News

More than $1 Million in Arts Funding Awarded in Tennessee

Knoxville Museum of Art

From Victoria Hutter, Press/Public Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts announced that Tennessee received 14 grants totaling $1,1110,400. Overall, the Art Endowment funded $80.4 million for 1,114 new awards located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. jurisdictions. 

This is the Art Endowment’s second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2019, and these awards continue the Arts Endowment’s commitment as the only arts funder reaching the entire country. Awards from this round of funding come from four categories: Art Works II, Our Town, state and regional partnerships and Research: Art Works, plus a renewal in NEA Research Labs. 
 
“Reflecting the diverse artistic richness of our nation, these Arts Endowment-funded projects are varied in their size, scope, and artistic discipline,” said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter. “The projects also illustrate the unique geographic reach of Arts Endowment funding, serving Americans in places large and small in all corners of the country.

In the first funding round of fiscal year 2019 announced on February 13, 2019 the Arts Endowment made 1,145 grants totaling $27 million. Other awards will be made in the coming months through the end of the fiscal year on September 30. All current grants can be viewed through the Arts Endowment’s grants search

Tennessee grantees include:

City of Germantown, Tennessee $50,000 
Germantown, TN 
Our Town – Design 
To support community design workshops and the creation of a public art master plan in Germantown, Tennessee. 

Big Ears Festival $20,000 
Knoxville, TN 
Art Works – Music 
To support artist and exhibition costs of the Big Ears Festival. 

Knox County, Tennessee $10,000 
Knoxville, TN 
Art Works – Literature 
To support the annual Children’s Festival of Reading. 

Knoxville Museum of Art (aka KMA) $40,000 
Knoxville, TN 
Art Works – Museums 
To support the exhibition Beauford Delaney: Through the Unusual Door, and an accompanying catalogue. 

Creative Aging Memphis $10,000 
Memphis, TN 
Art Works – Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works 
To support the Senior Arts Series. 

New Ballet Ensemble (aka New Ballet or NBE) $30,000 
Memphis, TN 
Art Works – Arts Education 
To support year-round dance instruction, residencies, mentoring and tutoring, and a family resource center. 

Opera Memphis, Inc. $25,000 
Memphis, TN 
Art Works – Opera 
To support 30 Days of Opera and The McCleave Project. 

Frist Art Museum $50,000 
Nashville, TN 
Art Works – Museums 
To support the exhibition Medieval Bologna: Art for a University City

Humanities Tennessee $20,000 
Nashville, TN 
Art Works – Literature 
To support literary programming. 

Nashville Opera Association (aka Nashville Opera) $25,000 
Nashville, TN 
Art Works – Opera 
To support the All-Access Opera Education tour. 

Nashville Repertory Theatre, Inc. (aka Nashville Rep) $10,000 
Nashville, TN 
Art Works – Theater 
To support the Ingram New Works Project, a three-pronged new play development program. 

New Dialect $10,000 
Nashville, TN 
Art Works – Dance 
To support Dance Dialects, a year-long contemporary dance education project for youth and adults. 

Southern Word, Inc. $10,000 
Nashville, TN 
Art Works – Arts Education 
To support the expansion of spoken-word school-based residencies and a statewide poetry slam. 

Tennessee Arts Commission $800,400 
Nashville, TN 
Partnerships (State & Regional) – State & Regional To support arts programs, services, and activities associated with carrying out the agency’s National Endowment for the Arts-approved strategic plan.