As the only funder in the country that supports the arts in all 50 states and five U.S. jurisdictions, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded $82,357,050 in grants to fund 1,148 projects in the second major grant announcement of its 50th anniversary year. Grants were awarded in 13 artistic disciplines or fields plus arts research, along with partnership agreements to U.S. states, jurisdictions, and regions.
Arizona arts programs were awarded $663,000 in this round of grantmaking. Arizona recipients include an exhibition of works of art that explore the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo people and land; a series of temporary artist projects and design prototypes to activate downtown Mesa, and the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, which was awarded a $100,000 Our Town Grant in support of Spaces of Opportunity, a project to transform 20 acres of land into a community-based food hub and cultural gathering space.
NEA Chairman Jane Chu noted, “Approximately 85 percent of NEA grantees are small to medium-sized organizations serving millions of people each year. The arts are all around us and the NEA helps them thrive.”
In addition to the awards listed below, the NEA announced its annual state partnership grant to the Arizona Commission on the Arts in the amount of $885,000. By law the NEA is required to allocate 40% of its grant funds to state and regional arts agencies. These funds are awarded through a competitive grant process conducted every three years and must be matched with state funding.
Grantees
Flagstaff Arts Council (aka formerly Flagstaff Cultural Partners)
$60,000 Flagstaff, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Local Arts Agencies
To support “Trauma & Hope in a Poisoned Land.” Artists will create works of art for exhibition following their participation in a training that will explore uranium mining and its impact on the Navajo people and land. The training will include site visits, conversations and forums with Navajo residents, and presentations from scientists, health practitioners, and social workers. The project will bring the issues of uranium contamination and exposure on Navajo land, and the corresponding impact on its people, to the public’s attention via artistic interactions with Navajo artists, residents of the Cameron Chapter House on the Navajo Nation, Northern Arizona University, the Flagstaff Arts Council, and the community at large.
Grand Canyon Association
$10,000 Grand Canyon, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Music
To support the creation of a new chamber work by Hopi composers to be premiered at the Grand Canyon National Park, an Imagine Your Parks project. The new work by composers Clark Tenakhongva and Trevor Reed titled “Puhutawi” will be based on Hopi traditional music. It will be scored for two string quartets, two Hopi musicians providing vocals and percussion, and flute. The work will be performed by musicians engaged by the Grand Canyon Music Festival, a partnering organization. Subsequent performances will take place at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and the Heard Museum in Phoenix.
City of Mesa, Arizona (aka Mesa Arts Center)
$15,000 Mesa, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Arts Education
To support Jazz from A to Z. Mesa Art Center’s comprehensive jazz education project fosters an appreciation of jazz music, its history, and its importance as one of America’s greatest cultural resources. The project will include professional development workshops taught by Jazz at Lincoln Center artists and Arizona State University instructors providing an opportunity for teachers to learn how to analyze and interpret jazz music and use it as a resource to teach history. Middle and high school students will participate in jazz clinics presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center musicians. The project also will include several special events, including a regional “Essentially Ellington” student band competition, a Jazz Appreciation Month celebration, and Young People’s concerts.
City of Mesa, Arizona (aka Mesa Arts Center)
$75,000 Mesa, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Design: Our Town
To support Downtown Lab (D-Lab) Project, a series of temporary artist projects, and design prototypes to activate downtown Mesa. Artists will be invited to submit concepts for temporary interactive art installations that will increase foot traffic and enhance connectivity among key cultural venues, businesses, and new light rail stations. In partnership with Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation and Downtown Mesa Association, Mesa Arts Center will oversee the open call and selection of artists to develop site-specific proposals along with the community, culminating in the D-Lab festival. D-Lab is a project that evolved from the community-driven Central Main Street Plan with the goal of fostering more gathering places, streetscape activation, and walkability. Downtown Mesa is undergoing rapid change with the arrival of a light rail connection to Tempe and Phoenix.
Nogales Unified School District #1
$40,000 Nogales, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Folk & Traditional Arts
To support mariachi education for youth. In addition to vocal training, the students will receive instruction about traditional mariachi instruments such as vihuela, guitarron, violin, trumpet, harp, and flute. The students also will attend important Mariachi band conventions and have instruments and uniforms repaired or replaced. Additionally, the project director will attend the National Mariachi Teachers Workshop to strengthen educational techniques.
