A Great Nation Deserves Great Art.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20506-0001

(202) 682-5400

www.arts.gov
The National Endowment for the Arts is the largest 

annual funder of the arts in the United States. An

independent federal agency, the NEA is the official arts

organization of the United States government, dedicated to

supporting excellence in the arts––both new and

established, bringing the arts to all Americans, and

providing leadership in arts education.
Dear Mr. President:

It is my pleasure to submit the Annual Report of the National Endowment for the Arts

for Fiscal Year 2003.

Since its establishment in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded

approximately 120,000 grants to organizations and artists residing in all 50 states and the

six U.S. jurisdictions, in communities large and small.

The activities highlighted in this report illustrate the National Endowment for the Arts’

continuing commitment to supporting excellence in the arts—both new and established,

providing leadership in arts education, and bringing art to all Americans.

Sincerely,

Dana Gioia

Chairman
CONTENTS

Chairman’s Statement 1

National Initiatives 7

State & Regional Partnerships 11

Lifetime Honors 13

NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS 13

NEA JAZZ MASTERS FELLOWSHIPS 14

NEA NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIPS 17

Grant Highlights (by state) 19

ALABAMA 20

ALASKA 21

ARIZONA 22

ARKANSAS 23

CALIFORNIA 24

COLORADO 25

CONNECTICUT 27

DELAWARE 28

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 29

FLORIDA 30

GEORGIA 31

HAWAII 33

IDAHO 34

ILLINOIS 35

INDIANA 36

IOWA 37

KANSAS 39

KENTUCKY 40

LOUISIANA 41

MAINE 42

MARYLAND 43

MASSACHUSETTS 44

MICHIGAN 46

MINNESOTA 47

Dancer Damien Patterson

performs his solo work Mystical

Divinity as part of Ballet

Memphis’s three-part program,

As the Spirit Moves You.

Photo courtesy of Ballet Memphis
MISSISSIPPI 48

MISSOURI 49

MONTANA 50

NEBRASKA 51

NEVADA 52

NEW HAMPSHIRE 53

NEW JERSEY 55

NEW MEXICO 56

NEW YORK 57

NORTH CAROLINA 58

NORTH DAKOTA 59

OHIO 60

OKLAHOMA 61

OREGON 62

PENNSYLVANIA 63

RHODE ISLAND 64

SOUTH CAROLINA 65

SOUTH DAKOTA 66

TENNESSEE 67

TEXAS 69

UTAH 70

VERMONT 71

VIRGINIA 72

WASHINGTON 73

WEST VIRGINIA 74

WISCONSIN 76

WYOMING 77

Literature Fellowships 79

National Council on the Arts 85

Financial Summary 87

Appropriations History 89

The McCarter Theatre’s performance of Anton

Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya, starring Steven Skybell and

Amanda Plummer, was supported by the NEA. 

Photo by T. Charles Erickson
When I began my term as Chairman in February 2003, I was

confidant that the National Endowment for the Arts could be

restored to its rightful place as the nation’s leading institution

for the promotion of art and arts education.

The Arts Endowment had weathered many years of controversy, retrenchment, and

reorganization that had often left it uncertain and apologetic about its mission. Generally

characterized as embattled or weakened, the agency had developed a confused public identity.

Despite the good work of recent chairmen, there also remained widespread concern among

both cultural and civic leaders that the agency had become marginal in addressing the nation’s

needs in arts and arts education.

It was my conviction that the National Endowment for the Arts could best reestablish itself by

focusing on its stated core mission to foster excellence in the arts—both new and established—

and to make the best of the arts accessible to all Americans. We also needed to increase our

efforts in improving arts education.

The Arts Endowment needed to be confident and unapologetic about that mission as we

communicated the value of our programming to the nation. It was my belief that by working in

a positive, inclusive, and non-divisive manner with members of Congress, the Administration,

arts and arts advocacy organizations, and artists, we could build a constructive new consensus

in support of the Arts Endowment.

As this annual report will demonstrate, 2003 was a time of renewal for the Arts Endowment.

We continued support for all our existing programs while launching several new national

initiatives that significantly expand the agency’s reach and coverage, especially in smaller and

rural communities. We also greatly expanded our commitment to arts education.

Budget

Our congressional appropriation in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 was $115,731,000. Of this total

appropriation, $38 million went to our important partners, state arts agencies and regional arts

organizations.

In 2003, Congress once again funded the NEA initiative Challenge America, providing 

$17 million to bring the arts to underserved communities throughout the country and to 

better serve the Challenge America goal of providing artistic excellence and extensive outreach.

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 1Photo by Vance Jacobs
2 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Chairman’s Statement

An even more significant development in 2003 was the substantial increase, from $5 billion 

up to $8 billion, in the authorized limit for the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program,

administered by the NEA for the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. This

program is a federal partnership which helps make possible international exhibitions in

museums across the country by minimizing the costs of insurance.

National Initiatives 

Our most important national initiative is Shakespeare in American Communities, the largest

tour of Shakespeare in American history. This ambitious program, which combines theatrical

touring with arts education, represents an innovative joint venture between the NEA and more

than 100 partners, including numerous theater companies and arts presenters—all coordinated

by Arts Midwest, a regional arts organization.

Shakespeare in American Communities began with six professional

theater companies touring all 50 states. In an unprecedented partnership

with the Department of Defense, we added a seventh company

exclusively to tour military bases across the country. With support from

The Sallie Mae Fund,we also expanded our reach among American high

school students. Shakespeare in American Communities is reviving a

great American theatrical tradition of touring Shakespeare.

By the end of 2005, the Shakespeare in American Communities initiative

will have engaged 29 theater companies to tour more than 200 cities and

1,000 high schools in all 50 states, and 18 military bases. Over the next

few years, it is our hope to bring one million students to a live,

professional production of Shakespeare. For most of these students, these performances will be

their first experience with professional theater.

The tour also includes artistic and technical workshops, symposia about the productions, and

educational programs in local schools. The Arts Endowment has developed an educational

resource package of exceptional quality that is available free to teachers. It includes a teacher’s

manual, recitation booklet, brochure for students, timeline poster, audio CD, educational

video, and bookmarks. Using these materials and events, we are helping to integrate

Shakespeare into the arts education programs of our middle and high school students. More

on Shakespeare in American Communities can be found in the National Initiatives section of

this report.
Grants to Arts Organizations

While the Shakespeare program may have the highest profile of NEA-funded initiatives, the

Endowment has continued to provide grants to arts organizations of all sizes, in all areas of the

country, in all disciplines. In FY 2003, the NEA awarded more than $99 million in funding,

totaling more than 1,900 grants. These include not only the Challenge America grants, but

grants to organizations in creativity, heritage and preservation, arts on radio and television, arts

learning,and organizational capacity; fellowships for creative writing in poetry and translation;

lifetime achievement awards in jazz and the folk arts; and partnership agreements with state arts

agencies and regional arts organizations.

Leadership Initiatives

The Arts Endowment also funded leadership initiatives such as the Mayors’ Institute on City

Design,which helps mayors throughout the country develop design resources for their cities

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 3

Opening night for the Shakespeare in American Communities initiative in New London, Connecticut in September 2003. 

Photo by A. Vincent Scarano
4 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Chairman’s Statement

through sessions with colleagues and design professionals. The agency also funded the National

College Choreography Initiative, which supports professional dance artists working with colleges

and universities nationwide to create new works or restage classics with and for students.

Federal Partnerships 

In addition to national initiatives and grants, the NEA partnered with fellow federal agencies on

a number of initiatives, from international exchanges to arts initiatives in rural communities.

One of the most important of these is Save

America’s Treasures, dedicated to the

preservation of our nation’s rich artistic and

cultural heritage. This initiative was created

through a partnership with the National

Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute

of Museum and Library Services, and the

President’s Committee on the Arts and the

Humanities to fund grants administered by

the National Park Service. This initiative

supports preservation and conservation work

on nationally significant intellectual and

cultural collections and historic properties.

These grants provide much needed 

financial support to save those artistic

accomplishments that are a testament of

America’s greatness.

Technology

The NEA maintains not just a connection to the past, but also a path to the future. In FY

2003, 13 innovative projects received Resources for Change: Technology grants in amounts

ranging from $50,000 to $165,000. These grants were awarded to nonprofit arts

organizations to help them develop distinctive ways of using new technology to advance the

arts and better serve the public. Many arts organizations lack the resources to realize their full

technological potential to serve their patrons; these grants provided significant assistance so

that the organizations can better utilize today’s advancing technologies.

Installing climate control systems in the Jackson Pollock-Lee Krasner home 

in East Hampton, New York to preserve this historic site was one of the Save

America’s Treasures projects in 2003. 

Photo by Helen A. Harrison
Arts and Accessibility 

The NEA also has continued championing accessibility issues through our Office for

AccessAbility’s activities. In FY 2003, the office funded the final year of a three-year study,

Impact of the Arts on Older Americans, to measure and evaluate the effects that professional

arts programming has on the quality of life of older adults. In addition, the office partnered

with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Assembly of State Arts

Agencies, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and MetLife Foundation to

publish Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator’s Handbook. This publication is

designed to help arts organization administrators not only comply with Section 504 of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, but to assist them in

making access an integral part of their organization’s planning, mission, programs, outreach,

budget, and staffing.

Research

To broaden the conversation about American culture, the NEA

funds research that examines various aspects of the arts, from

audience participation to artist employment to economic trends

of arts organizations. In FY 2003, the NEA Office of Research

and Analysis produced Raising the Barre: The Geographic,

Financial, and Economic Trends of Nonprofit Dance

Companies.This report used newly available data to examine

trends in the nonprofit dance field spanning the late 1980s

through the late 1990s, detailing factors such as growth in the

number of dance companies, geographic concentration, and

financial aspects such as the importance of ticket sales and

the effects of the 1990-1991 recession. The analysis also

investigates the role the National Endowment for the Arts plays in leveraging funding

for dance companies that serve communities across America.

Expanded Reach

All these activities demonstrate something fundamental about the NEA. The agency is

committed to reaching beyond big cities and large organizations. We now travel on the back

roads of this vast country as well, bringing art to all areas, providing funding and leadership in

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 5

Chairman’s Statement
6 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Chairman’s Statement

the arts to support work of indisputable artistic merit, engaging the American people in the

best that our culture has to offer.

We believe a great nation deserves great art. That simple but ambitious statement has been our

motto over the past year, and with good reason. The arts represent a central part of America’s

identity and legacy. In this sense, the National Endowment for the Arts represents an essential

expression of the country’s highest aspirations.

In these pages, you will find examples of projects the NEA has supported in every state,

projects representing the vast array of lively, rich, and diverse art being created in this country.

It is our goal to broaden our national coverage to include not only every state, but also every

community, so that all our citizens can be enriched through the arts.

Dana Gioia

Chairman
NATIONAL INITIATIVES

National Initiatives are NEA-supported projects that have a nationwide impact,

bringing artistic activities and performances to areas of the country that usually do

not have easy access to the arts. The first National Initiative undertaken by the NEA

in FY 2003 was Shakespeare in American Communities.

Shakespeare in American Communities addresses the three fundamental goals of the NEA:

supporting excellence in the arts, bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership

in arts education. The program began with a nationwide tour of six professional theater

companies producing Shakespeare’s plays. Thanks to an unprecedented appropriation of one

million dollars from the Department of Defense, a seventh company was added to tour

exclusively to military bases. By the end of 2005, the tour will include 29 theater companies,

reach more than 200 small and mid-sized communities across all 50 states, play to more than

1,000 middle and high schools, and, we hope, reach one million students.

The tour, which was launched in September 2003 in New London, Connecticut, already had

been recognized as the largest theatrical tour of William Shakespeare’s plays in our nation’s

history. It is not only the size of the tour that is

important, but also its reach. Places such as

Beaver Creek, Colorado and Sheridan,

Wyoming—not the usual stops for a national

tour—are two of the American communities

visited by high quality theater productions.

The plays touring the country are as follows:

SEPTEMBER 2003 – NOVEMBER 2003

• Othello (The Aquila Theatre Company)

• Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare

Theater)

JANUARY 2004 – APRIL 2004

• Othello(The Aquila Theatre Company

and The Guthrie Theater)

• Richard III (The Acting Company)

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 7

Lloyd Notice as Othello and Kathryn Merry as Desdemona in the

final scene of the Aquila Theatre Company’s production of Othello. 

Photo by A. Vincent Scarano
8 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

National Initiatives

APRIL 2004

• Romeo and Juliet (Arkansas Repertory Theatre)

OCTOBER 2004 – NOVEMBER 2004

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Artists Repertory Theatre)

• Macbeth will tour to designated military bases by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in

2004 as part of the partnership between the NEA and the Department of Defense.

The performances are enhanced by artistic and technical workshops, discussions about the

productions, and the combination of arts presentation with arts education. More than 25,000

free educational resource packages developed by the Arts Endowment elicited the following

comments from some of the thousands of teachers who have ordered them:

“Very exciting way to teach my students the power of Shakespeare, enjoyed the video

and then reciting certain verses.”

“Your materials greatly enhanced our learning about Shakespeare and his works. The

students could relate more with the Bard’s work after seeing it in a context.”

“Outstanding visuals, good hands-on assignments, will definitely use it next year.”

“The children loved it and they are still quoting lines to each other. Thank you for this

excellent program.”

In 2004, the NEA announced the second phase of the Shakespeare program, Shakespeare for

a New Generation, which will tour 22 additional companies specifically at middle and high

schools. Again, the program will focus on smaller communities that do not have easy access to

live theater.

Shakespeare in American Communities is made possible through cooperation with the

Minneapolis-based regional arts organization Arts Midwest and educational support from The

Sallie Mae Fund. In addition to its financial support for the initiative, The Sallie Mae Fund also

has contributed by sponsoring “The Sallie Mae Fund Free Seats for Students” program. In

each city of the Shakespeare in American Communities tour, 50 complementary tickets will be

given to deserving high school students and a parent or chaperone to enjoy the performance.

Mrs. Laura Bush and former Motion Picture Association of America CEO Jack Valenti are

serving as honorary co-chairs for the project. Also providing support to the initiative is the

“Players’ Guild,” a group of arts experts and accomplished stage and screen actors. The
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 9

National Initiatives

Players’ Guild members are Jane Alexander, Harold Bloom, Hilary Duff, Rafe Esquith, James

Earl Jones, Michael Kahn, Angela Lansbury, Julie Taymor, and Michael York.

Numerous members of government, including Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-NC), Rep. Mark Kirk

(R-IL), Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA), Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), Rep. Jack Quinn (R-NY), Rep.

Adam Schiff (D-CA), Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA), Rep.

Robert Simmons (R-CT), and Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) have participated in local events

celebrating the program as well as providing broad support for the tour.

For additional information regarding the tour, dates and performance venues, and participating

companies, please visit: www.ShakespeareInAmericanCommunities.org.

U.S. Representatives Cass Ballenger, Louise Slaughter, and Jim Leach at

the Shakespeare in American Communities celebration on Capitol Hill.

Photo by Steven Purcell
STATE AND REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 11

Something that many people don’t realize is that the NEA doesn’t subsidize anyone or

any organization. Everything the Arts Endowment does is done in partnership. Its

most enduring partnerships exist with 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies and

six regional arts organizations. In fact, 40 percent of this agency’s grantmaking funds are

distributed through these partnerships. It’s another avenue by which NEA provides federal

support for projects that are born in and benefit local communities.

