NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
December 9, 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AWARDS GRANTS TO
TWO OKLAHOMA INSTITUTIONS
Oklahoma City, OK –The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today its first round of funding for fiscal year 2009, and includes two Oklahoma arts organizations.
Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Suzanne Tate said the NEA is the largest annual funder of the arts in the United States. “The Oklahoma Arts Council recognizes the importance of these grants because they successfully combine artistic excellence with public outreach. The Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Tulsa Ballet Theatre have attained national and international recognition and are very deserving of these funds. The programs presented by these prestigious art organizations attract visitors from around the world and have an economic and cultural impact on their communities and the state,” said Tate.
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art will receive a $25,000 grant to support an exhibition entitled Harlem Renaissance exploring the development of African American art during the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibition will examine the diverse influences on the period as an artistic subject from February 5 through April 19, 2009. For more information visit www.okcmoa.com.
The Tulsa Ballet Theatre will receive a $10,000 grant to support the presentation of Carnival of the Animals by Christopher Wheeldon, Elite Syncopation by Sir Kenneth MacMillian, and a world premiere by Massimiliano Volpini. The program, titled Carnival, opens at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 27, 2009 at 8:00 pm. Additional performances follow on March 28 and 29. For more information visit www.tulsaballet.org.
Both grants are in the category of Access to Artistic Excellence that support the creation and presentation of work in the disciplines of dance, design, folk and traditional arts, literature, media arts, museums, music, musical theater, opera, presenting, theater, and visual arts.
The Arts Endowment will distribute $23,215,500 in this first round of fiscal year 2009 funding to support 1,951 projects by nonprofit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide as well as to 42 poets.
For more information, contact Ann Dee Lee, Public Information Director, Oklahoma Arts Council, (405) 521-2931 or anndee@arts.ok.gov.
ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL
The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.
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