Arizona Opera (aka AZO)
$22,000 Phoenix, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Opera
To support the premiere of “Riders of the Purple Sage” by composer Craig Bohmler and librettist Steven Mark Kohn. Based on the best-selling novel by Zane Grey, the story examines centuries-old debates surrounding gun control, women’s rights, and fundamentalism while focusing on the developing romances of two couples and the remarkable faith of the heroine, Jane Withersteen. The creative team includes scenic designer Ed Mell, and performers will include baritone Morgan Smith, soprano Karin Wolverton, tenor Joshua Dennis, and bass-baritone Kristopher Irmiter. Performances will occur in Tucson and Phoenix in winter 2017.
Ballet Arizona
$30,000 Phoenix, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Dance
To support Ballet Under the Stars, a free outdoor performance series in local parks throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. The company will perform classical and contemporary ballet works at each performance. In addition, children from local schools in second to eighth grades will choreograph their own work under the tutelage of Ballet Arizona dancers through the Class Act program, and will perform a short dance piece during intermission of their local performance. The intention behind Ballet Under the Stars is to make ballet accessible to individuals from underserved communities who may not be able to attend live ballet performances. Ballet Arizona will visit parks in cities such as Phoenix, Tempe, Goodyear, Fountain Hills, and Sun City West.
City of Phoenix, Arizona
$30,000 Phoenix, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Local Arts Agencies
To support Phoenix Neighborhood Arts (PNA), a competitive review subgranting program. The PNA will provide grants for arts-based projects developed from needs identified through a series of community engagement activities. The city’s Office of Arts and Culture will partner with the Phoenix Neighborhood Services Department and other city departments to engage individuals and organizations in a process intended to cultivate healthier and safer neighborhoods through arts-centric programming in Phoenix’s urban villages.
Desert Botanical Garden
$100,000 Phoenix, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Design: Our Town
To support Spaces of Opportunity in south Phoenix. Spaces of Opportunity is a project to transform 20 acres of land into a community-based food hub and cultural gathering space. Desert Botanical Garden will partner with Roosevelt Elementary School District, Cultivate South Phoenix, and City of Phoenix to lead the architectural design process for a performance stage and outdoor classroom, commission murals, and establish an arts education program in conjunction with nearby schools. Project activities will complement U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recently awarded funding to support capacity development for the food hub. The project will enhance an underserved community by providing access to open space that enables residents to celebrate their cultural heritage, engage in arts activities, and produce and consume fresh produce.
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
$20,000 Scottsdale, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Design
Some details of the projects listed are subject to change, contingent upon prior Arts Endowment approval. Information is current as of April 26, 2016. To support Taliesin West Fabric Roofing Design Investigation. The foundation will conduct research and analysis to investigate alternatives for the restoration of fabric roofs for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. Foundation will conduct research and analysis to investigate alternatives for the restoration of fabric roofs for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, designed between 1938 and 1959. As many as three fabric roof design options will be tested for performance and included in a recommendations report.
Arizona State University
$15,000 Tempe, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Visual Arts
To support “The Map(ing)” project. The printmaking residency program will explore contemporary Native American and Indigenous artistic practices. Artists with limited printmaking experience will be invited and paired with graduate students from the university’s printmaking program to create a limited edition print over a ten-day exchange. Collaborative teams will use printmaking and visual storytelling to explore Native American concepts of culture, place, language, and identity. The residency will include a culminating exhibition, a moderated public forum, and video documentation featuring each artist.
Arizona State University (On behalf of ASU Gammage)
$20,000 Tempe, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works
To support ASU Gammage’s BEYOND Series. Participating artists will include actor/performer Rinde Eckart, composer/multimedia artist Paola Prestini, and designer/director Julian Crouch, as well as dancer/choreographer Kyle Abraham and his company Abraham.In.Motion. Additional project activities will include question-and-answer sessions and panel discussions with the performers.
Arizona State University
$15,000 Tempe, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Research
To support a study that will examine factors accounting for key transitions in the careers of arts graduates. Some of the factors that the study will consider are post-secondary educational success and entry to or exit from employment in the arts. To be conducted in partnership with Emory University, the study will use data from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), a national survey that documents the experiences and attributes of more than 90,000 arts alumni.
Arizona Theatre Company (aka ATC)
$15,000 Tucson, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater & Musical Theater
To support the development of new works by emerging and mid-career playwrights in Voices of a New America. The theater will bring together multi-generational playwrights for cross-cultural and cross-generation collaborations and offer guest artist residencies in Tucson and Phoenix. Titled, “La Peregrinacion” (The Pilgrimage), Latina/Latino playwrights will pair with emerging and established playwrights for mentoring and to develop works about the immigration experience. The process will culminate in a showcasing of new work at a regional gathering. Performances will take place in both conventional and unconventional theater spaces. The artistic director, literary associate, and playwright-in-residence will collaborate to conduct the dramaturgical sessions between playwrights and mentors.
Lead Guitar (aka Lead Guitar)
$10,000 Tucson, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Arts Education
To support the Lead Guitar Phoenix Schools Expansion. Master guitar instructors will provide weekly instruction to students, and touring guitarists will present master classes. Students will learn music terminology, music history, music notation, and hone their guitar performance skills. Building on its track record of success in Tucson and Phoenix, Lead Guitar Inc. will fully establish the Lead Guitar program in many more Title I schools in Phoenix with the goal of building permanent classical guitar programs in economically challenged public schools in that region.
Southwest Folklife Alliance, Inc. (aka Tucson Meet Yourself)
$35,000 Tucson, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Folk & Traditional Arts
To support the Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival. The festival will present a variety of interpretive exhibits and educational demonstrations covering the wide range of folklife from ethnic and occupational communities in Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. A highlight of the festival is the Tucson EAT Yourself Showcase, presenting traditional foods from as many as 60 different communities.
Tucson-Pima Arts Council, Inc. (aka TPAC)
$30,000 Tucson, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Local Arts Agencies
To support the revision of a cultural plan for the city of Tucson and Pima County. The Pima Cultural Plan: Imagine 2025 will provide a set of goals and recommendations that are refinements of the 2008 Pima Cultural Plan’s overarching goal to affirm and strengthen the region’s cultural vitality. It will act as a suggested master plan for the cultural development of Tucson and Pima County. TPAC is the designated arts development agency of the city of Tucson and Pima County-Arizona’s second-largest city and largest county.
Tucson-Pima Arts Council, Inc. (aka TPAC)
$75,000 Tucson, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Design: Our Town
To support Cultural Belonging and Transformation: Placemaking from the Community Up. The project will focus on how arts and cultural practices can positively affect public health, participatory budgeting, criminal justice reform, land stewardship, and the Appalachian economic transition from coal. Tucson-Pima Arts Council, Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY, LA Commons, Arts & Democracy, and Kentucky Cultural Organizing Alliance will partner to conduct workshops, learning exchanges, trainings across the country, and will research issues relevant to underserved communities. The project will unearth creative approaches for inclusive civic engagement, and ultimately build community capacity to participate in local planning processes. Project partners will convene diverse audiences, including artists, culture bearers, educators, community developers, planners, activists, and policy makers.
University of Arizona (On behalf of Poetry Center)
$10,000 Tucson, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Literature
To support Poetry Center programming and activities. In addition to offering a community-centered poetry and lecture series presenting poets from broad aesthetic, geographic, and cultural backgrounds, the Poetry Center will offer a residency for mid-career poets, and a Climate Change & Being mini-series. The project also will include poetry readings in Phoenix. The Poetry Center will add new content to its website that will include a database of shareable poems, interviews, video content, essays, and lesson plans.
Western Jazz Presenters Network, Inc.
$15,000 Tucson, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Music
To support tours with trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and his group. Performances are expected to take place in eight rural and urban nonprofit venues of varying sizes in Western states including California and Washington. Ancillary activities are planned for four tour stops and may entail a clinic or other educational outreach.
Wickenburg Foundation for the Performing Arts (aka Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts)
$20,000 Wickenburg, AZ
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Dance
To support the creation of new dance works by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Jessica Lang Dance at the Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts. The works will be a part of the Made in Wickenburg artist residency program. The Webb Center will host the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for a two-week session where they will continue work on the third installment of “Analogy: A Trilogy,” inspired by a novel from W.G. Sebald. Immediately following the session, Jessica Lang Dance will be in residence for two weeks to develop the final three movements of “Mendelssohn/Incomplete.” The artists will invite the Wickenburg community to participate in open rehearsals, conversations, and spontaneous dances in unexpected places. The residencies will culminate in public performances.