For nearly 40 years, the Endowment’s support for state arts agencies (SAAs) has helped to

leverage state funding from other sources, which for most agencies now exceeds federal

support. The SAAs play an extensive role in furthering the NEA’s reach and impact by

filtering national resources to arts organizations at the state and local level. The NEA works in

cooperation with SAAs through partnership agreements to carry out a national plan reflecting

common goals. These goals include the following components: arts education, arts in

underserved communities, and Challenge America.

An example of these partnerships at work is Challenge America: Writing Towards a Better Life

in Utah, an anthology of collected poems written by adolescents often overlooked by

traditional arts programs, including those in hospitals, homeless shelters, detention centers,

and alternative education facilities. With funds from the NEA’s Challenge America program,

the Utah Arts Council supported six separate creative writing workshops around Salt Lake

Valley, serving more than 100 young people in that area.

The North Carolina Arts Council used its

partnership grant to create two new music

initiatives for the North Carolina Public

Schools: the North Carolina Curriculum,

Music and Community project (CMC) and

the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM)

program. Out of a statewide desire to

preserve Appalachian musical culture, the

CMC project uses local musicians and their

musical traditions as a basis for teaching the

state-mandated educational curriculum. As a

complement to CMC, the JAM program

Young fiddler Clay Sutton plays at Bluff Mountain Festival, Madison

County, North Carolina, as part of the North Carolina Arts Council's

new music initiatives. 

Photo by Cedric N. Chatterley
12 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

State and Regional Partnerships

pairs children of varying musical talents with local musicians for after-school instruction in

fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, or dulcimer.

Regional arts organizations (RAOs) were created by state arts leaders, in partnership with the

Arts Endowment and the private sector, to transcend state boundaries and give the public

access to a greater and richer variety of arts experiences. A critical role of the RAOs is to make

excellent dance, theater, musical theater, opera, and literature presentations available in

underserved communities. RAOs also assist the Arts Endowment and other funders in

providing programs nationally.

One of these programs is the NEA Shakespeare in American Communities initiative, the

largest tour of Shakespeare in American history. In partnership with regional arts organization

Arts Midwest and private funder The Sallie Mae Fund, Shakespeare in American

Communities is bringing professional Shakespeare productions and related educational

activities to more than 200 communities across all 50 states (see more about the initiative in the

National Initiatives section).

The National Endowment for the Arts also supports the NEA Regional Touring program,

which helps bring high-quality performing artists and companies to communities across the

country with the help of federal, state, and private funds. Offered in partnership with the six

regional arts organizations, the program provides assistance for interstate touring and gives

priority to underserved communities.

Such touring efforts have included performances by the Seattle-based Geoffrey Castle Band,

whose lead violinist is a self-proclaimed “crazy death-defying stunt man with an electric violin.”

With support from the Eastern Oregon Regional Arts Council—a member of the regional arts

organization Western States Arts Federation—and the NEA Regional Touring program, the

Geoffrey Castle Band made a stop in LaGrande, Oregon, a sparsely populated area of eastern

Oregon. The residents of this small town embraced the eclectic band, dancing in the aisles

during the performance.

The next day, Geoffrey Castle visited the Hilgard Youth Facility, a lockdown correctional

facility for young men aged 14-18. There he received an equally warm reception and taught

the young men how to perceive music as a form of language. “I think I gave them something,

but they gave me so much more,” said Castle. “This was one of the highlights of the many

tours I’ve done. I had more fun playing for them than anywhere else.”
LIFETIME HONORS

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 13

While the NEA recognizes the importance of its primary function, that of

awarding grants to promote the availability of art to all Americans, the Arts

Endowment also recognizes the importance of giving something to artists that is

often more valuable than financial support: recognition. For an artist, recognition of his or

her work is a kind of currency that can be priceless.

The National Endowment for the Arts celebrates artists and organizations in the United States

who have achieved a level of mastery and greatness in their art forms through three lifetime

honors programs. The awards presented each year for master artists who have distinguished

themselves in their disciplines are the National Medal of Arts, NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship,

and NEA National Heritage Fellowship.

National Medal of Arts

Created by Congress in 1984, the National Medal of Arts is

conferred annually by the President to honor persons and

organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to

the excellence, support, growth, and availability of the arts in

the United States. Unlike other arts awards, the National

Medal of Arts is not limited to a single field or area of artistic

endeavor.

The National Endowment for the Arts solicits nominations for

the award from the public, which are reviewed by the National

Council on the Arts and then forwarded to the President for

final selection. The awards, which are non-monetary, are

presented each year at a special White House ceremony. The National Medal of Arts was

designed by internationally renowned sculptor Robert Graham.

NATIONAL MEDALISTS FOR 2003

Austin City Limits 

PBS Television Program

Austin, Texas

Beverly Cleary

Children’s Book Author

Carmel, California

Rafe Esquith

Arts Educator

Los Angeles, California

Suzanne Farrell 

Dancer/Company Director/Educator

Morristown, New Jersey

2003 National Medal of Arts recipient Ron Howard

with NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. 

Photo by Felicia Knight
14 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Lifetime Honors

NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship

This year was pivotal for the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship program. To reflect the esteem with

which the nation holds these great American artists, the fellowships were increased to $25,000

and the number of NEA Jazz Masters awards was increased from three to five in the following

categories: rhythm instrumentalist, solo instrumentalist, pianist, vocalist, arranger/composer,

and for the first time a non-musician category—jazz advocate, which is awarded to individuals

who have made major contributions to the appreciation, knowledge, and advancement of the

American jazz art form as a writer, patron, or presenter.

The selection criteria for the awards remain the same: musical excellence and significance of

the nominee’s contributions to the jazz art form. Named each year since 1982, the NEA Jazz

Masters form a veritable jazz hall of fame, including such luminous past members as Dave

Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Marian McPartland, and Ella Fitzgerald. More information about

submitting a nomination and the NEA Jazz Masters award is available on the NEA Web site:

www.arts.gov.

In addition, a series of activities—as part of the National Initiatives part of the program—were

added in 2004, including a two-CD set of recordings by NEA Jazz Masters through a

partnership with the Verve Music Group, a nationally televised broadcast of the awards

ceremony through a partnership with Black Entertainment Television and BET Jazz, and a

touring program of NEA Jazz Masters in concert to reach all 50 states over the next two years.

This year’s NEA Jazz Masters, presented at the annual International Association for Jazz

Education conference, were the following: 

Buddy Guy 

Blues Musician

Chicago, Illinois

Ron Howard 

Actor/Director/Writer/Producer

Greenwich, Connecticut

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Choral Group

Salt Lake City, Utah

Leonard Slatkin 

Symphony Orchestra Conductor

Washington, DC

George Strait 

Country Singer

San Antonio, Texas

Tommy Tune 

Dancer/Actor/Choreographer/Director

New York, New York
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 15

Lifetime Honors

JIM HALL

Solo Instrumentalist

Jim Hall began his illustrious career at the Cleveland Institute of

Music, and joined fellow NEA Jazz Master Chico Hamilton’s quintet

in 1955 shortly after his graduation. He continued to hone his guitar

skills throughout the early 1960s by performing with contemporary

giants such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, and Art Farmer. This

ensemble experience allowed Hall to develop a rich and free sound

while still being grounded in scholarly technique. Hall still performs and records with the trio

he founded in 1965, and has received numerous awards and Grammy nominations. He is the

first modern jazz guitarist to receive an NEA Jazz Masters award.

FORESTSTORN “CHICO” HAMILTON

Rhythm Instrumentalist

As a teenager in Los Angeles, Chico Hamilton’s first band experience

included as his classmates such jazz luminaries as Charles Mingus,

Dexter Gordon, and Illinois Jacquet. During his 1942-46 military

service, Hamilton studied drumming with NEA Jazz Master Jo Jones.

In 1948, Hamilton began a seven-year relationship with Lena Horne’s

band until the formation of his Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1955.

During the 1960s, he formed a company to score feature films and commercials for television

and radio. Hamilton served on the originating faculty at Parsons New School of Jazz in New

York,and currently teaches at the Mannes College of Music at the New School University.

HERBIE HANCOCK

Pianist

Herbie Hancock’s path toward fame was evident after performing

Mozart’s D Major Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony

Orchestra at age 11. Hancock’s fascination with electric “gadgets” led

him to study both electrical engineering and music composition at

Grinnell College in Iowa. He was extended an invitation to join Miles

Davis’s band in 1963,and his five-year residence in the band allowed

him to explore and re-define many of the traditional rules of jazz composition. He formed his

own quartet in 1973,and their debut album Head Hunters launched Hancock into his present

day stardom. His score for the movie Round Midnight won an Academy Award in 1987.

Photo by Tom Pich

Photo by Tom Pich

Photo by Joselyn Augustino
16 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Lifetime Honors

LUTHER HENDERSON

Arranger/Composer

Luther Henderson was a childhood neighbor of Duke Ellington’s

while living in Harlem, and would go on to adapt and orchestrate

some of Ellington’s larger works in the 1940s and early 1950s.

Henderson worked on more than 50 Broadway productions in

various capacities, including the Tony Award-winning Raisin, Play

On!, and Jelly’s Last Jam. Henderson also contributed to various

albums by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Andre Kostelanetz Orchestra, the Royal

Philharmonic, and others. Sadly, Henderson died of cancer before he was able to accept the

NEA Jazz Master award at the ceremony.

NAT HENTOFF

Jazz Advocate

It is fitting that Nat Hentoff was awarded the first NEA Jazz Masters

Fellowship for Jazz Advocate: he has been a major voice in jazz

literature for more than half a century. Hentoff studied as an

undergraduate at Northeastern University, then went on to pursue

graduate studies at Harvard University. In 1953, he spent four years

as an associate editor at Down Beat magazine, where he laid the

foundation for a truly remarkable career as a jazz journalist. In 1980, Hentoff was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship in education as well as a Silver Gavel Award from the American 

Bar Association.

NANCY WILSON

Vocalist

Nancy Wilson first found her voice singing in church choirs, although

she was heavily influenced by artists such as Nat King Cole and Dinah

Washington. In 1959,Wilson signed with Capitol Records and went

on to record 37 albums for the label. During her years with Capitol,

she was second in sales only to the Beatles. Wilson won an Emmy

Award in 1968 for her series The Nancy Wilson Show,and went on to

perform and guest star in numerous other programs. She was awarded honorary degrees from

Berklee School of Music and Central State University of Ohio, and currently hosts Jazz

Profiles,a weekly documentary series on National Public Radio.

Photo by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Photo by Tom Pich

Photo by Tom Pich
Lifetime Honors

NEA National Heritage Fellowship

Since its inception in 1982, the NEA National Heritage Fellowships have been awarded to

nearly 300 artists who have dedicated their lives to celebrating the nation’s diverse cultural

heritage. Previous honorees have included bluesman John Lee Hooker, Dakotah-Hidatsa

storyteller Mary Louise Defender Wilson, duck decoy carver Lem Ward, and bluegrass

musician Bill Monroe.

Eleven NEA National Heritage Fellowships, the country’s most prestigious honor in the folk

and traditional arts, were awarded in 2003. The fellowships include a one-time award of

$20,000. Artists who received the award included performers, such as Persian santur player

Manoochehr Sadeghi, and craftspeople, such as Salish beadworker and regalia maker Agnes

“Oshanee” Kenmille.

Carmencristina Moreno received the Bess Lomax Hawes Award for her lifelong contribution

to Mexican American musical heritage through songwriting, performing, and teaching. This

award recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the excellence, vitality and

public appreciation of the folk and traditional arts through teaching, collecting, advocacy and

preservation work.

2003 NEA National Heritage Fellow Lorenzo Martínez performing at the annual celebratory concert in Washington, DC. 

Photo by Jim Saah

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 17
18 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Lifetime Honors

Rosario (Emily Pulley) and Paquiro (Grant Youngblood) turn

out the light in the final scene of Central City Opera House

Association’s production of Enrique Granados’s opera

Goyescas, with libretto by Fernando Periquet. 

Photo by Mark Kiryluk

Rosa Elena Egipciaco

Puerto Rican Mundillo (bobbin lace) maker

New York, New York

Agnes “Oshanee” Kenmille

Salish beadworker and regalia maker 

Ronan, Montana

Norman Kennedy 

Weaver, singer, storyteller 

Marshfield, Vermont

Roberto and Lorenzo Martínez

Hispanic musicians

Albuquerque,New Mexico

Norma Miller

African American dancer, choreographer

Las Vegas, Nevada

Carmencristina Moreno

Mexican American singer, composer, teacher

Fresno, California

Ron Poast

Hardanger fiddle maker

Black Earth, Wisconsin

Felipe and Joseph Ruak

Carolinian stick dance leaders 

Commonwealth of the Northern 

Mariana Islands

Manoochehr Sadeghi

Persian santur player

Sherman Oaks, California

Nicholas Toth

Diving helmet designer/builder

Tarpon Springs, Florida

Basque (Bertsolari) Poets

Jesus Arriada,San Francisco, California

Johnny Curutchet,South San Francisco,

California

Martin Goicoechea,Rock Springs,

Wyoming

Jesus Goni,Reno, Nevada

Interviews with the 2003 awardees, as well as presentations of their work, can be found on the

NEA Web site (www.arts.gov). In addition, a publication celebrating the 20th anniversary of

the program is available in the publications section of the Web site.

2003 NEA NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWS
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 19

FY 2003 APPLICATIONS: GRANTS: GRANTS:

Grant Category Number Received Number Awarded Amount Awarded

Creativity 1,459 786 $ 19,983,000

Arts Learning 1,148 255 $ 10,851,000

Challenge America: Access 318 310 $ 8,235,000

Arts on Radio and Television 401 48 $ 4,455,000

Heritage/Preservation 348 172 $ 4,440,000

Organizational Capacity 120 58 $ 3,015,000

The following pages highlight successful projects that the NEA has supported in every state.

While these examples are by no means comprehensive, they are highly illustrative of the

diverse, quality art that the NEA funds.

GRANT HIGHLIGHTS
Sloss Furnace Association 

(Birmingham)

The Sloss Furnace Association in Birmingham,

Alabama is a museum and national historic landmark

on the 32-acre grounds where a blast furnace plant

made iron from 1882 to 1971. One of Sloss’s activities

is an arts program focusing on cast and formed metal

sculptures. The program highlights Birmingham’s

historic ties to the iron and steel industry.

In 2001, Sloss developed an arts-based youth

apprenticeship program to build artistic, vocational,

and social skills in high school students interested in

the arts. The program involved an eight-week

summer program that employed high school

students to work 30 hours a week with professional

artists. Earning a weekly stipend, the apprentices

learned the complex techniques of casting and 

fabricating metal sculpture.

In FY 2003, Sloss received an NEA Arts Learning

grant of $35,000 to support that year’s apprenticeship program. During the summer of 2003, five

professional artists and a teacher taught 14 apprentices the principles of three-dimensional design and

processes for creating metal art. The apprentices

learned patternmaking,moldmaking,and casting by

undertaking and successfully completing several projects that utilized these processes. Projects completed

during the summer session included large-scale

pieces such as park benches and a 16-foot tree

surround, and smaller individual sculptures.

Through regular feedback and evaluation by the

teaching artists,the apprentices developed their 

artistic, design, and technical skills. The program

culminated with the apprentices’ work being 

featured at three local arts festivals.

