More on City of Austin Intentions for $30k from National Endowment for the Arts

Press release published December 19, 2013 after NEA's announcement of grants on December 11:

www.austintexas.gov/news

City of Austin receives National Endowment for the Arts grant to support citywide Cultural Mapping Project
 

The grant will support a 2-year community-wide cultural mapping project

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman, Joan Shigekawa, recently announced that the City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division of the Economic Development Department is one of 895 organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The $30,000 grant will support a 2-year sophisticated community-wide cultural mapping project exploring Austin’s cultural assets and economic and community development strategies.

The project will enable the creative sector to integrate goals with City initiatives in order to inform potential future artist housing, creative sector incubators, and other cultural facilities in development projects. It will also assist in informing the growth and location of creative corridors or hubs and cultural districts as identified in the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support these exciting and diverse projects that will take place throughout the United States,” said Acting Chairman Shigekawa. “Whether it is through a focus on education, engagement, or innovation, these projects all contribute to vibrant communities and memorable experiences for the public to engage with the arts.”

Starting in mid-2014, citizens will be invited to participate in sessions geared toward developing a series of GIS maps and visuals focused on the ten new Council districts. The maps will include physical cultural assets – such as pieces of public art or performance venues; non-cultural data that describe the social dynamics of Austin; current City planning and economic initiatives; and artist visuals that present community meaning.

“We are excited about mapping the many creative resources we have in Austin,” said Megan Crigger, Cultural Arts Division Manager. “It gives us an opportunity to explore the intersection between Austin’s creative sector, the economy, and place, and identify strategies to ensure we continue growing the creativity that distinguishes Austin from other cities.”

Accompanying the final maps will be individual reports that describe the discussions, findings, and recommendations for priority community and economic development strategies.

Art Works grants 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. The NEA received 1,528 eligible Art Works applications, requesting more than $75 million in funding. Of those applications, 895 were recommended for grants for a total of $23.4 million.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.

City of Austin Cultural Arts Division

Central Texas Theatre-related Grants from National Endowment for the Arts

Following a December 11 press release by the National Endowment for the Arts, the following theatre-related grants were found at the NEA's composite listing by state:

 

Austin Creative Alliance

GRANT CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Arts Education

$25,000 Austin, TX

To support professional development for African-American and Hispanic teaching artists who will help implement the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child initiative in Austin. During a pilot professional development program, teaching artists will be trained to understand arts education and their role in providing leadership for arts education. They also will use data to make decisions about arts education programming in the community, and design, implement, and utilize high quality assessment of student learning in the arts in order to improve instruction. The project is a response to recommendations fromAfrican-American and Hispanic communities for the Community Arts Team for the Any Given Child initiative, which includes the Austin Creative Alliance, the Superintendent of the Austin Independent School District, the Mayor of the City of Austin, and MINDPOP, a coordinating body.

City of Austin, Texas

GRANT CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Local Arts Agencies

$30,000 Austin, TX

To support the development of cultural resource maps and associated community and economic development strategies. Project activity will include the creation of a series of maps with various layers of information that will integrate Austin's cultural resources across all facets of Austin city planning. The mapping will be a tool for creative economy strategy implementation and a guide for investment in the city of Austin's specific initiatives. For example, the mapping will inform projects such as sector incubators, creative corridors/hubs, and the development of cultural districts.

VORTEX Repertory Company

GRANT CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater & Musical Theater

$10,000 Austin, TX

To support the creation and presentation of "Spirit," an interdisciplinary musical that will blend theater, dance, opera, and ritual. Conceived and directed by Bonnie Cullum, the piece will explore the universal human concept of the spirit, drawing on research into diverse world spiritual traditions and concepts of the spirit or soul. The production will be the last in The Elementals, a series of original works exploring air, fire, water, earth, and spirit. Live and recorded music will be composed by Chris Humphrey and Chad Salvata.

Zachary Scott Theater Center

GRANT CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater & Musical Theater

$40,000 Austin, TX

To support a production of "The Gospel at Colonus," a gospel version of the Sophocles tragedy "Oedipus at Colonus" originally created in New York City in 1985 by Lee Breuer. The piece blends ancient Greek tragedy and modern gospel, re-c nceiving the play as a church service in which the Oedipus story functions like an Old Testament tale as a text on which sermons and spiritual lessons are set. The production will feature a large cast of African-American actors, gospel choir members, and musicians from Austin. Associated activities will include extensive outreach to the African-American community and a series of community engagement activities.

