Two Bloomington organizations received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for 2016.
The Lotus Education and Arts Foundation received $20,000 in support of the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, and IU received $20,000 to be put toward the commission of the opera “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,” according to a press release.
In total, the NEA has awarded Indiana arts organizations and cultural programming providers eight grants totaling $145,000.
The NEA was founded in 1965 when United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act. Since its creation, it has awarded more than $50 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction, according to the release.
To commemorate the next 50 years, the NEA will award $27.7 million to support 1,126 projects in 49 states and jurisdictions during the first round of 2016 funding, according to the release.
Grants were awarded to different disciplines in artist communities, folk and traditional arts, media arts, presenting and multidisciplinary works, theater and musical theater and opera.
Other grants given to Indiana included $20,000 to Big Car Media, $10,000 to Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian & Western Art, $10,000 to Harrison Center for the Arts, $25,000 to Heartland Film, $30,000 to the Indiana Repertory Theatre and $20,000 to the New Harmony Project.
“The arts are part of our everyday lives,” NEA Chairman Jane Chu said in the release. “No matter who you are or where you live, they have the power to transform individuals, spark economic vibrancy in communities and transcend the boundaries across diverse sectors of society. Supporting projects like those in Indiana offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”
Cassie Heeke