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

(Montgomery)

Since 1991, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival

(ASF)—the only major professional theater in

Montgomery—has hosted the Southern Writers’

Project (SWP), a new play development program

dedicated to telling the stories of the South. SWP

ALABAMA

Grant Highlights

20 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Kia Corthron’s play The Venus de Milo Is Armed received its world

premiere as part of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s

Southern Writers’ Project.

Photo by Phil Scarsbrook

has cultivated more than 30 scripts since its 

inception, with 12 of them receiving world

premieres. For the 2002-03 season, SWP was

expanded to include a new play festival, sponsored

by the Vesta Insurance Group, that focused on

Southern issues and topics, including those 

emphasizing African American experiences.

ASF received an NEA Creativity grant of $30,000 in 

FY 2003 to support the production of one of the

plays receiving a world premiere at the festival,

The Venus de Milo Is Armed by Kia Corthron. The

play follows the struggles of a middle-class, African

American family terrorized over a sudden rash of

landmine explosions at tourist attractions across the

United States. The play uses dark humor to make

keen observations about landmine production in the

United States and their use around the world.

The play premiered on the weekend of February 14,

2003, with 26 performances being held during the

festival, reaching more than 2,270 people. A free

lecture on the play by the director, Valerie 

Curtis-Newton,was held the week before the play

opened; at post-show discussions, audience participation was strong and spirited.
Grant Highlights

Organization for Northern Development

(Anchorage)

The Organization for Northern Development’s Out

North Contemporary Art House in Anchorage,

Alaska is a multidisciplinary cultural center that

produces and presents a vibrant mix of communitybased and guest artist events. Honored in 1996 by

the Alaska State Legislature for the role it plays in

“promoting the artistic, economic, educational, and

cultural development of our communities,” Out

North enjoys a national reputation for innovative arts

and literacy activities with at-risk youth. By providing

many free and low-cost programs, Out North attracts

people who ordinarily do not attend arts events.

With an FY 2003 NEA Arts Learning grant of

$20,000, Out North created a new media arts

program called Out North Teen Visions (O.N.T.V.),

which provides access to and training in video

production.The after-school and summer project

involves instruction in the fundamentals of the media

arts, including camera work, editing, and Web site

development.Participants of the program will be

encouraged to explore their creativity and learn technical skills in order to produce a media art programs

for weekly Web casts and broadcasts. Anchorage

UPN-affiliate KYES-TV agreed to make weekly

airtime available for O.N.T.V. programs, and Alaska’s

cable companies also agreed to accept these

programs for their Community Access channels.

Out North will begin implementing the project in 

the fall 2004.

Anchorage Concert Association

(Anchorage)

The Anchorage Concert Association was founded in

1950 by a group of classical music enthusiasts

committed to bringing the finest classical artists to

perform for the people of Anchorage. Since then, the

Concert Association has presented more than 600

performances of the world’s finest music,dance,and

theater. It is the largest institution for the arts in the

Anchorage community and provides a key anchor in

the touring schedules of artists for the Northwest.

ALASKA

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 21

Audiences come from Greater Anchorage,

Matanuska-Susitna Valley, all over the Kenai

Peninsula, and as far away as Barrow. An average of

100,000 people of every age, income, and cultural

background attend Concert Association performances during each season.

Since its inception, the Concert Association has

included education programs in its regular season

schedule. Master classes, lectures, demonstrations,

and workshops are held in local elementary schools,

high schools, universities, and community centers,

and in partnership with other arts organizations.

In FY 2003, the organization received an NEA

Creativity grant of $15,000 to support the dance and

music residencies of Pilobolus and the St.Lawrence

String Quartet. Members of the dance group

Pilobolus held school performances and lectures, as

well as dance master classes, before participating in

performances with the string quartet in Anchorage

and Fairbanks. The collaboration between the two

groups was a rare treat; their

only other appearances

together were in New York

City and Standford,

Connecticut.

Instead of the usual one-day

workshop, the two groups

participated in a four-day

community workshop in

Anchorage, sharing their

expertise on the creative

process of jointly choreographing dance and

composing music. At the end

of the workshop, students

performed what they learned

for the community. More

than 2,200 children and

young adults ages 9-22 were

reached by the residencies

through the workshops and

in-school activities.

An advertisement for the dance and music residencies of Pilobolus and the St. Lawrence

String Quartet presented by the Anchorage

Concert Association. 
22 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

ARIZONA

Native Seeds/SEARCH, based in Tucson, Arizona, used a multimedia approach

to teach Navajo youth about the aesthetic dimensions of farming in relation to

their culture, using audio recordings, artwork, and images, such as this one of

Gladys Begay working in her corn field. 

Photo by Jacquie Kahn

Institute for Studies in the Arts (Tempe)

The Institute for Studies in the Arts (ISA), which

recently evolved into the Arts, Media, and

Engineering program, is an interdisciplinary research

and education center at Arizona State University in

Tempe. It supports the integrated creation of art

works and technology and works with visual artists,

musicians, choreographers, engineers, and scientists

to develop much-needed media tools for the creation

of digital art.

In FY 2003, ISA received an NEA Resources for

Change: Technology grant of $150,000 to create

motione,a project which will bring together artists

and engineers to develop motion capture, analysis,

rendering, and interactive arts tools. These tools will

allow the creation of interactive multimedia works

where dance, sound, and digital images are

connected at structural and semantic levels.

Furthermore, the tools will allow three-dimensional

documentation of dance and facilitate computerassisted, user-friendly analysis of dance. There are

currently no widely used tools for computer-assisted

analysis of dance.

The project utilized ISA’s black box research and

performance spaces, where choreographers Trisha

Brown, Bill T. Jones, and Bebe Miller performed a

series of short, carefully scripted dances. Their movements were captured using eight infrared cameras;

the data from these sources was used to train the

computer to analyze the dance and recognize structural elements of each choreographer’s gesture

vocabulary and composition style.

The project motione will culminate with the creation

of three full-length multimedia works by each of the

choreographers, who will work with a team of

composers and visual artists. These projects will

premiere in 2005, with motion capture, analysis, and

documentation results being posted on a Web site

accessible to the public.

Native Seeds/SEARCH (Tucson)

Founded in 1983, Native Seeds/SEARCH, a conservation organization based in Tucson, Arizona, works

to preserve the heirloom agricultural crops used by

the indigenous peoples of the American Southwest.

In FY 2003, Native Seeds received an NEA

Challenge America: Access grant of $30,000 to

complete work on a CD-ROM that uses a multimedia approach to teach Navajo youth about the

significance of agriculture and planting techniques to

their heritage. Many young Native Americans have

lost touch with the aesthetic dimensions of farming in

relation to their culture. Incorporating artwork by

young Diné artists, audio recordings with Navajo

elders, images and interviews, the CD-ROM will

demonstrate what crops have been traditionally

utilized by the Navajo and how they are planted,

harvested, and cooked.

The CD-ROM will also include recipes,songs,

and poems. In addition, it will contain non-sacred

information about the agricultural ceremonies and

traditions associated with specific crops, months, or

seasons of the year as they pertain to the agricultural

cycle. This resource will provide an opportunity for

Navajo youth to experience and learn about the richness of their cultural heritage. Copies of the CD-ROM

will be distributed to Navajo schools and libraries.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 23

Grant Highlights

Arkansas Repertory Theatre Company

(Little Rock)

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre Company, located

in downtown Little Rock, is the state’s only professional nonprofit theater company, reaching an average

of 70,000 audience members annually. An additional

15,000 students across the state participate in the

Rep’s educational outreach program each year.

Underserved areas of the state also are accessed

through the creation of a Free Shakespeare in the

Parks program in 2002.

In FY 2003,the Rep received an NEA Challenge

America: Access grant of $48,000 to tour a production of Romeo and Juliet to four diverse Arkansas

state parks in the summer of 2004 as part of the Free

Shakespeare in the Parks program. Local residents

of these underserved parts of the state will be able to

attend performances free of charge. In the time

before the performances, the Rep staff has been

working in the communities and nearby schools,

conducting workshops on the play with students and

community members.

The four state parks designated for performances are

not near urban areas and lack resources for professional arts opportunities in their communities.For

example,Lake Chicot, one of the parks, is located in

Arkansas’s Delta region where 34 percent of the

population live in poverty. By bringing Shakespeare

to this economically challenged region, the Rep can

engage residents who normally would not have the

means to attend performing arts events. Each

performance of the play will be preceded by a discussion with the audience that addresses issues in the

play, Shakespeare’s life, and the creative process of

the production.

Davis McCombs (Fayetteville)

“I grew up on top of the longest cave in the world

(Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave), and, while working as

a Park Ranger at Mammoth Cave National Park, I

have been writing a series of poems about the cave

itself and the lives of the people above it,” Davis

McCombs stated upon learning he would receive an

ARKANSAS

NEA Literature Fellowship of $20,000. Literature

Fellowships represent the National Endowment for

the Arts’s most direct investment in American creativity, awarded to published creative writers and

translators of exceptional talent in the areas of prose

and poetry.

“With an NEA fellowship, I will take time off my

current job at the University of Arkansas to continue

my research and writing in the ‘Caveland’ of South

Central Kentucky. I propose to write a series of poems

called Tobacco Mosaic,” he said, focusing on the disappearing tradition of white burley tobacco farming and

the people who still carry on this tradition.

“The way I feel about the tobacco poems now is

similar to the way I felt about the cave poems while I

was writing them. I am certain that the poems are

important,that they must be written, but what keeps

me up at night is the worry that I’m not up to the

task, that I can’t make the poems as good as they

should be, as they deserve to be. With the help of the

NEA,I can now devote myself fully to writing them,”

McCombs said.

Used by permission of the author.
24 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey)

The Monterey Jazz Festival is the longest running jazz

festival in the world. Since 1958, it has provided a

creative platform for the most innovative and upcoming jazz musicians in the field. Past legendary

performers include Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday,

Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and John

Coltrane. Distinctive in commissioning new works,

the Monterey Jazz Festival programs a wide range of

jazz styles, from traditional to highly experimental,

and incorporates resident artists for both performance

and outreach purposes.

In FY 2003, the Monterey Jazz Festival received an

NEA Creativity grant of $25,000 for three key

components of its festival,held September 19-21,

2003: the commission and premiere of a new jazz

work,fees for artists in residence, and performances

by emerging jazz musicians. Composer Ralph

Towner was selected to write a commissioned work

entitled Monterey Suite, Parts I, II, & III,which

Master guitarist Ralph Towner (second from left) was commissioned to create a composition for the 2003 Monterey Jazz Festival

that featured bassist Glen Moore (far left), vibraphonist Gary Burton (third from left), oboist Paul McCandless (far right), and the

Monterey Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra. Photo courtesy of the Monterey Jazz Festival

CALIFORNIA

premiered to a sold-out audience on September 20,

2003. A master of the 12-string and classical guitar,

Towner performed with vibraphonist Gary Burton,

oboist Paul McCandless, bassist Glen Moore, and

percussionist Mark Walker,along with the Monterey

Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra.

Selected 2003 artists-in-residence were brothers John

and Jeff Clayton (bassist and alto saxophonist, respectively) of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra,

vibraphonist Gary Burton,drummer Jeff Hamilton,

and Towner. The artists worked with the festival’s

High School All-Star Band and appeared in a variety

of public settings,including panel discussions, moderated conversations, and technical clinics.

The distinguished group of emerging jazz artists

appeared throughout the three-day festival in more

than 50 concert performances. The 2003 Monterey

Jazz Festival attracted more than 45,000 participants

and reached an additional one million listeners

through live music broadcasts.
Naropa University (Boulder)

Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado was founded

in 1974 with a unique blend of Buddhist heritage and

traditional Western scholastic and artistic disciplines.

The university’s Department of Writing and Poetics,

known as the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied

Poetics and created by noted writers Allen Ginsberg

and Anne Waldman, has brought some of the most

significant literary figures of the 20th century to 

participate in workshops, lectures, and readings.

These events were recorded on analog cassette

tapes,some of which are deteriorating due to age.

The collection—which includes readings by such 

important artists as Ginsberg, Waldman, William

Burroughs,Diana diPrima,John Ashbery, Meredith

Monk, and John Cage—is in danger of being lost

forever if preservation measures are not implemented

soon. The tapes include more than 5,000 hours of

poetry and prose readings, panel discussions, and

lectures.

In FY 2003, Naropa University received an NEA

Heritage/Preservation grant of $25,000 to support

the preservation of 800 hours of these recordings.

The potential value of the collection to scholars in the

arts, humanities,and social sciences is immense.

Providing readings by a vast array of postmodern

American writers, the recordings are an excellent

resource for understanding our nation’s literary and

cultural heritage.

The preservation project will not only clean up the

tapes and transfer them to digital formats, which last

longer than analog formats, but also make the recordings more available to scholars and the general public

through library in-house use and the development of

a Web site for the archive.

Central City Opera House Association

(Central City)

Located 35 miles west of the city of Denver,

Colorado,Central City was once the center of a gold

rush that led to the building in 1878 of the city’s own

opera house. In 1932, the Central City Opera House

Association was formed to renovate the building,

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 25

Grant Highlights

Radio Bilingüe (Fresno)

Radio Bilingüe is a public radio service that produces

and distributes original programming to more than

five FM radio stations in the Latino communities of

the San Joaquin, Salinas, and Imperial Valleys and to

57 affiliates in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico.

It reaches weekly radio audience of more than

500,000 individuals, many of whom speak English 

as a second language.

In FY 2003, Radio Bilingüe received a $46,000 NEA

Creativity grant to support production in 2003 and

2004 of the annual ¡Viva El Mariachi! Festival, which

showcased local, national, and international mariachi

groups. The festival also provides workshops where

community members can work with master musicians

as a means of passing along this rich cultural tradition.

The first day of the annual festival includes a daylong,

hands-on Mariachi Musical and Cultural Workshop,

where NEA National Heritage Fellow Natividad Cano

(artistic director of the festival) and other master mariachi musicians lead workshops for groups of up to 

200 people.These workshops, which are open to

people of all ages and ability levels, offer instruction in

the violin, vihuela, guitar, guitarrón, trumpet, and

vocals.Students spend the day working with the 

musicians to master new techniques and eventually

master new songs.

The highlight of the festival is the final concert, which

occurs at the end of the weekend, featuring several top

mariachi groups, including Mariachi Vargas de

Tecalitlán, Nati Cano y el Mariachi Los Camperos,

Mariachi Imperial de Mexico, Mariachi Garibaldi,

Los Cenzontles, Mariachi Mujer 2000, and Mariachi

Mexico de Pepe Villa for the 2003 and 2004 festivals.

Some of the intermediate students who attended

workshops at the festival also took the stage and

performed the songs they rehearsed together.

COLORADO
26 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

which had become dilapidated. The Opera House

has provided both traditional and contemporary

works to the region for more than 70 years. Besides

the popular Summer Opera Festival, the Opera

House Association provides year-round outreach to

schools and rural communities.

For its 2003 season, the Opera House Association

received an NEA Creativity grant of $20,000 to

support a new production of Enrique Granados’s

opera Goyescas, with libretto by Fernando Periquet.

The opera, sung in Spanish, has been fully staged in

the United States only rarely since its premiere at the

Metropolitan Opera in 1916.

Using his piano suite of the same name, Granados

presents music and story that is thoroughly Spanish.