City of Round Rock, Texas

GRANT CATEGORY: Challenge America Fast-Track

$10,000 Round Rock, TX

To support a performance of "Light it up Blue" by Blue Lapis Lights, a site-specific aerial dance company. The performance will take place in Prete Main Street Plaza during Autism Awareness Month, providing an opportunity for low-income adolescents and persons affected by autism to be participants in an event that speaks to the issue of autism.

National Endowment for the Arts Grants $40,000 to Creative Action to Train AISD Teachers in Arts-Based Education

This week the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that Austin’s Creative Action will receive a $40,000 NEA Art Works grant to support the “Creative Action In the Classroom” project.

This innovative project will allow Creative Action (formerly Theatre Action Project), in partnership with MINDPOP, to deliver powerful arts experiences to 2,500 AISD students, but it will also allow it to provide targeted professional development to teachers that will help them incorporate arts-based strategies as part of their teaching.

“What makes this project so important,” says Karen LaShelle, executive director of Creative Action, “it allows us to model and then train teachers on the effective strategies we use every day to inspire, engage and educate youth. Teachers can keep using those strategies across the curriculum making the entire educational experience more fun, more interactive and ultimately as studies have shown, more successful.”

Launched with in-depth research last year, the project is a collaboration among Creative Action, MINDPOP, Austin Independent School District and City of Austin. Creative Action staff will train a total of 125 classroom teachers in arts-based teaching strategies to support district-identified gaps in arts education.

According to a report published last year by the NEA, "The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth," at-risk students who have access to the arts in or out of school also tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement. The study reports these and other positive outcomes associated with high levels of arts exposure for youth of low socioeconomic status.

“Arts and social and emotional learning continue to be an important part of the curriculum in schools,” says LaShelle, “especially since we know that engaging youth creatively and supporting their personal growth is critical to student success.”

As Austin’s largest provider of after-school programming, arts enrichment, and character education programming in Central Texas, Creative Action serves more than 16,000 children and young people every year. The NEA grant marks a significant point of growth for Creative Action, which is already the largest arts-education organization in Central Texas. Last year, Creative Action won a $150,000 grant from Impact Austin for its “New Stages” youth ensemble and it was a finalist for the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, selected by the President’s Committee on the Arts.

NEA's Shakespeare in American Communities: Request for Proposals, November 8

E-mail received November 8:

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Request for Proposals now available Shakespeare for a New Generation is a component of Shakespeare in American Communities that reaches middle- and high-school students in underserved schools throughout the United States with high-quality, professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays. Arts Midwest invites proposals from nonprofit professional theater companies to perform works by Shakespeare for middle- and high-school students between August 1, 2013 and July 30, 2014. Matching grants will be awarded to up to 40 theater companies to support performances and educational activities for students from a minimum of 10 schools. Applicant review will be based on artistic excellence and artistic merit. Application deadline: February 21, 2013 Visit the website to review the Request for Proposals. Applications must be completed through the Shakespeare in American Communites eGrant. Optional: Send an email to shakespeare@artsmidwest.org on or before January 16, 2013 telling us that your company plans to apply to the program. No other information is needed. This is not required, nor is it binding. Contact If you have questions about the program or the contents of the your proposal, please contact Christy Dickinson, senior program director at Arts Midwest, at 612.238.8019 or shakespeare@artsmidwest.org. Arts Midwest 2908 Hennepin Avenue, Ste 200 Minneapolis, MN 55408 This e-mail is being sent to you by Arts Midwest on behalf of Shakespeare in American Communities. If you would like to be removed from this list, please click here to unsubscribe michaelmeigs@austinlivetheatre.com from this list. Forward this email to a friend

Invitation to Apply: NEA's Shakespeare in American Communities

Received from Arts Midwest, agent for the National Endowment for the Arts:

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Shakespeare in American Communities: Shakespeare for a New Generation reaches middle- and high-school students in underserved schools throughout the United States with high-quality, professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays.

