Multidisciplinary Arts Newsletter

Your source for Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works

and Challenge America Updates

July 2024

Welcome to the second Multidisciplinary Arts newsletter! In addition to making better connections with stakeholders through this publication, the Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works and Challenge America teams are traveling this summer to participate in site visits, provide grants workshops, and attend conferences.

In June, discipline director Brandon Gryde, had the opportunity to travel to San Antonio, Texas, and visit with several Presenting/Multidisciplinary grantees including the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), Luminaria, Centro Cultural Aztlan, and Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. I also toured the Tobin Center and bought tickets to see The Cher Show.

Luminaria photo by Christian Möller; NALAC and Esperanza photos by Brandon Gryde

Locally in Washington, DC, staff visited the Smithsonian Folklife Festival for the last day of performances and demonstrations.

Erin Waylor, Jennie Termin, and Chris Orr

In August and September, Challenge America specialists Lisa Mariam and Mary Sellers will provide grant workshops and participate in site visits in Idaho and Wyoming, respectively. In collaboration with Arts Idaho, Lisa will visit Lewiston and Moscow, and she’s also visiting the Nez Perce reservation in August. Mary is working with the Wyoming Arts Council and plans to visit the Hot Springs State Park Plein Air event in September.

In August, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works specialists Katryna Carter and Chris Orr will attend the Western Arts Alliance (WAA) conference in San Diego, California, where they’ll have the opportunity to provide grant consultations with prospective nonprofit applicants. Among those artists featured at this year’s showcases will be awardees of Native Launchpad, part of WAA’s Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) program that aims to support Native artists.

Finally, we’ll get to welcome a new family member into the fold. Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works specialist Kelli Gibson will go on parental leave in August. We’re so happy for her and look forward to hearing about her growing family!

Everyone’s excited to see old friends and make new connections. Please don’t hesitate to say hello if you see us!

Brandon Gryde

What's New

The Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) application Part 2 will be open between July 16 and July 23. Instructions can be found here. Visit the Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works section for additional discipline information. Applicant resources, including a GAP Application Guidelines webinar, can be found here. We also encourage applicants to consult our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page. For assistance with the Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works GAP applications, contact:

Organizations with names that begin A through D: Christopher Orr, orrc@arts.gov

Organizations with names that begin E through O: Kelli Gibson, gibsonk@arts.gov

Organizations with names that begin P through Z: Katryna Carter, carterk@arts.gov

The newest recipients of the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in jazz have been announced.

In the latest entry of our Healing, Bridging, Thriving blog series, Josephine Ramirez of The Music Center shares reflections on the next chapter for performing arts centers.

The National Council on the Arts gathered in Ohio for their 213th meeting last month. The focus was on “Arts in Rural Communities.” Over two days of site visits and public events in Athens, Nelsonville, and Columbus—organized in collaboration with the Ohio Arts Council—the chair and council explored the importance of the arts in rural communities in Ohio and throughout the nation.

You can view recordings of the Town Hall and the Council meeting online at arts.gov.

On June 17, a special concert featured live performances by Broadway artists of the seven winning songs from the 2023-2024 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre for high school students to develop and showcase musical compositions that could be a part of a musical theater production.

Musical theater fans had the chance to see these fully orchestrated arrangements performed live at the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City by Broadway artists such as Telly Leung, Desi Oakley, and Shereen Pimentel.

Watch the concert on demand and learn more about this year’s winning songwriters.

NEA Announced Second Round of

Grantees for FY2024

For its second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2024, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced more than $110 million in recommended grants in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions. These grants fall under three NEA funding categories: Grants for Arts Projects, Our Town, and State and Regional Partnerships. “These projects exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD.

In the Presenting and Multidisciplinary Works discipline, there are 108 recommended projects for funding totaling $3,378,600 million in 31 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

Explore below to see the full list of projects recommended for funding in GAP 2, Our Town, and Partnerships:

List of grant recipients organized by state/territory and city/town
List of grant recipients organized by funding category and artistic discipline/field
Thank you to all the dedicated panelists who reviewed these applications!

Grantee Highlights

We invite you to submit NEA funded projects to be featured in the next newsletter. Please email a short description and image to ChallengeAmerica@arts.gov.

Links below may lead to websites other than arts.gov.

Sharon Springs Poetry Festival

(Challenge America)

Klinkhart Arts Center in Sharon Springs, New York, will host a poetry festival October 18-19, 2024. Located in rural Upstate New York, the free festival will feature internationally known poets, writers, performers, and speakers in programming such as readings, lectures, and workshops. The organization will also provide poetry workshops for local middle and high school students and teachers from as many as four area schools.

National Performance Network (Presenting)

In June, the National Performance Network (NPN) announced the 2024 recipients of its Documentation & Storytelling Fund, totaling more than $63,000 of support to 21 artists across the country. The fund supports artists’ ability to document, promote, and share their work, ideas, and selves, and creates pathways to new opportunities for career advancement. Spanning various artistic genres, styles, and backgrounds, this year’s artists and their works celebrate the richness of shared human experience and serve as powerful vessels that bridge gaps and challenge preconceptions.

"Force! an opera in three acts" at the MCA Chicago. Photo: Shelby Ragsdale, courtesy of MCA Chicago

Goodbyes

The NEA’s Office of Strategy, Programs, and Engagement (SPE) is saying goodbye to three amazing staff members this summer. In June, Wendy Clark, director of museums, visual arts, and indemnity retired from her long career at the NEA. In July, Cheryl Schiele, Folk & Traditional Arts Specialist stepped down from her 18-year tenure at the agency for a new and exciting opportunity. And this month, our own Patricia Germann, coordinator for Challenge America and the Partnership programs, will be transitioning to another federal agency. We wish them all the best in their next phase of life!

Call for Readers and Panelists

Would you like to review applications to the Challenge America and Presenting and Multidisciplinary Works programs? We would love to hear from you. Current and prospective applicants are eligible to serve. To learn more about this opportunity please contact grydeb@arts.gov or fill out our online form.