The piano suite is named after scenes from the works

of the artist Francisco Goya and is considered the

beginning of modern Spanish music, using the country’s folk music motifs for the various pieces. Using

Goya’s pictures as the basis of the opera, the one-act

work is set in early 19th century Madrid and involves

the love stories of a bullfighter Paquiro and his girlfriend Pepa, and of the aristocratic Rosario and her

captain, Fernando.

Central City’s performance starred soprano Emily

Pulley, baritone Grant Youngblood, and tenor Chad

Shelton. The opera was performed on July 5, 2003

on a double bill with Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s

I Pagliacci. 

The chorus sings and dances in ceremonious fervor in a scene from Central City Opera House Association’s production of 

Enrique Granados’s opera Goyescas, with libretto by Fernando Periquet. 

Photo by Mark Kiryluk
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 27

CONNECTICUT

The Artists Collective (Hartford)

The Artists Collective of Hartford, Connecticut was

created in 1970 by jazz musician Jackie McLean

(2001 NEA Jazz Master) and his wife Dollie, an

actress and dancer, to provide training in dance,

music, drama, African arts, and visual arts to children

in some of the poorest neighborhoods of the city. The

Collective’s professional staff of working artists structure programs not only to provide high quality arts

instruction, but also to develop cultural awareness

and self-discipline within the participants.

In FY 2003,the Artists Collective received an NEA

Arts Learning grant of $40,000 to support music and

dance workshops and master classes for students.

Since Hartford Public Schools have been scaling

back and eliminating their arts education programs,

the Collective is one of the few community organizations filling that void. The youth who participate in

the Collective’s programs are predominately African

American, Caribbean, or Latino from low-income

neighborhoods. For many of these children, it is their

only exposure to the arts.

The classes met Monday through Saturday from

September to June, with the most talented youth

auditioning for the two performing ensembles and

the Youth Jazz Orchestra. Dance classes included

instruction in traditional African, Afro-Cuban, jazz,

tap, modern, and ballet. The music classes involved

beginning and advanced theory and instruction in

bass, piano, reeds, violin, brass, guitar, drums, and

voice. Altogether, more than 800 youth participated

in the classes.

Curbstone Press (Williamantic)

Curbstone Press of Williamantic,Connecticut was

founded in 1975 to focus on creative literature that

encourages a deeper understanding between cultures,

which involves a great many literary translations of

works by writers American readers might not otherwise

have the opportunity to read.In FY 2003,Curbstone

received an NEA Creativity grant of $20,000 to support

the translation,publication,and promotion of some of

these contemporary poetry and fiction writers.

Artists Collective founder Jackie McLean (2001 NEA Jazz Master)

assisting a student during the annual student showcase. 

Photo courtesy of the Artists Collective

Curbstone publishes 8-12 works annually; the NEA

grant will assist in the publication of three of these by

writers from Vietnam, Guatemala, and El Salvador:

The Time Tree by Huu Thinh (translated by George

Evans and Nguyen Qui Duc),Cascabel by Arturo

Arias (translated by Sean Higgins), and Casting Off

by Claribel Alegria (translated by Margaret Sayers

Peden). Since commercial publishers usually neglect

translations outside of the infrequent bestsellers,

small nonprofit publishers like Curbstone fulfill the

need to bring this wealth of literature from other

cultures to U.S. audiences.

Huu Thinh is one of the premier poets of Vietnam,

having received awards for his poetry from the

Vietnam Writers’ Association. George Evans, founder

and editor of the public arts project Streetfare Journal

as well as author of five books of poetry, has translated exclusively from Huu Thinh’s work with

Nguyen Qui Duc. Arturo Arias, whose work includes

a credit for the screenplay of El Norte, is the author of

several books of fiction and criticism, specializing in

ethnic issues. His novel Cascabel was originally

published in Spanish in 1998. Sean Higgins had

previously translated Arias’s novel Rattlesnake with

Jill Robbins.Claribel Alegria, one of the major living

poets of El Salvador, has written more than 40 books,

including her latest,Casting Off,which examines

personal loss and the contemplation of death.

Margaret Sayers Peden has translated more than 

35 books by Latin American authors such as Isabel

Allende, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz.
Grant Highlights

DELAWARE

Delaware Symphony Orchestra

(Wilmington)

The Delaware Symphony Orchestra, based in

Wilmington, has grown from offering two performances a year in the 1930s to approximately 50 annual

concerts and other activities. The DSO is Delaware’s

only statewide arts organization, and serves the entire

state with its concerts, touring, and outreach activities.

To support these outreach activities, in FY 2003 the

DSO received a Challenge America: Access grant of

$20,000 to reach the underserved, rural parts of the

state. From September to November 2003, DSO

members participated in 30 visits to schools in rural

southern Delaware, providing lectures and performances.These outreach activities reached more than

1,000 students and teachers who would not otherwise be exposed to classical music. Specifically, the

DSO provided a woodwind quartet, string quintet,

brass quintet, and percussion trio to interact at eight

schools in the communities, showing how the various

instruments interact with one another, how orchestral

music is related to other music the students listen to,

and career options as musicians.

Every January, the DSO conducts Lollipop Concerts

for families and their children in Wilmington and

southern Delaware. In January 2003, movement artist

Dan Kamin conducted a week-long residency in the

community, performing at elementary and middle

schools, nursing homes, and shopping malls. He then

performed with the DSO for the annual Lollipop

Concert,The Lost Elephant. The piece involved

Kamin miming to music provided by the DSO a

storyline involving a zookeeper who loses an elephant.

The piece was performed in Wilmington and the rural

town of Milford. Through its many activities, the DSO

is able to reach thousands of new audience members.

28 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

A conservation project involving murals created during the Work Projects

Administration in the 1930s was undertaken in 2003 at the John Bassett Moore

School in Smyrna, Delaware, restoring murals that depicted scenes reflecting

Delaware’s life and culture. 

Photos courtesy of Smyrna School District

Smyrna School District (Smyrna)

In Smyrna, Delaware, a small town of 6,000 people,

history is being revisited, or more accurately,

preserved. At the middle school, John Bassett Moore

School, eight murals hang in the auditorium and

library. Created in the 1930s by the Brandywine River

School artists Walter Pyle, Jr., Stafford Good, and

Edward Grant as part of the U.S. Work Projects

Administration (WPA), these murals reflect

Delaware’s regional life and culture, depicting the

shipping industry, scenes of agriculture, student activities, the heritage of Shakespeare in America, and a

history of America that focuses on Delaware.

To ensure that the murals survive and are able to be

viewed by more people,a preservation project was

begun. With support from an NEA Heritage/

Preservation grant of $10,000 in FY 2003, the

Smyrna School District had the murals conserved at

an off-site location while the middle school was being

renovated. Two of the murals in the auditorium were

covered by a streaky brown varnish, which was

removed. The other six had a grayish coat of grime

from approximately 70 years of exhibition, and 

scattered punctures and tears.

MBNA Corporation stored the murals free of charge

in its climate-controlled warehouse while the restoration plans were developed. Senior art conservators

from the University of Delaware’s Art Conservation

Department supervised the restoration of the murals

while the renovation of the middle school was 

taking place. When the renovation was completed 

in December 2003, the murals were reinstalled in

the school.
Capital Concerts (Washington)

In FY 2003, Capital Concerts, a Washington, DCbased production company, received an NEA Arts on

Radio and Television grant of $25,000 to put on two

of our nation’s greatest celebrations: The National

Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth. The

concerts, held at the U.S. Capitol, were broadcast on

the Public Broadcasting System and National Public

Radio,reaching more than 13 million households,in

addition to the more than 250,000 individuals who

attended them in Washington, DC.

The National Memorial Day Concert featured

moving musical productions, dramatic readings, and

archival footage that honored all those who fought on

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 29

The National Symphony Orchestra perform in front of the Capitol for 

A Capitol Fourth, an annual concert series celebrating the nation’s 

independence day. Photo courtesy of Capital Concerts

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Grant Highlights

behalf the United States. The National Symphony

Orchestra performed alongside the U.S. Joint Armed

Forces Color Guard, U.S. Army Chorus, U.S. Navy

Sea Chanters, and the Choral Arts Society of

Washington. The event also featured appearances by

a wide range of officials and celebrities, including

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers,

Senator John Glenn, Tom Wopat, Renee Fleming,

Michael Crawford, Tony Randall, and Dylan

McDermott.

The concert included a patriotic tribute, which

honored the soldiers serving in the Persian Gulf,

commemorated the fifty-year anniversary of the end

of the Korean War, and remembered the sacrifices of

those lost in the Vietnam War, in addition to memorializing the civilians and members of the armed forces

who died on September 11, 2001.

The Capitol Fourth concert serves as a birthday 

celebration for the nation, where a wide range of

performers honor the American spirit, including

artists such as Dolly Parton, Kristen Chenowith,

Barry Bostwick, the Chieftains, and James Ingram.

The concert also included a tribute to composer

John Williams by the National Symphony Orchestra.

The Octagon (Washington)

The Octagon, the Museum of the American

Architectural Foundation, is a museum of architecture

and design in Washington, DC. In FY 2003, the

Octagon’s Prints and Drawings Collection received a

Save America’s Treasures grant of $62,000 to restore

the original presentation model of the World Trade

Center, constructed by the office of project architect

Minoru Yamasaki between 1969 and 1971. The

federal Save America’s Treasures program, begun in

1999 as a millennium initiative, addresses the urgent

preservation needs of the nation’s most significant

historic sites and collections.

This model is all that remains of the WTC site in its

original form, and provides the public with a unique

view of the original complex of six buildings as

completed in the early 1970s. Measuring approxi-
Grant Highlights

FLORIDA

Brevard Community College (Cocoa)

In the 1950s, a small group of African American

artists began traveling around Florida, painting the

waterscapes, marshes, and inlets of the state.

Excluded from the art galleries because of their race,

these artists sold their works out of the trunks of their

cars in the central Florida area between the cities of

Fort Pierce, Daytona, and Orlando. Discovered by art

historian Jim Fitch in the 1990s, they became known

as the Highwaymen and are now receiving recognition for their artistic achievements.

In FY 2003,the Moore Multicultural Center of

Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Florida

received an NEA Heritage/Preservation grant of

$10,000 to support an exhibition and educational

activities featuring the Highwaymen’s work. The

exhibition of Highwaymen’s artwork was shown in

March 2004 at the center. On a quarterly basis, the

center will feature additional Highwaymen’s work,

with some of the artists participating in residency.

A festival celebrating the Highwaymen’s work was

held for the exhibition opening in March,attended

by five of the artists who discussed and demonstrated

their work. Through the exhibition, the Moore

Multicultural Center brought this diverse group 

of artists greater visibility in the community in 

which they worked, and was able to both preserve

their stories of struggle for artistic expression and

help them pass their artistic traditions on to future

generations.

In addition, some of the artists have been conducting

community workshops and lectures/demonstrations

at local public schools. Highwayman R. L. Lewis, Jr.

conducted the first workshops in January and April

2004 for 20 area residents, and three more are scheduled over the next year for an additional 40

participants.In April 2004,Lewis also conducted a

lecture and painting demonstration for 100 area high

school students. Additional educational activities at

elementary and secondary schools are planned for fall

2004 and spring 2005.

mately 8 x 10 feet at the base, with the twin towers

measuring 7 feet high, the piece is a three-dimensional icon and a testimonial to the craftsmanship of

the Minoru Yamasaki Associates (MYA) model shop.

A specially trained team of model makers and

conservators, aided by original members of the MYA

model shop, were assembled to conserve the model.

New molds were fabricated to recreate missing

model pieces. Paint was carefully matched, and

utilizing the same techniques employed by the original team, pieces were cast, painted, hand waxed, and

individually applied to the model. Damaged roofs

were stabilized, missing model automobiles and

pedestrians were located and painted, brass

handrails and missing fencing were reproduced,

loose pieces were reattached,and water-damaged

paper areas were replaced.

30 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

A fan examines the work of Highwayman Isaac Knight at the exhibition in

March 2004 at the Moore Mulitcultural Center of Brevard Community College

in Cocoa, Florida.

Photo courtesy of the Moore Multicultural Center, Brevard Community College
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 31

Grant Highlights

GEORGIA

Florida Dance Association (Miami Beach)

The Florida Dance Association (FDA), formed in

Miami Beach in 1972, began holding a summer

dance festival in 1979, becoming the first statewide

gathering of dance artists. Since then, audiences for

the Florida Dance Festival have grown to more than

4,000, including people from across the United States

and internationally.

To support their 25th season, the Florida Dance

Association received an NEA Creativity grant of

$35,000 in FY 2003. The two-week event in June

2003 included ten public performances and events

and an extensive series of more than 200 master

classes, workshops, and panel discussions. The

classes and workshops covered just about every style

of dance, from ballet to African to modern. Topics

included improvisation, finding form, writing and

moving, and repertory. Approximately 300 students,

dancers, choreographers, teachers, and performing

artists attended the educational sessions.

Artists at the event included Giovanni Luquini 

and Dancers,a theater-dance company;

Creach/Company, a contemporary modern dance

company; danceAble, a company featuring artists

with and without disabilities; and a program by Liz

Lerman Dance Exchange.

Besides generating additional tourists to the area

during a traditionally non-active time of the year, the

festival highlights Florida’s dance talent and treats

audiences to a variety of dance forms and artists they

may not otherwise see.

Altanta Educational Telecommunications

Collaborative (Atlanta)

The work of Jacob Lawrence, one of the great African

American artists, has been getting more and more

exposure in recent years, including an NEA-sponsored touring exhibition put together by the Phillips

Collection in Washington, DC. To continue providing access to this exceptional visual artist, Atlanta

Educational Telecommunications Collaborative

(AETC)—a partnership of the Atlanta Public Schools

and various colleges and universities in Atlanta—is

creating a one-hour documentary on Lawrence’s life

with the support of an FY 2003 NEA Arts on Radio

and Television grant of $45,000.

Lawrence’s art addressed many of the social,political,

economic, and philosophical issues facing African

Americans in the 20th century. The film will follow

Lawrence’s life, from his upbringing in Harlem in the

1930s through his attendance of the Harlem Art

Workshop and his early artistic success to his 

struggles with fame. The film also addresses his

creative process, how his style changed over time, and

how he decided which topics to focus on.Lawrence’s

work is tied tightly to the African American community, and often reflects their lives and struggles.

AETC is working with the Phillips Collection and

Gancie Television of Washington, DC on the project.

The two organizations are providing technical assistance and footage of interviews with Lawrence from

1992 through 2000.

The film will be publicized through several means. To

expand the Jacob Lawrence Web site, the program

producers will provide interview transcripts, audio

and video clips, and additional production-related

information on Lawrence, his art, and the Harlem

community. The film is also being screened at several

museums, such as the Phillips, and at events such as

the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta and the

National Association of Black Journalists.
32 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

Members of the McIntosh County Shouters (1993 NEA National Heritage Fellows) participated in one segment of the radio series,

Changing Sounds of South Georgia, developed by the Georgia Folklife Project of the Valdosta State University. 

Photo courtesy of Valdosta State University

Valdosta State University (Valdosta)

Founded in 1998, the South Georgia Folklife Project

of the Valdosta State University began through an

NEA Folk and Traditional Arts Infrastructure

Initiative grant to promote and preserve traditional

arts and offer technical assistance to traditional artists

and arts organizations.