Arts Midwest invites proposals from nonprofit professional theater companies to perform works by Shakespeare for middle- and high-school students between August1, 2012, and June 30, 2013. Approximately 40 theater companies will receive matching grants to support performances and educational activities for students from a minimum of 10 schools.

The standard grant award is $25,000. Applicant review will be based on artistic excellence and artistic merit.

Application Deadline: MARCH 8, 2012

Visit www.ShakespeareInAmericanCommunities.org to download the Request for Proposals and connect to Arts Midwest's eGRANT. Applications must be completed through eGRANT.

QUESTIONS? Contact Christy Dickinson, senior program director at Arts Midwest, at 612.238.8019 or shakespeare@artsmidwest.org.

Shakespeare in American Communities is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

Arts Reporting; Vortex Repertory Receives NEA Grant for The Elementals: Water

Tweeted by Vortex Repertory:

VORTEX Repertory Company receives NEA grant to support The Elementals: Water

Grant is part of NEA announcement of 863 grants and $22.543 million in funding nationwide

VORTEX Repertory Company is one of the grantees announced by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)and will receive an Art Works grant of $15,000 to support the production The Elementals: WATER. The 863 grant awards total $22.543 million, encompass 15 artistic disciplines and fields, and support projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

VORTEX Repertory Company will create and present a unique work of theatre with music and dance to be performed in a large pool of water. The Elementals: WATER encompasses daring designs, exhilarating dance choreographed by Toni Bravo, and original music by Chad Salvata to convey environmental and spiritual messages that celebrate the beauty of water, heightening awareness, reverence, and protection of this precious resource. Conceived and directed by award-winning theatrical visionary Bonnie Cullum, the creation of WATER draws on the experience of more than 100 original VORTEX productions and world premieres. The world premiere of WATER will be at The VORTEX in Austin, Texas in August and September 2012.

Click to read more at the Facebook page of Vortex Repertory . . . .

Arts Reporting: Seven NEA Grants to Austin Area Arts Groups

From the Statesman's Austin360 Seeing Things blog of November 22:

Austin arts groups net seven NEA grants

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin | Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 12:32 PM

National Endowment for the Arts chairman Rocco Landesman recently announced the latest round of grants from the federal agency to organizations and individual writers across the country. Some 863 awards totaling $22.54 million and encompassing 15 artistic disciplines and fields were awarded.

Austin area arts groups received seven grants. Texas netted 29 for a total of $653,000.

The Austin grants are:

• Austin Film Society, $20,000 for its curated film and video series.
• Badgerdog Literary Publishing, $7,500 for the publication, promotion, and distribution of the quarterly journal American Short Fiction.
• Blue Lapis Light, $10,000 for the creation and presentation of a site specific aerial dance, titled Swan Nebula, choreographed by Sally Jacques
• EmilyAnn Theatre Inc., $10,000 for Shakespeare Under the Stars, a summer youth theater program for high school students.
• Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance, $10,000 for Celebrando 2012: Bomba de Loiza with Los Hermanos Ayala.
• Tapestry Dance Company, $10,000 for the 12th annual Soul to Sole Tap Festival.
• Vortex Repertory Company, $15,000 for the creation and presentation of “The Elementals: Water,” an original theatrical work with music and dance, conceived and directed by Bonnie Cullum, an original score by Chad Salvata and choreography by Toni Bravo.

Internet Arts Writer Rainey Knudson on Prospects for Arts Journalism, NEA blog 'Art Works,' July 22

Article at Art Works, the NEA blog, via e-mail from You've Cott Mail (www.ThomasCott.com):

Commentary

50% of arts journalism jobs were lost in last 5-8 years. What's next?

Rainey Knudson, Founder of Texas visual arts website Glasstire.com, at NEA Art Works blog, 7/22/11

In recent years, there's been a groundswell of recognition about the alarming state of arts journalism. Witness the current collaboration between the Knight Foundation and the NEA; or the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program; or the Warhol Foundation's Arts Writing Initiative. The sense of urgency has resulted in a bit more funding for some writers, which is a good start.

