Oklahoma groups to get national arts grants
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced more than $25 million in grants across an array of artistic disciplines will be awarded to nonprofit organizations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The grants are for specific projects and range from performances and exhibitions, to healing arts and arts education programs, to festivals and artist residencies, according to a news release.
With the endowment's first of two major grant announcements of fiscal year 2018, six Oklahoma organizations have been named the recipients of grants totaling $125,000.
Four Oklahoma arts organizations will receive grants through Art Works, the endowment’s largest funding category, which supports projects that focus on “the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts.”
The endowment will award 936 Art Works grants totaling more than $24 million to organizations in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
In Oklahoma, Lyric Theatre is receiving $10,000 to support a program to integrate both hearing and deaf actors into musical productions. As previously reported, deaf actress Sandra Mae Frank, a Broadway performer who appeared in Lyric’s 2016 production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” will return to Oklahoma to
co-star in Lyric’s state premiere of the Tonywinning musical “Fun Home” April 11-29 at Lyric at the Plaza. Lyric favorites Lyn Cramer (“Assassins”), Mateja Govich (“Assassins,” Disney’s “When You Wish”) and Mandy Jiran (“When You Wish”) also will star.
Tulsa Ballet is garnering $15,000 to support the presentation of Kurt Jooss’s 1932 dance work “The Green Table” and internationally acclaimed choreographer Nacho Duato’s socially conscious
piece “Rassemblement.” The works will be featured in the ballet’s “Signature Series” triple bill May 3-6.
The University of Central Oklahoma is receiving $45,000 on behalf of Oklahoma A+ Schools to support a whole school reform professional development initiative, and the Oklahoma Arts Institute is getting $35,000 to help sustain its annual Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain.
The endowment also announced grant recipients in its Challenge America category, for projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations, particularly those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics or disability.
For fiscal year 2018, the endowment will award 138 Challenge America grants of $10,000 each for a total of $1.38 million to organizations in 42 states, according to the news release.
Two Tulsa organizations are the recipients of Challenge America grants: Choregus Productions is receiving $10,000 to support a performance of “Black Wall Street,” a staged concert performance planned for May 24, and related educational activities. The Tulsa Symphony is garnering $10,000 to support a concert and related community engagement activities featuring the music of Grammy-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre, who was featured with the orchestra in January.
Each year, more than 4,500 communities, large and small, throughout the United States benefit from
National Endowment for the Arts grants to nonprofits.
“It is energizing to see the impact that the arts are making throughout the United States. These NEA-supported projects are good examples of how the arts build stronger and more vibrant communities, improve well-being, prepare our children to succeed, and increase the quality of our lives,” endowment Chairwoman Jane Chu said in a statement. “At the National Endowment for the Arts, we believe that all people should have access to the joy, opportunities, and connections the arts bring.”