One of the programs the South Georgia Folklife

Project is developing, with assistance from an FY

2003 NEA Challenge America: Access grant of

$13,000, is a new radio series on the traditional arts

of diverse communities in southern Georgia,

Changing Sounds of South Georgia. The series will

be packaged in 13 five-minute segments, highlighting the exemplary traditions of artists and

communities in this underserved, rural area of the

state. The South Georgia Folklife Project hopes to

create a new audience for the region’s folk arts and

demonstrate the influence of these artists on the

heritage of the region. The radio series will be linked

to future educational materials for K-12 educators.

Changing Sounds of South Georgia will focus not

only on the older, long-established traditional arts,

but also the newer cultural communities in this

region, such as the growing Asian and Latino populations. The series provides visibility to the growing

diversity of the state’s cultural heritage. Topics for

particular segments include the Gullah traditions of

the Georgia Sea Islands featuring NEA National

Heritage Fellows, the McIntosh County Shouters;

the large Lebanese community of Lowndes County;

and migrant workers from Mexico and Guatemala.

The NEA grant will provide assistance in doing

fieldwork, location sound recording, and production

for the radio series. Up to 50 artists’ work will be

featured, and the show is expected to reach an audience of 850,000 people.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 33

HAWAII

National Organization for Traditional Artists

Exchange (Honolulu)

The National Organization for Traditional Artists

Exchange (NOTAE) in Honolulu, Hawaii promotes,

documents,and preserves the unique cultural heritage

of Hawaii through the presentation of concerts, exhibitions, and events. It was founded by ethnomusicologist

J.W. Junker and Dr. Michael Schuster. Schuster has

dedicated his life to preserving and understanding

these art forms as an extension of his commitment to

the people and traditions of Hawaii, and acts as the

resident folklorist for NOTAE. In FY 2003,

NOTAE received an NEA Folk and Traditional 

Arts Infrastructure Initiative grant of $25,000 to

support a resident folklorist.

Schuster performed a variety of functions in this role,

including acting as a liaison to other arts groups,

organizing events, participating in workshops, and

developing outreach programs on neighboring

islands, including Hawaii, Maui, and Molokai. He

put together exhibits on Okinawan music, traditional

Flamenco dancer La Tania and her dancers are one of the performers sponsored by the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Hawaii during

their 2003 season. 

Photo by Karen Fischer

Hawaiian artists, Japanese tea ceremonies, and 

bowl making using video pieces he produced in

conjunction with students in local housing projects.

He also organized a concert featuring NEA National

Heritage Fellow Harry Seisho Nakasone, who

performs Okinawan Uta-Sanshin, a type of Japanese

classical singing.

In addition to these activities, Schuster interviewed

local and visiting artists for the Pacific Visions radio

series. Broadcast on Hawaii Public Radio, this is the

only series in the state that focuses exclusively on

traditional arts and artists. The one-hour program

combines interviews, recordings, and in-studio

performances by artists from the United States,

China, Japan, India, and Korea.

Maui Arts and Cultural Center (Maui)

The Maui Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) is one

of the most comprehensive arts facilities in Hawaii,

featuring two indoor theaters, an outdoor amphitheater, an art gallery, a pa hula (hula stage), dance
Grant Highlights

IDAHO

studios, and classrooms. These state-of-the-art 

facilities have been home to a variety of artists,

including hula dancers, folk singers, salsa dancers,

and high school bands.

In FY 2003, MACC received an NEA Challenge

America: Access grant of $40,000 to support a year

of programming, outreach activities, and workshops.

MACC offered several series of programs: a dance

series; Tune In, a chamber music and jazz series; and

Local Voices—Mele, which presents Hawaiian musical artists. Performers who appeared during the

period of support included the Art of Rice Traveling

Theatre, flamenco dancer La Tania, the Gryphon

Piano Trio, and ukulele player Shimabukuro. This

year, the MACC began a new series called Local

Voices—Talk-Story,which presents works by local

playwrights about life in Hawaii.

In addition to these programs, the MACC presented

the Ho’onanea Hawaiian series, which featured a

variety of artists from around the state. In 2003, the

series hosted artists such as vocalist Na Leo, hula

master Sonny Ching and Halau Na Mamo O

Pu’uanahulu,and contemporary music duo Cecilio

Rodriguez and Henry Kapono. Many of these artists

participated in the variety of outreach activities the

MACC offers, including free concerts in nearby

communities, workshops, and lectures.

Idaho Shakespeare Festival (Boise)

Since 1980, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s Rural

Outreach project has brought high-quality theater

productions to more than 45,000 students. The project, which was supported by an NEA Challenge

America: Access grant of $18,000 in FY 2003,

reaches students in 90 percent of the school districts

in Idaho, many of whom will experience live theater

for the first time through this program. It also tours in

Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Montana, and

Wyoming.

The program includes two components: Shakesperience, intended for middle and high school

students; and Idaho Theatre for Youth for grades 

K-6.Shakesperience presents abridged versions of

classic Shakespeare plays; in 2003, they performed

The Comedy of Errors and provided study guides,

a Web site, and additional educational material 

to help teachers integrate the experience into 

their curriculum.

The Idaho Theatre for Youth performs specially

commissioned adaptations of works of interest to

young audience. In 2003, it featured a play based 

on the short story “Moss Gown” by William H.

Hooks for its three-month tour.Programs were 

also distributed,which included a synopsis of the

play, lesson plans, and study questions about 

the performance.

The Rural Outreach Program tours year-round;

works are performed by professional actors and

talented amateurs who audition for the performances.

The company also includes several individuals who

saw performances by the festival as children and were

inspired to participate as adults. Additional components of the outreach program include a matinee

series for high school students, a drama school, and

apprenticeship opportunities.

As part of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s program, the Idaho

Theatre for Youth performed a play based on the short story

“Moss Gown” by William H. Hooks in 2003. 

Photo courtesy of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival

34 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 35

Grant Highlights

ILLINOIS

Sun Valley Center for the Arts (Sun Valley)

The Sun Valley Center for the Arts was founded in

1971 with the goal of making this remote area of

Idaho not only a ski resort, but also a community. In

FY 2003, it strengthened community ties using an

NEA Challenge America: Access grant of $25,000,

allowing it to create a new series of lectures, classes,

and events celebrating the Mexican heritage of many

local residents. More than 3,500 people attended

these activities.

The Dos Culturas Project was created with the intent

of celebrating the large Latino population of Sun

Valley. As part of this initiative, the center sponsored

piñata-making workshops, wax flower demonstrations, poetry readings,Mexican cooking classes,and

lectures on the history of Mexican Americans in

Idaho. Several exhibitions of artwork were also

featured, including tile-covered cars by Betsebee

Romero, linocuts by Alfredo Zalce, and documentary

photographs by Barbi Reed. Romero also placed

decorative signs along the trail which crosses the

valley as a comment on the trail’s role as a symbolic

and literal connection between the Mexican and 

non-Mexican residential areas.

One element of the project was a month-long residency with poet Rigoberto Gonzalez,author of

several collections of poetry, including Skin Preserve

Usand Crossing Vines. He worked with the Hailey

Public Library to increase the attendance of Spanishspeaking individuals at the library, gave lectures, and

read from his books of poetry. Several workshops

were included as part of a residency, including one to

help younger children discover a love of poetry, and

another for older students who wrote their own autobiographical books in Spanish.

Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus (Glen Ellyn)

For the past 39 years, the Glen Ellyn Children’s

Chorus (GECC) has helped nurture budding musicians in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois with

the belief that all children are inherently musical. In

FY 2003, it received an NEA Arts Learning grant of

$15,000 to support the continuation of its many

classes, workshops, performances, and outreach

activities.

GECC offers instruction to children of all levels of

ability from preschool through high school. The

chorus performed a wide range of music, from classical masterworks to jazz and opera. Music from

different cultures and in different languages was used

as the curriculum, and the repertory included works

from Australia, Latin America, Newfoundland, and

Africa. GECC also regularly commissions new

works, and in the past five years has commissioned

works by composers Stephan Paulus, Steven Leek,

Wayland Rogers,and Jennifer Shelton.

The Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus offers instruction to children of all ability

levels, from preschool through high school, performing a wide range of music.

Photo courtesy of the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
36 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

GECC tours locally, nationally, and internationally,

performing recently throughout the Midwest, at

Carnegie Hall, and in Australia, New Zealand, and

Brazil. Following its successful tour in Australia in

2002, GECC invited the Australian National

Children’s Chorus, or Godwana Voices, to perform

with them during its Honors Chorus SingFest, an

annual day-long workshop. In 2003, 75 local music

teachers and 450 of the most interested students

participated in classes, rehearsals, and musical activities. The day culminated with a joint performance of

the GECC, Godwana Voices, and the Honors Chorus.

3-D Chicago (Chicago)

Every year, 3-D Chicago hosts the biggest exhibition

of large-scale sculpture in the world, Pier Walk. In FY

2003, 3-D Chicago used an NEA Challenge America:

Access grant of $25,000 to install 35 sculptures on

and around Chicago’s Navy Pier. One of Chicago’s

most prominent landmarks, Navy Pier originally

served as a shipping facility but later was renovated to

become a shopping center, conference hall, theater,

ballroom, and promenade. Approximately six million

visitors saw Pier Walk in 2003, making it the most

viewed exhibition in the world.

Pier Walk offers visitors to Chicago the unique 

opportunity to experience art up close and in an 

interactive environment. The exhibition provides 

free tours, an illustrated guide, and an accompanying

Web site. Each year, pieces are selected for the 

exhibition by a single individual respected by the 

art community; in 2003, Pier Walk was judged by

David Pagel, a Los Angeles critic, curator, and 

educator. The sculptures he chose were created by

artists from around the world, including Irina

Koukhanova, Wayne Littlejohn, Pat McDonald,

Clement Meadmore, and Joyce Audy Zirin.

Sculptures ranged from five to thirty-five feet tall, and

the heaviest weighed more than 12 tons. Each piece

conformed to certain criteria based upon the unique

nature of the exhibition—since the sculptures are

unsupervised, each one needed to be immovable,

rounded, and sturdy to prevent injury to viewers.

Following the exhibition, pieces were sold, put on tour,

or loaned to surrounding communities for display.

INDIANA

Fort Wayne Philharmonic (Fort Wayne)

The Fort Wayne Philharmonic has been crucial to the

musical landscape of northern Indiana since its debut

in 1944. Under the current direction of Edvard

Tchivzhel, the philharmonic continues to bring the

highest quality classical music to the community

through a 38-week concert season and a variety of

educational and outreach initiatives.

In FY 2003, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic received

an NEA Arts Learning grant of $20,000 to continue

the Preschool Music Program for the 2003-2004

school year, in collaboration with the Childhood

Alliance of Northeast Indiana Head Start and the

Early Childhood Alliance. Now in its fifth year, this

program was created to battle the declining arts

curriculum in minority and inner-city preschools of

Fort Wayne, with the aim of exposing and involving

these children in music through classroom activities

and ensemble performances.

Two essential components of the Preschool Music

Program include specialized classroom music curricula

and two live ensemble performances by philharmonic

musicians. Each of the participating teachers receive a

music curriculum,which includes 24 lesson plans and

two compact discs teaching music fundamentals

through interactive activities with the students.

Additionally, each preschool has access to a variety of

rhythm instruments, which will allow students to learn

musical concepts by hands-on participation.

The Preschool Music Program culminates in two

ensemble performances led by Fort Wayne

Fort Wayne Philharmonic musicians interact with preschool children as part

of the Preschool Music Program. 

Photo courtesy of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 37

IOWA

Grant Highlights

Philharmonic musicians, offering students close interaction with both the musicians and their instruments.

The Preschool Music Program will serve 17 Head

Start and Early Childhood Alliance sites, reaching

more than 900 “at-risk” children in the greater Fort

Wayne area.

Sheldon Swope Art Museum (Terre Haute)

Made possible by a large bequest from local jeweler

Sheldon Swope, the Sheldon Swope Art Museum in

Terre Haute, Indiana opened its doors to the public

in 1942. Acquiring a magnificent collection of late

nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century

American art, the Swope Art Museum exists to

preserve, exhibit, and interpret this collection, as well

as to feature artists from the Wabash Valley area. The

museum remains equally dedicated to introducing

children of this area to the fine arts by focusing on the

strengths of its own collection.

In FY 2003, the Sheldon Swope Art Museum

received an NEA Arts Learning grant of $10,000 to

support the Rural Arts Initiative for the 2003-4 to

2004-5 school years. This initiative will provide

fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in rural underserved

schools of Wabash Valley with interdisciplinary

lesson plans centered on American art,artists,and art

history. Museum educators will also make follow-up,

in-class visits to prepare students for a trip to the

museum, discussing everything from the artworks to

appropriate museum behavior.

The Rural Arts Initiative culminates in a class trip to

the Swope, during which the students view collections and go to the Education Center to participate in

hands-on activities, including photography and printmaking. The Swope also intends to create a section

on its Web site for post-visit resources, which will

feature games, stories, activities, and slide shows that

compliment the visit and teachers’ lesson plans.

The goal of the Rural Arts Initiative is not only to build

fine arts resources for underserved schools but also to

encourage a life-long appreciation for the arts. An estimated 2,500 students will benefit from the program.

Des Moines Metro Opera (Des Moines)

The Des Moines Metro Opera has put together

several programs, beyond its seasonal performances,

that show its commitment to the community. The

Apprentice Artist Program, begun in 1975, brings

young professionals together for seven weeks of

intensive training in all aspects of opera performance, providing greater opportunities for those

seeking an operatic career. Operation Opera

provides clients from community social and human

service organizations access to a year-long calendar

of opera-related educational opportunities and

performances. Opera Iowa is a 13-week touring

program that travels to rural communities 

throughout Iowa and nearby states, providing

performances and workshops to both the 

communities and the schools.

In FY 2003, the opera company received an NEA

Arts Learning grant of $15,000 to support its Opera

Iowa program in 2003-2004. Since 1986, Opera

Iowa has reached more than 500,000 people in nine

states as well as China and Japan, and has earned the

Governor’s Award for Distinguished Service to the

State of Iowa.

For the 2003-2004 season,Opera Iowa toured

schools throughout Iowa and neighboring states

with two productions. A Tale of Peter Rabbit by 

Iowa composer Michael Patterson and Hansel and

Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck provided more

than 80 performances and 320 classroom workshops. Approximately 25,000 students participated

in the spring tour, which ran from February 2 – 

April 16, 2004.

Hancher Auditorium (Iowa City)

Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa in

Iowa City has been one of the best places in the state

to find some of the world’s finest performing arts.

Since 1986, Hancher has commissioned more than

100 new works, creating a diverse body of performances that have attracted audiences from all over 

the region.
Chou Chang-ning of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan performs in Cursive, a dance piece co-commissioned by the Hancher 

Auditorium at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. 

Photo by Liu Chen-hsiang

Grant Highlights

38 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

In FY 2003, Hancher received an NEA Creativity

grant of $15,000 to support commissions of new

works by the preeminent modern dance companies

Paul Taylor Dance Company and Cloud Gate

Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Hancher has a long

history with these companies, both of which were

celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2003-2004.

Paul Taylor, recipient of numerous awards and

honors in his long career, including a National

Medal of Arts in 1993, celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2003-2004. The piece commissioned to

celebrate the company’s anniversary was Dante

Variations, set to Musica Ricercata by noted

composer Gyorgy Ligeti and adapted for barrel

organ. The dance piece takes a line from Dante’s

Infernoas a subtitle: “These are the nearly soulless

whose lives concluded neither blame nor praise,”

and addresses the themes of frustration and struggle.