The truth is, if we can just crack the nut of paying great art critics a living wage, then the arts journalism of the near future has the potential to be radically more effective, with far greater reach, than the old print model that has crumbled around us. In their conversation on this blog, the NEA's Joan Shigekawa and the Knight Foundation's Dennis Scholl cite a study that found that 50% of local arts journalism jobs have been lost in the past five to eight years. It's a shocking number, but in addition to spurring us all to action, it should also politely beg the question of how vital those critics were if their jobs (and their papers) wilted so suddenly.

There's probably a reason that that brand of arts journalism is dying, and it's not solely that advertising dollars are migrating away from print.

Arts journalism in the heyday of the daily newspaper got concentrated in the hands of too few people. For some of them, the easiest route was to applaud every show they wrote about, or to only cover their small coterie of friends. Bloggers and web startups said, "We can make this more fun, more entertaining, more vital, for way less money." Now those bloggers and websites are playing an ever-more critical role in arts journalism, and they themselves have to figure out how to pay their writers. The nut's going to get cracked; we're all just figuring out exactly how.

- - You can read the transcript of the conversation between Shigekawa and Scholl here.

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman on Art: Necessary Because It's Unnecessary

"I would argue that counter-intuitively, and even counter-logically, the value of art turns not on the notion that it is necessary but rather the opposite: we can live without it, but we don’t want to."

-- Rocco Landesman

From the NEA's blog Art Works:

Rocco Delivers the Blashfield Address

May 20, 2011
Washington, DC

On Wednesday, Rocco Landesman delivered the prestigious Blashfield Address at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York. The speech, which has been given in the past by luminaries such as John Updike, Robert Frost, Helen Keller, and Louise Glück, commemorated the induction of ten individuals into the academy’s ranks. The NEA sends its congratulations to artists Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Malcolm Morley, and James Turrell; authors Louis Begley and Michael Cunningham; U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove; composers Martin Boykan and Aaron Jay Kernis; architect Robert A.M. Stern; and sculptor-composer Walter De Maria.

Below is the full text of Rocco’s remarks.

“The Play’s the Thing”

2011 Blashfield Foundation Address
Delivered by NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman

Art is necessary because it is unnecessary. I will elaborate in a minute.

I have not been invited to give the Blashfield Address because I have made significant contributions to scholarship or have created remarkable works of art. To paraphrase Max Bialystock: I couldn’t—I was a Broadway producer.

Instead, I am here today because of my current position as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. So I will begin by stepping happily into my assigned role, which is to make the case that the arts—most especially the theatrical arts, of course—are vital, important, and in a word, necessary. On the trading floor, this is called “talking your book,” and it’s what I do almost every day. We have a motto at the NEA, which is a two-word sentence with three meanings (and I think this audience might appreciate a triple entendre): “Art Works.”

The term refers first to the works of art themselves—what we fund at the NEA. Secondly, to the way in which art works on people. That is, the experience of art. And finally it refers to art as work, an important part of our economy and communities.

I have especially emphasized this last part, and have been traveling the country to show how a cultural presence in a neighborhood impacts civic engagement, child welfare, and economic growth. Those are especially useful talking points with Congress during the budget process.

But I would conjecture that not one of us in this room has embarked on a career in the arts (or letters) because of data that shows that art in schools reduces truancy by 35 percent, or that art in a city jumpstarts economic development. Most of us who have made a career in the arts did so because at one point in our lives we had an experience with a work of art that was indelible. The career chose us. This was something we had to do.

But why? What is it about this activity that is so compelling? What makes it so irresistible? This is a question for anthropologists, and they’re not exactly sure.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Vortex Repertory Receives NEA Grant for Sara Silverhands

Received directly:

VORTEX Repertory Company’s

Sarah Silver Hands receives $20,000 NEA Grant

VORTEX Repertory Company is pleased to announce receipt of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for Sarah Silver Hands, a world premiere musical for all ages by award-winning Austin composer, Chad Salvata, and directed by VORTEX Producing Artistic Director, Bonnie Cullum. Sarah Silver Hands premieres at The VORTEX in Austin, Texas in October 2011.

