The Arts Endowment will distribute $25,352,000 to nonprofit national, regional, state, and local organizations across the country, funding projects in the categories of Creativity, Services to Arts Organizations and Artists, Literature Fellowships and Leadership Initiatives. The Arts Endowment's budget for the year is $122.5 million.

"These projects are a testament to the excellence, imagination, and creativity and of our nation's arts organizations and the millions of Americans we serve," said Dana Gioia, Chairman of the Arts Endowment. "From enlivening and diversifying our literary culture through university and independent presses to placing artists in residencies at high technology corporations to producing new operas, plays, and ballets, these projects enhance the artistic quality and availability of the arts across the country."

Creativity grants support the creation and presentation of work. Projects may include commissions, residencies, rehearsals, workshops, performances, exhibitions, publications, festivals, and professional development programs. This subcategory remains the largest in the Grants for Arts Projects category with 1,380 applications resulting in 788 grants totaling more than $19.8 million.

Examples of projects supported by Creativity grants include:

• An exhibition and catalogue of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design will highlight 50 community and civic design projects by area architectural schools.
• Cabin Creek Center for Work and Environmental Studies will produce a documentary film by Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple that follows the first year of classes at the High School for Contemporary Arts in the South Bronx of New York City.
• The Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine will present its 40th anniversary festival and commission new works featuring composers Robert X. Rodriguez, Dalit Warshaw, Gia Comolli, and George Crumb.

In the Services to Arts Organizations and Artists subcategory, 73 projects are being funded for a total of $2,550,000. These grants help organizations and artists become more effective in realizing their artistic and public service goals. Activities include workshops, conferences, and publications that provide networking opportunities; professional development in arts administration; technical assistance for organizations in developing long-range plans; and the development or adaptation of technology for organizations.

Examples of projects supported by Services to Arts Organizations and Artists grants include:

• South Dakotans for the Arts, one of a growing number of statewide assemblies, or membership organizations for a state's local arts agencies, will offer the Prairie Arts Management Institute for staff of small and mid-sized organizations.
• Artspace Projects of Minneapolis will convene a national conference focused on creating and sustaining arts districts, cultural developments, and live/work spaces.

Literature Fellowships are the Arts Endowment's most direct investment in American creativity, encouraging the production of new work and allowing writers the time and means to write. The agency received a record-breaking 1,422 applications for its Creative Writing Fellowships from which 42 fellowships in fiction and creative nonfiction were awarded.

Through its Leadership Initiatives, the Arts Endowment takes an active role in developing and implementing hallmark projects of national significance in the arts. Included in this category of 11 grants totaling $2,042,000 are awards from Save America's Treasures, a collaborative program with other federal agencies that seeks to protect the nation's threatened cultural resources.

Grants listings noted in this announcement:

Creativity
Leadership Initiatives
Literature Fellowships
Services to Arts Organizations and Artists

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.

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