The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, whose

repertoire has its roots in Asian myths, folklore, and

aesthetics, celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2003-

2004. The commissioned piece, Cursive, is inspired

by Chinese calligraphy. The work explores the

energy of the brush stroke through dance and

includes computer-enhanced video projections that

allow the calligraphy to move along with the music 

and movement.
KANSAS

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 39

Grant Highlights

Bluesman Eddie C. Campbell performs at the 2003 Kansas City Kansas

Street Blues Festival, a free community music festival. 

Photo by T. Michael Stanley

working on lesson plans and activities. She also

taught the lesson plans for a class of 90 first-graders

for two days to demonstrate how the instruction can

integrate the arts with the math curriculum. In the fall

of 2004, she will conduct another week-long residency for first- through fourth-grade teachers. The

dance company Pilobolus Too will also perform a

week-long residency in the fall of 2004, including a

performance for approximately 650 fourth-grade

students. In addition, a five-day summer institute will

be held in 2004 for pre-kindergarten teachers to get

training and hands-on experience in arts integration.

Kaw Valley Arts & Humanities 

(Kansas City)

The Kansas City Kansas Street Blues Festival was

started in 2000 to honor the rich heritage of blues

music that originated in the city. The festival takes

place in the Third Street neighborhood of Kansas

City, Kansas, a hotbed for blues in the 1950s through

1970s. The KCK Street Blues Festival focuses on

performers who were born, raised, and lived in

Kansas City, Kansas, or who played a significant

number of years there.

Kaw Valley Arts & Humanities,which runs the KCK

Street Blues Festival, received an NEA Heritage/

Preservation grant of $10,000 in FY 2003 to support

the two-day festival’s fourth year. Over the four years,

audiences for the free community festival have grown

from 1,300 to more than 6,500 people.

KCK is a real street festival, closing down three long

city blocks to stage the event, with side streets and

vacant lots used for parking. Local musicians celebrate their culture and their community. Although

held in a neighborhood with a reputation for crime,

the festival has been held for four years without 

incident and proves to be a positive event for the

community.

The performers for the 2003 event included nationally known bluesmen Lazy Lester, Bobby Watson,

and Eddie C.Campbell,as well as less known but

powerful local artists such as Myra Taylor, Eugene

Smiley, and King Alex.

Unified School District #497 (Lawrence)

The Lawrence, Kansas Public School system serves

approximately 10,000 students, about a third of

whom are from low-income families. In order to

ensure that all students receive instruction in the arts,

the Lawrence Public School District created the

Strategies in Math, Arts and Reading for Teachers

and Students (smARTS) project, which makes available a teaching model to integrate the arts into reading

and math curricula using arts-based teacher training

and hands-on activities with students.The project

involves collaboration among the Lawrence Public

Schools, Baker University, and Adventures in

Imagination, a business/education partnership of the

school district, Lied Center of Kansas, and US Bank.

To help implement the program, the school district

received an NEA Arts Learning grant of $85,000 in

FY 2003.

In September 2003,Kennedy Center artist-in-residence Marcia Daft held a week-long residency with

first- and second-grade teachers in the school district,

focusing on integrating music with math instruction.

Daft conducted two days of training with 37 teachers,
Appalshop (Whitesburg)

Appalshop is a multidisciplinary arts and education

center in Whitesburg, Kentucky, that runs outreach

programs throughout Appalachia. In addition, it

creates original films, video, theater, music and

spoken-word recordings, radio, photography, multimedia, and books. Appalshop began in 1969 as a

federal War on Poverty program to train young

people for jobs in the film and television industries.

In FY 2003, using an NEA Arts Learning grant of

$40,000, Appalshop began a series of free programs

and classes for young people in traditional mountain

music. The Passing the Pick and Bow Project

provided instruction in fiddle, banjo, guitar, and

mandolin to students in Letcher County,Kentucky

and Mingo County, West Virginia. More than 60

students, ages 7-14, attended weekly classes taught

by local master musicians. The children who participated come from rural areas, many from low-income

households. For most of them, these classes are their

only opportunity to learn a musical instrument.

In November 2003,many of the students who took

these classes also participated in the first Old Time

Day for Youth, a program where children and

Grant Highlights

KENTUCKY

40 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros’s play Omnium

Gatherum, starring Edward A. Hajj and Robert Lee Simmons, was

performed at the Humana Festival of New Plays, produced by the

Actor’s Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky. 

Photo by John Fitzgerald

members of the community could learn about their

musical heritage. In the morning, local music masters

such as Rayna Gellert, Randy Wilson, Ray Slone,

and Roy Tacketts gave lessons for several musical

instruments as well as storytelling, square dancing,

and old-time singing. Students participated in 11

morning workshops, and in the afternoon, hundreds

of people from over seven counties came to enjoy a

jam session by children in the classes, performances

by the masters, and clogging demonstrations.

Actor’s Theatre of Louisville (Louisville)

The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, the state theater of

Kentucky, is one of the most innovative companies in

the United States. In 1976, it started the internationally celebrated Humana Festival of New Plays, which

has become a major force in introducing audiences to

an eclectic mix of original plays by emerging playwrights. In March 2003, with the aid of an NEA

Creativity grant of $45,000, the festival showcased six

full-length plays, the winners of the National 10-

Minute Play Competition,a special anthology play,

and a mix of innovative dance, hip-hop, and theater

performances. More than 30,000 people from 30

states and 25 countries attended the festival.

The plays highlighted during the festival included

Orange Lemon Egg Canary by Rinne Groff,the story

of a magician with a dangerous past; The Second

Death of Priscilla, a dark look at the classic story of

the three little pigs; and Omnium Gatherum by

Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, a

unique look at the events of 9/11. This play was later

performed off-Broadway, and was named as a 2004

Pulitzer Prize finalist.

There is fierce competition for getting a play

produced at the festival; more than 600 submissions

were received for the festival, of which six were

chosen, and more than 1,300 submissions were

received for the 10-Minute Play Competition. Many

of the plays premiered at the festival have gone on to

win awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, and eight

have been adapted for film.
University of New Orleans 

(New Orleans)

American Routes, a two-hour weekly radio series

covering the American musical and cultural landscape, travels through many different musical genres

and topics, from surf music one week to Louis

Armstrong’s home recordings the next. In this way, it

represents a rare entity on the radio: music presented

for its artistic worth rather than its commercial appeal.

The NEA has supported American Routes throughout its five-year existence. In FY 2003, the University

of New Orleans received an NEA Arts on Radio and

Television grant of $85,000 to support another

season of the popular program. Reaching approximately 500,000 listeners each week,American Routes

combines recordings with in-studio performances

and interviews to present the various musical and

cultural styles that make up the American experience.

Many of the people interviewed on the show are not

well known, but their life experiences and ability to

articulate their art make them ideal voices of

American regions, communities,and occupations.

Host Nick Spitzer,Professor of Folklore and Cultural

Conservation at the university and the first Louisiana

State Folklorist, has more than two decades of experience working with musicians, musical styles, and

American cultures. Recorded in New Orleans—

home to a diverse mix of American music, including

blues, soul, country, rockabilly, and jazz—American

Routes is able to use the eclectic aura of the region to

reflect the many faces of the United States. Programs

also can be found on the program Web site

(www.americanroutes.org) as well as useful information about the musicians and their music.

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra 

(New Orleans)

Formed in 1991 following the financial collapse of the

60-year-old New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, the

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a musician-owned and -operated orchestra. Since then, LPO

has grown to become one of the most important

orchestras in the Gulf South, with 70 members and a

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 41

LOUISIANA

Nick Spitzer interviews zydeco musician Buckwheat Zydeco as part of the

radio series, American Routes. 

Photo courtesy of the University of New Orleans

full 36-week concert season of more than 125 performances in New Orleans and across the region.

In FY 2003, LPO received an NEA

Heritage/Preservation grant of $25,000 for a unique

project: a concert celebrating the mostly unexplored

connection between New Orleans and the Harlem

Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Collaborating

with the New Orleans Museum of Art and the

Armistad Research Center of Tulane University, LPO

created a concert combining the literary elements of

the Harlem Renaissance, from such writers as

Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen, with the

music of the period from such luminaries as Louis

Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and NEA Jazz Master

Count Basie. In addition to the music and readings,

photography from the era was projected on large

screens on either side of the stage to make the

performance a full multidisciplinary event. Noted

composer and scholar Roger Dickerson, professor

emeritus of music at Southern University in New

Orleans, assisted with the creation of the concert

program.The premiere concert was held on January

31, 2004, in the Orpheum Theatre.

The New Orleans Museum of Art featured a concurrent exhibition by African American artists working

during the time of the Harlem Renaissance.
Bates College (Lewiston)

For more than 20 years, the Bates Dance Festival

(BDF) at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine has

brought together professional dancers, talented

students, and audience members from throughout the

Northeast to appreciate contemporary dance. It offers

classes for adult dancers as well as a Youth Dancers

Workshop for adolescents. The festival provides a

supportive environment for emerging talents to learn

and for choreographers to premiere unusual works.

In FY 2003, an NEA Creativity grant of $20,000

helped support the festival, which included four artist

residencies. Doug Varone and Dancers, AXIS Dance

Company, Greer Reed, and Mark Bamuthi Joseph

each conducted three-week residencies as part of the

New Voices/New Works program. These residencies

allow students to gain insight into the process of a

master choreographer and improved their technical

and creative skills. Participants included adult dance

students as well as 70 children, ages 6-17, who participated in BDF’s Youth Arts Program. The program

allows festival members to work with professional

artists and to help them develop, perform, and 

create new works.

In addition, the festival sponsored the creation of a

unique series of dances as part of The Atrium Project,

a multidisciplinary, site-specific event. Choreographer

Stephan Koplowitz, composer Robert Een, and lighting designer David Covey created the work with the

help of festival participants and faculty. Using 30

dancer and 20 musicians, they created eight unique

performances for the 8,000-square-foot Perry Atrium.

Grant Highlights

MAINE

42 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Students at the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine, perform in Stephan Koplowitz’s The Atrium Project, one of the eight

unique performances utilizing the 8,000-square-foot Perry Atrium. 

Photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 43

Grant Highlights

MARYLAND

Maine Acadian Heritage Council

(Madawaska)

The Maine Acadian Heritage Council (MAHC) in

Madawaska, Maine has been working since 1997 to

preserve the unique cultural traditions of northern

Maine, where more than 85 percent of the population

are descendents of French settlers from Quebec or

the Acadie region of France. It is dedicated to

promoting Acadian culture and preserving historical

landmarks in northern Maine. In FY 2003, using an

NEA Heritage/Preservation grant of $30,000,

MAHC began work on a trail that will increase

cultural tourism to the area and educate residents

about their unique history.

The currently unnamed cultural heritage trail will

encompass much of St. John Valley and will also

connect to sites on the Canadian side of the St. John

River. It will include historic Catholic churches,

cemeteries, roadside prayer sites, landscape vistas,

and several French and American forts that were

built during the Aroostook War of 1839. The trail

also connects to the Acadian Village, a small group of

preserved homes and buildings. Artists will be on

hand to demonstrate art forms such as snowshoe

making, fiddling, rug braiding, weaving, ballad

singing,and the traditional French song form

complaint. 

These sites will be featured in a cultural guide and an

accompanying bilingual CD, which will include

historical information, music, and storytelling as an

additional way of communicating Acadian culture.

The guide will focus on the importance of the region

in American history, from the Revolutionary War to

the modern age.

Writer’s Center (Bethesda)

The Writer’s Center is a regional literacy center in

Bethesda, Maryland that hosts book fairs, lectures,

readings, and apprenticeship-oriented workshops for

the 6.5 million people in the Washington, DCBaltimore, Maryland region. It also provides technical

and support services for individual writers, groups,

and organizations, such as a Web server and workspace for writing. Past writers who have worked with

the center include Richard Blanco, Susan Lessard,

Diane Leatherman, and Maxine Hong Kingston.

The center also offers a wide range of workshops for

all ages, in activities such as writing mystery novels,

creative non-fiction, poetry, screenplays, and historical fiction.It produces several publications, including

Poets-Lore, the oldest continuous poetry magazine in

the country, and Writer’s Carousel, a bimonthly

publication with articles about writing, reviews,

a market section, and a calendar of literary events 

in the region.

In FY 2003, the Writer’s Center received an NEA

Creativity grant of $10,000 to develop a visiting

writer’s circuit that would cover areas in Maryland,

Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Washington,

DC.As part of the project,the center will invite

nationally known writers to participate in two-week

residencies. The writers will spend a day at four

different venues, where they will run a master workshop for fifteen local writers. Each writer will also

give a master workshop and a reading at the center.

Activities are planned for fall 2004.

Baltimore Choral Arts Society (Baltimore)

Since 1966, the Baltimore Choral Arts Society

(BCAS) has been one of the premiere cultural institutions in the state of Maryland, performing a wide

range of new and traditional choral music. It collaborates regularly with local and nationally known artists

to perform original, multidisciplinary works.

In FY 2003,BCAS received an NEA Creativity grant

of $17,000 to present a concert featuring the Dave

Brubeck Quartet, led by NEA Jazz Master Dave
North Shore Musical Theatre (Beverly)

North Shore Musical Theatre (NSMT) in Beverly,

Massachusetts is one of the most respected musical

theater companies in the country, known for both its

innovative classic musicals and exciting new works.

More than 300,000 patrons attend plays in the intimate, arena-style stage annually. In addition to

performing, the theater also offers a variety of classes

and workshops, including monthly Saturday workshops, the Theatre for Young Audiences Program,

professional development workshops for teachers,

and a National College Internship Program.

In FY 2003, NSMT received an NEA Challenge

America: Access grant of $30,000 to begin development on a new 16-month project,SignStage,which

creates workshops, classes, and performances opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

Created in partnership with the Massachusetts State

Association of the Deaf, the project will introduce

classes and workshops where deaf and hard of hearing students can work together to create a

performance piece. This project will increase the

number of opportunities for deaf, hard-of-hearing,

and hearing students to work together on stage.

Sixteen students will be chosen to participate in the

program, evenly divided between hearing and deaf or

hard of hearing students. They will spend two weeks

in classes and rehearsal working with NSMT staff to

create an original theatrical piece combining sign

language, the spoken word, dance, mime, and visual

elements. During the third week of the camp, the

students will tour their production to local camps,

schools, and community agency programs.

The final production will take place on NSMT’s 

main stage as part of Friday Morning Summer 

Children’s Musicals.

The Revolving Museum (Lowell)

The Revolving Museum of Lowell, Massachusetts is

an organization of artists founded in 1984 by artistic

director Jerry Beck. For the past 20 years, it has

created multidisciplinary projects in unused spaces,

from an abandoned Civil War-era fort to a 100-year44 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Brubeck and conducted by Russell Gloyd. The

performance included 100 singers from the BCAS

conducted by artistic director Tom Hall and the

Morgan State University Choir conducted by 

Nathan Carter.

The concert took place on March 30, 2003, and

brought a diverse audience of more than 2,000

people to Morgan State University’s Gilliam Concert

Hall. The quartet performed several selections,

including the Baltimore premiere of Brubeck’s 1978

cantata Beloved Son, a work that integrates elements

of classic jazz and choral music.The cantata was

performed for the first time in four years. The

evening included the reading of two poems by

Langston Hughes, which were set to music by

Brubeck.The BCAS also hosted a traveling exhibit

designed by the Dave Brubeck Archives that 

chronicles his 60-year career.

MASSACHUSETTS

Baltimore Choral Arts Society artistic director Tom Hall confers with NEA

Jazz Master Dave Brubeck on the performance of Brubeck’s cantata

Beloved Son. 

Photo courtesy of Baltimore Choral Arts Society
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 45

Grant Highlights

As part of the 20th anniversary of the Revolving Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, its exhibition centered on the inactive railroad

tracks in the city, including Dream Locomotive, created by Nora Valdez with 100 students from the Lowell Community Charter School.

Photo by Meghan Kriegel

old rum cellar. Each of these pieces has tried to incorporate members of the surrounding community in an

effort to create public art that is truly by and for the

public.

For its 20th anniversary in 2003, it paid tribute to its

first installation in a series of forgotten railway cars by

creating an exhibition centered on the railroad.

LocalMotive: Public Art Off the Beaten Path was a

series of public artworks, exhibitions, and community events revolving around the inactive railroad

tracks in Lowell. The project was supported by an

FY 2003 NEA Creativity grant of $26,000.

The outdoor exhibition was opened in conjunction

with the Lowell Folk Festival, where nearly 200,000

visitors viewed the pieces on display. Twelve large

works were created by 16 artists and hundreds of

local students and community members. The pieces

were scattered around the city, placed over unused

railroad tracks, in empty alleys, and on canal ways.

Works included a hundred-foot-long mural on the

side of a wooden train, a two-story art tower, and a

giant wheel made out of fabric.

In addition to the outdoor exhibit, several interactive

works were put on display at the museum. Visitors

were invited to interact with the pieces, create their

own works of art, and in some cases alter existing

sculptures. In total, more than 2,000 people

contributed to the creation of the artwork in the gallery.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Detroit)

For more than three decades, the Detroit Symphony

Orchestra (DSO) has been committed to increasing

public awareness of African American musical traditions and to nurturing African American composers,

musicians, and conductors. In FY 2003, the Detroit

Symphony Orchestra received an NEA Heritage/

Preservation grant of $75,000 through a consortium

with the National Association of Negro Musicians

(NANM) to support the 2004 NANM conference.

Taking place in Detroit from August 1-7, 2004, the

conference offered a diverse program highlighting

contributions of African American composers, musicians, and conductors, including performances of

orchestral, jazz, gospel,and choral music. Scheduled

performers ranged from middle-school students to

DSO musicians to the legendary Detroit jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave.

Highlights of the conference included professional

development workshops for conference attendees

and educational workshops for young musicians,

ages 6-21, intended to increase technical abilities and

awareness of African American music. The 2004

NANM Conference culminated in a final DSO

public performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7

and soprano Jessye Norman performing with pianist

Mark Markham.

An estimated 7,000 people, including 500 convention attendees and 200 students, benefited from the

2004 National Association of Negro Musicians

Convention and related performances, furthering the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the National

Association of Negro Musicians’ commitment to

extending the reach of African American music and

musicians.

Flint Institute of Arts (Flint)

The Flint Institute of Arts (FIA) houses an invaluable collection of American art, representing major

artists and artistic movements from the 16th to 21st

centuries. Significant works—including those by

John Singer Sargent,Mary Cassatt,Martin Johnson

Heade, Alexander Calder, and Romare Bearden—

46 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

MICHIGAN

Registrar Mike Martin relocates part of the Flint Institute of Arts’s collection

to temporary storage vault during the renovation of their storage space,

supported by a Save America’s Treasures grant. 

Photo courtesy of the Flint Institute of Arts

have been lent to museums around the country and

the world. Additionally, the FIA holds comprehensive collections of Native American,African,and

Asian art and artifacts.

In FY 2003, the Flint Institute of Arts received a Save

America’s Treasures grant of $300,000 to preserve

this collection. The FIA currently stores its collection

in a basement art storage vault, which has proven

detrimental to the artworks and artifacts. Ground

water, corroded sewage pipes, outdated climate

control systems, and space limitations threaten the

safety of the collections, and the FIA intends to alleviate these problems by creating a ground-level storage

facility.

With the grant,the FIA will restructure the first floor

space to provide a 1,748 square foot art storage vault

with climate control and security systems; firewalls

and fire suppression system; and free standing cabinets, drawers, racks, and shelves for storage. The

expanded vault is also necessary to house the more

than 40 new acquisitions the FIA receives each year,

as the current space has reached capacity. Slated for

completion in 2005, the new storage vault will ensure

that these treasures at the Flint Institute of Arts will

be available for generations to come.
Grandmother Song by composer Brent Michael Davids (pictured) 

is a featured composition on the American Composers Forum’s

CD-ROM as part of their BandQuest project to provide band music

curricula to middle schools. 

Photo courtesy of the American Composers Forum

American Composers Forum (St. Paul)

The American Composers Forum (ACF) in St. Paul,

Minnesota has been supporting composers and

developing new markets for their music since 1973.

By facilitating the connection between communities

and composers, ACF helps to develop and inspire

future generations of composers, musicians, and

music patrons. ACF’s programs range from

composer residencies to music education curricula,

and as a service organization it serves more than

1,700 members and 4,500 artists each year.

In FY 2003, the American Composers Forum

received an NEA Arts Learning grant of $85,000 to

facilitate the development of CD-ROMs for two band

music curricula as part of the ACF’s BandQuest 

project. Each of the CD-ROMs will be based on

compositions written specifically for middle-level

bands; the two selected compositions are

Grandmother Song by Brent Michael Davids and 

Old Churches by Michael Colgrass.

The CD-ROM for each piece will include a professional recording of the work, composer interview

clips,an analytic overview of the music,and rhythmic

and compositional games,among other related activities. For example,Grandmother Song is an

introduction to the Mohican tradition of “sung syllables,” and the related curriculum includes sections

about American Indian music, both traditional and

contemporary, pow-wows, and the science of sound.

The MacPhail Center for the Arts, one of the nation’s

largest community art schools, is partnering with

ACF and will be testing the CD-ROMs to target

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 47

Grant Highlights

MINNESOTA

groups of students, teachers, and parents. The CDROMs were produced in May 2004; nearly 15,000

middle schools are expected to receive copies.

Minnesota Society for Traditional Arts 

and Resources (Minneapolis)

Established in 1989 by Minnesota S.T.A.R. (Society

for Traditional Arts and Resources), the Cedar

Cultural Center is dedicated to preserving cultural

diversity through the promotion and presentation of

traditional music and dance from a variety of cultures.

Located in the West Bank district of Minneapolis, the

Cedar presents the best of bluegrass, jazz, folk, blues,

gospel, world music, and dance from acclaimed local,

national,and international artists in more than 170

events per year.

In FY 2003, an NEA Heritage/Preservation grant of

$20,000 supported the Cedar Cultural Center’s Fifth

Annual Nordic Roots Festival, which took place from

September 19-21, 2003. The festival was made up

of nine performances, comprising some of the finest

contemporary performers of traditional Nordic music

and dance.

One of the highlights of the festival was a collaborative performance between U.S. percussive dance

troop Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum and

Filarfolket, the legendary 10-piece Swedish 

ensemble, making its U.S. debut. Filarfolket

provided live accompaniment to the Flying Foot

Forum,which included a piece featuring Chvala’s

student dancers at the high school and college levels.

The performance was so well received that plans are

being made for a future collaboration in Sweden.

The Fifth Annual Nordic Roots Festival drew more

than 1,200 attendees of all ages from 17 states and six

countries, in addition to live radio broadcasts. The

festival also featured more than 11 hands-on workshops and master classes, including workshops in

vocal styles, nykelharpa,and Nordic fiddling.
Grant Highlights

Mississippi Cultural Crossroads 

(Port Gibson)

Mississippi Cultural Crossroads (MCC) began in

1978 to encourage the children of economically poor,

rural Clairborne County to explore and appreciate

the arts and culture of the community. Over the past

25 years, MCC provided programs in the arts and

humanities for young people to celebrate their

heritage, develop their talent, and find new means of

personal expression.

In FY 2003, MCC received an NEA Arts Learning

grant of $25,000 to further two of its youth

programs: Peanut Butter & Jelly (PB&J) Theater 

and Summer Art. The theater program brings theater

professionals together with high school students to

create and perform productions for young children.

The productions are performed in the home

community and throughout areas in Mississippi and

Louisiana, reaching an average of 4,000 audience

members. The summer art program provides artistsin-residency to teach the participants painting,

drawing, and other visual arts forms over a threeweek period.

The NEA grant provided support for the 2003 and

2004 seasons of PB&J Theater and the 2004

Summer Art program.Under the guidance of director David L. Crosby, the PB&J performed Be a

Reader in 2003, a show that used poems, folktales,

stories, and songs to emphasize good reading skills.

In 2004, PB&J Theater again toured the popular

show with a new cast. Auditions began in April and

rehearsals started June 1. Performances in the local

community started June 14 and then traveled

throughout the state. For the 2004 Summer Art

program,artist-in-residence Dennis Sullivan worked

in half-day sessions with approximately 25 elementary-age children on the basic concepts of drawing

and painting.

Yoknapatawpha Arts Council (Oxford)

The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council, based in Oxford,

Mississippi, provides invaluable local support for arts

activities for the residents of Lafayette County. In

48 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

2003,the Council collaborated with the Center for

the Study of Southern Culture at the University of

Mississippi to develop the first Oxford Film Festival.

With the support of an NEA Challenge America:

Access grant of $10,000, the festival was successful

enough to repeat again in 2004, becoming an 

annual event.

Held in June 2003, the first Oxford Film Festival

brought some of the film industry’s top screenwriters

to participate in festival activities and provided local

residents with 60 independent films from around 

the world,workshops and panels on screenwriting,

documentary-making, animation, legal issues, and

children’s films.

Under the guidance of director David L. Crosby, Peanut Butter and 

Jelly Theater actors perform Be a Reader for elementary schools in

Mississippi and Louisiana. 

Photo courtesy of Mississippi Cultural Crossroads

MISSISSIPPI
Kansas City Ballet (Kansas City)

The Kansas City Ballet is the only professional repertory ballet company within an eight-state area, serving

the Kansas City metropolitan area in two states as well

as providing touring and residency activities in neighboring states. KC Ballet is unusual among ballet

companies in that it takes on contemporary works in

addition to the traditional ballets. The company also

works within the community with outreach programs

such as Reach Out and Dance, an educational

program that uses movement as a motivational tool

for children and educators.

In FY 2003, the KC Ballet received an NEA

Creativity grant of $20,000 to support four major

additions to their repertory as part of the company’s

45th season. In the spring season, the company

performed Merce Cummingham’s Duetset to the

music of John Cage and Alonzo King’s Handel Trio.

The fall performances included Jerome Robbin’s

Afternoon of a Faun and Nacho Duato’s Jardi

Tancat.Audiences totaled more than 13,000 people

for the four performances.

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 49

Grant Highlights

Kansas City Ballet dancers Lisa Choules, Stephanie Greenwald, and Aisling Hill-Connor in Alonzo King’s Handel Trio. 

Photo by Steve Wilson

Out of 200 entries, 60 films were chosen to be

screened, including films from Scotland, India, New

Zealand, Spain, England, and the Netherlands. The

festival showed feature films such as Ghengis Blues,

documenting the journey of a blind blues musician to

Mongolia to play with their world-famous throat

singers, and director Charles Burnett’s contribution

to the PBS series on the blues. Featured documentaries included Rebel Forrest, an in-depth look at

Confederate General Nathan Bedford; The Rough

South of Larry Brown, following the life of the

famous Southern writer; and Honey Boy, about 2002

NEA National Heritage Fellow David “Honeyboy”

Edwards. Twenty-seven of the filmmakers whose

work was presented were from Mississippi, with 

12 from Oxford, which gave the festival a local flavor.

MISSOURI
50 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

MONTANA

The combination of the works by two masters of

modern dance (Cunningham and Robbins) with

members of the current generation of choreographers

(King and Duato) provided a wide variety of works

by some of the twentieth century’s most impressive

choreographers that community members otherwise

might not have had the opportunity to see. By adding

these works to its repertory, the KC Ballet strengthened the already high quality of performances that it

presents to the public.

Mid-America Arts Alliance (Kansas City)

The U.S.-Mexico Binational Alliance of Regional

Arts Organizations was created by the NEA in collaboration with Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and

the Arts and the U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture to

develop projects stimulating cultural interaction

between the two countries. The first meeting was

held in May 2002, and 28 potential projects were

proposed in arts education, dance, folk arts, music,

and visual arts exhibitions.

One of these projects was the touring exhibition El

Ojo Fino(The Exquisite Eye), which presented works

by nine of Mexico’s most prominent women photographers.The Mid-America Arts Alliance, based in

Kansas City, Missouri, undertook the tour and development of educational and programming materials

for the exhibition with the support of an NEA

Leadership Initiative grant of $100,000.

The exhibition, featuring three generations of

photographers, toured to 14 communities across

America in 2003-2004.Working primarily in black

and white, these artists provide rare insight into

Mexican life, from the urban landscapes of Mexico

City to the countryside and small towns. All of the

photographers featured have shown their work

widely, both in Mexico and internationally, and this

exhibition will allow more people in the United

States to experience and share in their artistic 

accomplishments.

The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue and educational material such as a slide show

presentation and pre- and post-visit lesson plans for

middle and high school students.

YMCA of Billings (Billings)

Since 1991, the Billings chapter of The Writer’s

Voice, a part of the YMCA’s Arts and Humanities

Program, has provided rural communities with access

to the arts. It regularly sends artists, writers, musicians, and actors into small towns where they perform

a variety of outreach activities and help local residents

tell their own stories. In FY 2003, the program

received an NEA Challenge America: Access grant of

$20,000 to support Native Voices, a series of readings, lectures, workshops, and discussions.

Several prominent Native American writers from the

Crow, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Cherokee tribes participated in the program, including Diane Glancy, Linda

Hogan,and Alison Hedge Coke.The writers worked

in local schools, gave readings, and participated in

workshops with local residents.

These individuals were also part of a group of 

90 writers who contributed to the High Plains

BookFest, a first-time event in Billings that more than

1,200 people attended. At the festival, writers not

only gave readings but also participated in focused

discussions with audience members. Topics

addressed during these discussions included the role

of poetry in the community,Native American medicine,and how novelists approach the Lewis and

Clark Expedition. Following these activities, the 

writers attended dinners hosted by members of the

community; at these informal parties, the hosts were

allowed to invite their friends and family members 

to spend an evening with the writer.

University of Montana (Missoula)

The Montana Museum of Art and Culture at the

University of Montana in Missoula holds one of the

largest collections of fine art objects in the state. The

collection contains more than 9,500 works focusing

on Western,Native American, and Asian art. The

museum provides extensive outreach programs to

local schools and its award-winning Web site serves as

a resource for people around the world.

In FY 2003,the museum received an NEA Challenge

America: Access grant of $20,000 to support the
Friends of Lied (Lincoln)

Since 1989,the Friends of Lied - Lied Center for the

Performing Arts of Lincoln,Nebraska has served as one

of the premiere cultural centers in the Midwest,offering

opportunities for artistic expression,education,and

entertainment in music,dance,theater,and performance art.In FY 2003,one important Lied Center

program,the Omaha Cultural Arts Project,received an

NEA Arts Learning grant of $45,000 to develop culturally relevant curriculum for students and teachers of the

UmonhonNation School (UNS) located in Macy.