Sarah Silver Hands is an original fairy tale, inspired loosely by the Grimm Brothers’ The Girl with No Hands. The protagonist, Sarah, Princess of the Autumn Kingdom, overcomes the disability of losing her hands to find her own truth and magic, and finally ends the war between the Autumn and Winter Kingdoms. Sarah reclaims the hero’s journey for young women as she rises above the obstacles of disability and tragedy to find self-empowerment.

Chad Salvata’s work has been widely recognized for its musical beauty and fantastical imagination. He has received numerous awards for excellence in his original works including The Dragonfly Princess, Bell(e), Vampyress, Pythia Dust, and The X&Y Trilogy. Sarah Silver Hands will be Salvata’s first work specifically designed for all ages.

Arts Reporting: Rude Mechs' Successful Application to NEA for I Can't Believe I'm So Happy

Found on-line:

Several successful grant applications have just been published at the the New Plays blog maintained by the Arena Stage in Washington DC on behalf of the "American Voices" program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Included is the 2008 application by the Rude Mechanicals for support in developing their Western mythic epic I've Never Been So Happy. Applicants granted permission for the publication, intended in part as a guide and inspiration for companies currently preparing applications.

Click on the image to view the three-page application. (.pdf, 1.42MB)

Arts News: Vortex Receives NEA Grant for Sleeping Beauty

Click for ALT review, April 11

Received directly:

VORTEX Receives NEA Grant for Sleeping Beauty

Vortex Repertory Company proudly announces its first-ever grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for Sleeping Beauty a musical faery tale for all ages by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles, to be revised and performed in an all-new production at The VORTEX in April 2010. Sleeping Beauty was first performed at The VORTEX in the spring of 2005.

Finely crafted designs blend with live music, dramatic dance, and insightful storytelling in Sleeping Beauty, a musical theatre adaptation by award-winning artists Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles. Originally created and debuted at The VORTEX in 2005, this newly revised production of Sleeping Beauty provides an environmental and feminist adaptation of the Grimm Brothers’ faery tale.

www.vortexrep. org

Arts Funding: NEA Provides Stimulus Grant to Rude Mechs, July 8

The National Endowment for the Arts makes the following announcements of grants of stimulus money for Texas arts projects in the Austin area. The Texas total is $825,000 and that for Austin institutions is $325,000, of which $50,000 goes to the Rude Mechanicals Theatre Collective. Funding announced nation-wide represents $30 million of the $50 million in supplementary stimulus funds Congress authorized for the NEA.

FY 2009 Grant Awards: State Listings
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The following nonprofit arts organizations are receiving grants to support the preservation of jobs that are threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.

TEXAS

Center for Women & Their Work
Austin, TX
$25,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Visual Arts

Fund for Folk Culture
Austin, TX
$50,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Folk and Traditional Arts

Motion Media Arts Center
Austin, TX
$50,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Media Arts

Rude Mechanicals-A Theatre Collective
Austin, TX
$50,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater

Texas Folklife Resources
Austin, TX
$50,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Folk and Traditional Arts

University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
$50,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Design

University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
$50,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Museums

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED FROM REGULAR FUNDING
Texas Commission on the Arts
Austin, TX
$427,300

[Initial reporting source: Statesman's Austin360 site, Jeanne Claire van Ryzin's "Seeing Things" blog, July 8]

Opinion: Obama Plays It Safe with the Arts, Wall Street Journal

available at the on-line edition

June 11, 2009

Obama Plays It Safe With The Arts

By DAVID A. SMITH

Last week President Barack Obama announced Jim Leach as his choice to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities. Mr. Leach, an Iowa Republican who served 30 years in the House before losing his bid for re-election in 2006, notably went against his party last year by endorsing Mr. Obama, not John McCain, in the presidential race. Now that President Obama has picked Mr. Leach for NEH and Rocco Landesman, a successful Broadway producer, to head the National Endowment for the Arts, the Obama cultural team is complete.

Of the two, Mr. Leach is more surprising -- if only because his cultural qualifications aren't as immediately obvious. But he was a solid supporter of the endowments while in Congress, and both the National Humanities Alliance and Americans for the Arts recognized his contributions. He's also familiar with academia, having recently taught at Harvard and Princeton.

