The National Endowment for the Arts has announced its annual grants to arts organizations around the country, and those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area can count themselves fortunate: Out of the 1,083 grants totaling $25.8 million given out nationally, nine area groups or individuals received grants totaling $250,000.
The single highest amount given to any area group was $70,000 to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, which will use the grant to support the upcoming exhibition "Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River," which will bring all of Bingham's (1811-79) iconic river paintings together for the first time.
Other significant grants include the following:
- $30,000 to the Dallas Opera to go toward the development of the forthcoming opera, Great Scott, which will premiere in October 2015.
- $20,000 to Dallas Black Dance Theatre to support new works by choreographers Christopher Huggins and Chris Vo.
- $15,000 to the Fort Worth Opera to go toward the development of the first fully professional production of With Blood, With Ink.
- $10,000 to Kitchen Dog Theater to help in the development and production of new plays in the New Works Festival 2014, one of only three grants given to theater groups statewide.
The majority of grants given out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were Art Works grants, which, according the release, "support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence: public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancing the livability of communities through the arts."
NEA grants are always highly competitive: This year, they received 1,528 applications for Arts Works grants that met their qualifications, ultimately approving 895 of them. Anyone applying for funds must prove that they are getting an equal amount in non-federal funds toward their project.
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art received a grant to bring together all of George Caleb Bingham's iconic river paintings together for the first time.
