The National Endowment for the Arts will award more than $30 million in grants in 2017, including 16 totaling $305,000 to nonprofit arts groups in Georgia.
In Atlanta, the grants include $30,000 for the one-of-a-kind Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition and $25,000 for the Atlanta Film Society’s 41st annual Atlanta Film Festival (March 24-April 2).
True Colors Theatre Company will receive $25,000 toward the regional premiere of Exit Strategy, a drama by Ike Holter about Chicago teachers and students facing the demolition of their school. It runs Feb. 21-March 19 at the Southwest Arts Center, with a cast that includes Tess Malis Kincaid, William S. Murphey and Diany Rodriguez.
Atlanta Ballet will receive $20,000 to help stage this season’s Firebird (April 14-16). The Atlanta Opera will receive $20,000 to help support Maria de Buenos Aires (running Feb. 2-7 as part of its Discoveries series) and Mozart’s The Secret Gardener (May 19-20 also part of the Discoveries series and already sold out).
7 Stages will receive $10,000 to support the creation of The Followers, an original, multidisciplinary performance piece based on Euripides’ The Bacchae.
The rest of the NEA’s Georgia grants include:
- $40,000 to the Savannah Music Festival (March 23-April 8) to support the event featuring more than 500 international artists in chamber and symphonic music, blues, jazz and world music.
- $25,000 to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia to support its Working Artist residency program.
- $20,000 to the Museum of Design Atlanta to support an exhibit on play.
- $20,000 to Burnaway to support the visual arts magazine’s editorial and geographic reach.
- $20,000 to the Serenbe Institute for Art, Culture and the Environment on behalf of AIR Serenbe, to support spoken-word artist residencies.
- $10,000 to the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership to support visual and performance art to coincide with the opening of the three-mile Westside Trail. The opening date has not yet been announced.
- $10,000 to the Serenbe Institute for Art, Culture and the Environment to fund a free day of arts programming for all ages in Chattahoochee Hills. It’s expected to include concerts, film screenings, theater and family activities.
- $10,000 to the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta to support the Jerry Habima Theatre program’s production of The Wizard of Oz. Habima features actors with disabilities. As a guest artist, Atlanta actor Googie Uterhardt will play the Scarecrow and help guide Habima actors through performances.
- $10,000 to the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center to support the 2017 Madison Chamber Music Festival. The event, which spans several months, is hoping to bring together such artists as Atlanta Symphony players Christopher Rex (principal cello) and David Coucheron (concertmaster), the Turtle Island Quartet and jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut.
- $10,000 to Challenge America in Marietta, to support a sensory-friendly concert featuring violinist John Irrera. The concert will provide access to the symphony for families and community members with autism.