Still, Messrs. Leach and Landesman are probably not the choices initially expected from a president who was being lobbied just a couple of months ago to do something as bold as create a cabinet-level department of arts and culture. These are the choices, rather, of a president who doesn't want this to be a political fight. With these nominations it's also clear that Mr. Obama is not making a statement that great change is needed at either agency. This is not to disparage these choices -- both of which, in addition to being rather surprising, are quite good, at least in the eyes of those who think both endowments are already following a wise course. In fact, given the constituencies that rallied most vociferously behind Mr. Obama in the campaign, his choice of these two men ought to elicit a sigh of relief from conservatives.

Taken together, what might these two nominations mean for the relationship between the government and the arts under the Obama administration? Do they signal any new directions for these agencies?

Not necessarily. Both endowments currently enjoy considerable support in Congress and, given the history of the NEA in particular, this is no small achievement. While some supporters of the arts are quite upset with the direction the NEA has taken in the past few years (more about this later), there's no denying that it's in better shape than it ever has been. It enjoys broad support in Congress in part because it has steered clear of controversy and extended its good effects.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

2009 Grants from NEA to Rude Mechs, Rupert Reyes, EmilyAnn,

Austin theatre arts are supported by four 2009 grants just announced by the National Endowment for the Arts.

- - $10,000 under the category Access to Artistic Excellence to Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas, for the production of Rupert Reyes ' piece Petra's Sueño (first done here last year by Teatro Vivo). To support the Bilingual Theatre Festival and the production of Petra's Sueño by Rupert Reyes. Contributors from the Latino and Chicano theater community and members of the National Association of Latino Artists will participate in the project.

- - $15,000 under the category Learning in the Arts to EmilyAnn Theatre in Wimberley. To support Shakespeare Under the Stars, a summer youth theater program. High school students will learn all aspects of performance and technical theater through this hands-on program.

- - $20,000 under the category Access to Artistic Excellence to the Rude Mechanicals. To support a national tour of The Method Gun, an original, company-developed work. The piece will explore the life, ethos, and techniques of a fictional actor-training guru as recounted through the eyes of her students.

Grants also go to the Austin Classical Guitar Society ($40,000 for lessons for the disadvantaged and support for school curricula) and to Conspirare ($30,000 to support a compact disc recording of a new choral-orchestral work by composer Eric Whitacre. The concert-length oratorio will merge classical, jazz, and rock idioms).

Click here for a complete list of grants newly announced for Texas organizations.

Rude Mechs' Live Video TONIGHT Saturday 7:30 CST

From New Play Development Program jointly hosted by Arena Stage Washington DC and the National Endowment for the Arts

Live Broadcasts: NPDP TV!

There will be scheduled times when we are going to provide -- live broadcasts -- of the development milestones of certain projects. Getting you an inside look at the development process like never before. The Rude Mechanicals are first at bat and are allowing us to peek in on what they describe in the Program calendar as a: "Meeting between Directors, Playwright, Composer and Video Designers to assess December work-in-progress showings and to plan further development over the summer as we head toward September 09 work-in-progress showings." The discussion is scheduled for this Saturday evening 1/24 (7:30pm CST). This is a first for everyone, and they reserve the right to turn off the camera if its presence is disturbing their work. So check back here or here on Saturday for the broadcast time and also our Program calendar for future broadcasts.

Arts - The Cold, Hard Facts from the National Endowment on the Arts

The National Endowment demonstrates with statistics, graphs and charts that the number of non-profit theatres in the United States has expanded dramatically in recent years but the audience has contracted. And the Endowment's June 2007 profile of artists as workers merits the attention of anyone seriously interested in an arts career.

All America's a Stage examines developments in the growth, distribution, and finances of America’s nonprofit theater system since 1990. Nearly 2,000 nonprofit theaters were analyzed for the study. While the research indicates broad growth and generally positive fiscal health, it also reveals decreasing attendance rates and vulnerability during economic downturns. December 2008. 8 pp.



From introduction, signed by Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts:

The only area for concern in the healthy financial profile of the nonprofit theatres is their historical vulnerability to large economic downturns. During both of the last two major recessions, total revenue and contributions fell markedly. This vulnerability could create issues for the nonprofit theatre community in the current recession.

Read More at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .