You are here: Public News > Twelve Oregon Arts Organizations Selected for Grants from National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that it will award
more than $66 million through 902 grants in the second round of Fiscal Year
2003 grants. The Arts Endowment will distribute $66,027,860 to nonprofit
national, regional, state, and local organizations across the country,
funding 838 projects in the Access, Arts Learning, Heritage/Preservation and
Leadership Initiative categories, as well as 64 partnership agreements with
state and regional arts councils.
Twelve arts organizations in Oregon, including the Oregon Arts Commission,
will receive $857,200 in grants in this round of funding.
“I have a simple philosophy for the National Endowment for the Arts," said
Dana Gioia, Chairman of the Arts Endowment. "A great nation deserves great
art. From providing preschool children with arts instruction, to encouraging
a higher level of arts criticism, to funding a new public television show
that will teach viewers about classical music, these projects will further
the NEA's mission to bring the best possible art to the greatest number of
Americans."
Oregon organizations selected for funding are:
Fishtrap, Inc. Enterprise, OR $10,000 To support writing workshops,
discussions and readings for residents of the rural Northwest. Themes for
these events will include the changing demographics of the West, the
urban-rural divide, aging of rural populations, new immigrants of color and
the resurgence of Native-American culture.
Eugene Ballet Company Eugene, OR $20,000 To support regional
touring in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The tour will consist of
performance and outreach programs in rural communities.
Oregon Alliance for Arts Education McMinnville, OR $20,000 To
support expansion of the Oregon Teacher Arts Institute. Designed to
integrate standards-based arts into the curriculum through professional
development workshops and pre-service training in the arts, the program will
be expanded to include up to 20 teachers.
Constitution Project (consortium) Portland, OR $10,000 To support
If Walls Could Talk, a project designed to commemorate the contributions of
African Americans to New Orleans' history. Working in collaboration with the
Ashe Cultural Arts Center, local artists will receive training in digital
software applications to be used in the production of a series of large
community murals.
IRCO Portland, OR $50,000 To support the Refugee Elder Traditional
Arts Project (RETAP). An intergenerational, multicultural project team will
be trained to work with elders from Bosnia, Laos, Romania, Somalia, Sudan,
Ukraine and Vietnam to identify and document their traditional arts and
present them in a video.
Literary Arts, Inc. Portland, OR $12,000 To support continuation of
Writers in the Schools (WITS). The project, targeted to high school
students, provides one-day visits by local and touring authors,
artist-in-residence mentorships, faculty training sessions, purchase of
authors' books as a permanent resource, and student readings and
publications.
MediaRites Portland, OR $10,000 To support the production of
Stories 1st, a series of radio specials and a related online magazine
featuring stories by independent radio producers and writers. Stories will
be curated around themes such as Earth Day, Summer and Women's History
Month, and will be broadcast by public radio stations as specials throughout
the year.
Oregon Folklife Program, Oregon Historical Society Portland, OR $30,000
To support a folklife coordinator's position and related costs. The
coordinator will oversee the Folklife/Folk Arts Education Initiative, which
will include a summer teacher's institute, outreach to rural artists and
communities, and design and development of educational materials.
Oregon Public Broadcasting Portland, OR $55,000 To support
development of the Oregon Art Beat in the Schools Web site. The Web-based
video archive and online resources for K-12 students and teachers will
feature contemporary Oregon artists and associated lesson plans.
Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. Portland, OR $30,000 To support a
cultural coordinator position and related costs. Activities will include
creating the Turtle Island Storytellers Network, a project designed to
identify, employ, archive, and promote Native historians and storytellers.
Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. Portland, OR $20,000 To support the
production of Turtle Island Storytellers, a series of traditional
storytelling segments to be featured on the weekly Native-American radio
program Wisdom of the Elders. Twenty-six, eight minute modules will showcase
indigenous storytellers from around the country with stories, narration and
music.
Oregon Arts Commission Salem, OR $590,200 To support statewide
Partnership Agreement activities.