Although 99 percent of students in the school are

enrolled members of the UmonhonTribe of

Nebraska, few teachers are American Indian. The

program is currently training four local artists to work

with UNS teachers to develop new ways of bringing

American Indian, and specifically Umonhon,

language, arts, and culture into the classroom. Local

artists selected include Karen Tyndall, an appliqué

dress maker; Quintin Saunsoci, a Northern Plainsstyle dancer and singer; Charles Owen New Holy, a

flute and drum maker; and Edward Thomas, an

alabaster sculptor.

The K-12 curriculum being developed includes flute

and drum making,Northern Plains-style singing and

dancing,theater, and visual arts. Select UNS teachers

will co-teach these specially developed language, art,

culture, and history lessons with the help of the four

local teaching artists during school residencies held

in fall 2004. Through experiences such as these,

teachers hope to increase students’ understanding of

Umonhon culture as well as their awareness of the

need to preserve the culture.

Opera Omaha (Omaha)

As part of its 45th anniversary season, Opera Omaha

presented a new production of the American opera

Cold Sassy Tree.An NEA Challenge America: 

Access grant of $20,000 in FY 2003 supported

outreach activities leading up to, during, and after 

the production, including a five-month preview tour

and a series of events featuring the opera’s composer,

Carlisle Floyd.

Grant Highlights

NEBRASKA

exhibition Native American Artists—After Lewis and

Clark. The exhibition will feature visual art and writing by Native Americans that tell the story of the

Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of

the indigenous people they encountered. Essays by

Native American writers will provide background

information on the art and history of the area.

Twenty nationally and internationally known artists,

including Jaune Quick-to-See Smith,Jane Ash

Poitras, Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Corwin Clairmont,

and Lillian Pitt,will be featured. The participants

were given a year to reflect upon the meaning of the

expedition, and how it had affected the development

and culture of the region. They then submitted

pieces that explored these topics.

Viewers at the exhibition will learn about the cultures

and values of the different tribes that Lewis and Clark

encountered and their contributions to the survival of

the expedition. The museum will also provide guided

tours, lectures, maps, texts, tribal statistics, and an

accompanying catalogue. The exhibition will be

shown in tribal and art museums along the Lewis and

Clark trail from May 2005 through November 2006.

Before 1492 & After 1992 by artist Jaune Quick-to-See

Smith, part of the exhibition Native American Artists—After

Lewis and Clark presented by the Montana Museum of Art

and Culture at the University of Montana in Missoula. 

Photo courtesy of the University of Montana

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 51
52 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

NEVADA

Floyd participated in several outreach activities,

including lectures at the University of Nebraska,

Creighton University, and Metropolitan Community

College on the challenges of adapting the opera,

which was based on the novel by Olive Ann Burns.

He also joined members of the company as part of

the four-part National Public Radio series Words

With & Without Music: Cold Sassy Tree,from the

Page to the Stage.

In the months leading up to the opera’s premiere,

members of the company, including the musical

director, actors, musicians, and set designers, toured

Nebraska and neighboring states. They gave talks at

libraries, presentations to schools, and provided free

previews of the performance to rural communities.

In addition,the company worked with several of its

community partners to introduce opera to new audiences.At the Literacy Center for the Midlands,

special books containing Cold Sassy Tree’s libretto

were distributed to students who were learning to

read; they were able to study these books at the

center before attending the performance.At the

Stephan Center, a halfway house/transition facility,

residents were introduced to the medium of opera

and given special previews of certain scenes and

backstage tours before viewing the performance,

allowing them to learn about the connections

between the world of opera and their own lives.

Western Folklife Center (Elko)

Every January since 1984, the Western Folklife

Center in Elko, Nevada has hosted the annual

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering (NCPG). A

collaboration of folklorists, working cowboys, and

ranch folks, the NCPG provides eight days of activities showcasing the varied traditions of the American

West, including cowboy music, poetry, and expressive

arts of the ranching culture. More than 200 independent events have spawned from the National

Cowboy Poetry Gathering, helping to spark a

national renaissance in the cowboy arts.

In FY 2003, the Western Folklife Center received an

NEA Heritage/Preservation grant of $50,000 to

support the 20th anniversary of the National Cowboy

Poetry Gathering, which took place on January 24-

31, 2004. The grant aided four components of the

anniversary event: the reunion of performers and

folklorists reaching back to the original gathering, an

exhibit featuring archived materials from the Western

Folklife Center, a commemorative program booklet,

and video documentation of the anniversary gathering for historical record.

More than 100 performers participated in the event,

including NEA Literature Fellow J.V. Brummels and

Glenn Ohrlin,the first cowboy singer ever to receive

an NEA National Heritage Fellowship. The accompanying exhibit, open until June, featured an

extensive collection from the Western Folklife Center,

including photographs, video, sound recordings,

poetry manuscripts, and related objects. The

commemorative booklet included interpretive essays

on the cowboy poetry movement and critical essays

on cowboy poetry as oral literature, which has

extended its value as an historical publication.

An estimated 8,800 people attended the 20th

anniversary of NCPG, and thousands more listened

through live Internet broadcasts on the Web site.

Kristopher Irmiter in Opera Omaha’s production of Carlisle Floyd’s opera

Cold Sassy Tree, which also included outreach activities with the actors,

director, and composer. 

Photo courtesy of Opera Omaha
(left to right) Cowboy singers and storytellers Glenn Ohrlin (1985

NEA National Heritage Fellow) and Walt LaRue recount their early

days of rodeo on a special show at the 20th National Cowboy

Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. 

Photo by Chris Simon

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 53

Grant Highlights

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Monadnock Music (Peterborough)

Monadnock Music first began in 1966 by presenting

five free concerts in the church of tiny Nelson, New

Hampshire. Today the organization programs more

than 30 summer concerts annually in more than 

15 rural locations in southwestern New Hampshire,

most of which are offered free to the public.

In FY 2003, Monadnock Music received an NEA

Creativity grant of $10,000 to support 18 free

concerts, or more than three free concerts a week,

throughout July and August 2003. Under the direction of James Bolle,Monadnock Music presented an

impressive variety of genres and programming, ranging from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary

composer Elliott Carter in the form of chamber

music concerts, solo recitals, orchestra concerts, and

opera productions. True to its mission of bringing

the highest quality music to the rural Monadnock

region, highlights of the 2003 season included

performances by the New Zealand String Quartet, La

Luna Ensemble, pianist Russell Sherman, and tenor

Steven Tharp.

In addition to the free concerts and quality programming, Monadnock Music also tries to reach new

audiences by offering concerts in more familiar and

informal locations,such as town halls, meetinghouses, and churches. Free “rug concerts” are also

offered, encouraging children to sit next to the stage

on oriental rugs and observe the musicians up close.

Nearly 3,000 area residents attended the free

concerts offered by Monadnock Music in 2003.

Dartmouth College (Hanover)

The Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College in

Hanover, New Hampshire functions as a leading

visual and performing arts presenter, serving the

Dartmouth community and northern New England

area since 1962. The center, which also houses the

college’s creative arts academic departments, presents

more than 300 events annually, and provides related

outreach and education programs to youth, students,

and community members.

Churchill Arts Council (Fallon)

By supporting a range of artistic offerings, including a

performance series, literary readings, visual art exhibitions, and artists’ residencies, the Churchill Arts

Council in Fallon, Nevada ensures that residents of

this rural, agricultural area have access to the highest

quality arts.

In FY 2003, the Churchill Arts Council received an

NEA Creativity grant of $15,000 to support artist

fees for a series of inaugural performances at the Oats

Park Art Center Theatre. The Art Center Theatre

was redesigned from the historic Oats Park School,

listed under the State and National Registers of

Historic Places and designed in 1914 by Nevada’s

most prolific architect Frederick J. DeLongchamps.

This 350-seat proscenium theater space now

provides the arts council with a centralized, professional venue to present performing and visual artists

from around the world.

The grand opening concerts on February 14 and 15,

2003, featured country singer Heather Myles and

jazz singer Patricia Barber, voted 2002 Down Beat

female jazz vocalist of the year. The eclectic 2003-4

series also included musical performances by

Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi & Black Spirits and

bluegrass phenomenon Rhonda Vincent & the Rage,

a prose reading by author William Kittredge, and

others events. The diversity of these performances

facilitated by the Oats Park Art Center Theatre have

already attracted record crowds and tapped into new

audiences in and around the Churchill County area.
54 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

A Curious Invasion, one of the To Bridge projects supported by the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New

Hampshire, involved dancers in various locations in and around the Dartmouth Outing Club House. 

Photo by Margaret Lawrence/Sue Callaghan

In FY 2003, Dartmouth College received an NEA

Creativity grant of $25,000 to support To Bridge, a

series of commissions, performances, and educational residencies at the center, focusing on artists

who incorporate multidisciplinary and cross-generational perspectives into their work.

One of several To Bridge projects supported by the

grant, A Curious Invasion, consisted of a sitespecific performance celebrating Dartmouth’s

pastoral setting. Choreographers Sara Pearson and

Patrik Widrig from New York City took up residence 

with seven of their dancers for three weeks in July

2003, teaching dance classes and working with a

group of students and community members to 

create the performance.

The performance began with dancers in vivid red

costumes crossing Occom Pond in rowboats to waiting spectators. All across the landscape surrounding

the Dartmouth Outing Club House, dancers

performed with a variety of everyday objects, such as

ice, lawn sprinklers, and buckets of water. A grand

finale at the edge of the golf course found dancers

vaulting over bales of hay, catching a few late-afternoon golfers by surprise. Both audience members

and participants enjoyed the new and exciting type of

creative experience.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 55

Grant Highlights

Newark Public Radio, Inc. (Newark)

WBGO/Jazz 88.3 in Newark, New Jersey is one of

the premiere all-jazz radio stations in the United

States, reaching more than 372,000 listeners in New

York and New Jersey. One of WBGO’s most popular

and influential programs is JazzSet with Dee Dee

Bridgewater, currently carried on more than 120

stations, including NPR Worldwide and American

Forces Radio.

In FY 2003, WBGO received an NEA Arts on

Radio and Television grant of $65,000 to support

production of JazzSet.The weekly broadcast records

performances from a wide range of locations including the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

in Washington DC, the Gilmore International

Keyboard Festival in Michigan, Yoshi’s in California,

and Birdland in New York. It also has presented

performances from Canada,Europe,and the

Caribbean. The grant funded recordings of 

The McCarter Theatre’s performance of Anton Chekhov’s play Uncle

Vanya, starring Natacha Roi and Steven Skybell in the foreground,

Amanda Plummer in the background. 

Photo by T. Charles Erickson

NEW JERSEY

performances by NEA Jazz Masters Dave Brubeck,

Herbie Hancock, Count Basie, Ron Carter, and other

jazz greats including Chick Corea, Shirley Horn, and

Kurt Elling.

JazzSet was launched in 1992, and is now hosted by

Grammy-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, who

has been hailed as one of the greatest female jazz

musicians of her generation.

McCarter Theatre (Princeton)

The McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey is a

Tony Award-winning performing arts center that

presents theater, music, and dance performances to

annual audiences of more than 200,000. In addition

to presenting canonical works such as William

Shakespeare’s The Tempestand Edward Albee’s All

Over,it also produces world premieres of innovative

modern works such as Regina Taylor’s Crownsand

Athol Fugard’s Sorrows and Rejoicings. 

In FY 2003, the theater received an NEA Creativity

grant of $50,000 to support a new version of the

Anton Chekhov classic Uncle Vanya. The production was adapted and directed by artistic director

Emily Mann, who previously produced Chekhov’s

The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters for McCarter.

She worked closely with Ellen Chances,a member of

Princeton University’s Slavic Department, to interpret as closely as possible the meaning of the original

text. The play was performed from April 29 to May

18, 2003,then traveled to the La Jolla Playhouse in

San Diego, California.

Twenty-two performances were given, including a

student matinee, which was accompanied by preand post-performance discussions and teacher study

guides.In addition, the production was supplemented by two programs: Dialogues on Drama,

where Skybell and Chances spoke to audience

members about the creation of the play, and TalkBacks, which provide an opportunity to meet and

talk with the cast, crew, and designers of the performance.More than 14,000 people attended the

performances at the McCarter Theatre.
College of Santa Fe (Santa Fe)

In June 2003, 24 young women from across the

United States participated in GirlsFilmSchool (GFS),

a residential program at the College of Santa Fe. The

program, supported by an NEA Arts Learning grant

of $22,000 in FY 2003, was founded in 2000 in

response to the under-representation of women and

minorities in the film industry. GSF hopes that it will

inspire a new generation of young women to consider

a career behind the camera.

During the two-week session, young women ages 15-

18 gained technical proficiency by creating their own

short film or video projects. Students at the program

learned the basics of filmmaking, including directing,

acting, producing,writing,and editing.Classes were

taught by women film professionals, such as director

Jenniphr Goodman, acting coach Wendy Chapin,

actress Jo Harvey Allen, and animator Teresa Foley.

The course included the production of a group project in which each member of the four groups took

turns filming, parodying popular films, including

Fight Club,The Matrix,and West Side Story,as a

way of exploring the interactions within and among

the four groups. Additional projects included short

animations, handmade films,and short narrative 

projects in which filmmakers explored topics ranging

56 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

NEW MEXICO

Participants in the College of Santa Fe’s program, GirlsFilmSchool,

a program to provide film and video training to young women, do a

sound check on a film project. 

Photo by Tanya Doriss

from death to ceiling fans. The program culminated

in a public screening on the college campus to an

audience of more than 180 people. In addition to

these projects, students also attended lectures and

presentations by visiting artists about the role of

women in the media. These events were open 

to the public and were attended by more than 

400 community members.

Cornerstones Community Partnerships

(Santa Fe)

Cornerstones Community Partnerships is an organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which trains

individuals from local communities in the methods of

preserving historic adobe buildings. Adobe, or sundried bricks made of mud and straw, is one of the

world’s oldest and strongest building materials; the

introduction of modern materials into the structures,

however, can often lead to cracks, erosion, pitting, or

bulging. In these situations, constant repairs of the

adobe bricks are necessary to maintain the integrity of

the structures, and can be difficult, costly, and lengthy.

Cornerstones, which began in 1986, promotes the

maintenance of these structures to help increase the

appreciation of Hispanic American heritage.It has

trained individuals in more than 300 New Mexican

communities so far. In FY 2003, it received an NEA

Heritage/Preservation grant of $35,000 to provide

expertise, training, and materials to communities in

the Mora Valley interested in preserving this part of

their culture.

The Mora Valley in Northern New Mexico is home

to 16 historic mission churches, some of which were

included as part of the National Trust’s 11 Most

Endangered Historic Places in 1997. Cornerstones

provided training on the rebuilding of these adobe

structures to Eloy Roybal and Felix Martinez, two

community leaders. These individuals then were able

to teach these methods to others in their communities and lead reconstructions at individual sites. Up to

20 people at a time, including eight youths, worked at

a total of three sites last summer, contributing to projects that may take years to complete.
Grant Highlights

During renovation work on the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center,

Jackson Pollock’s studio floor was protected by a layer of foam board and

a tarpaulin to prevent damage to the fragile paint surface. 

Photo by Helen A. Harrison

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 57

NEW YORK

The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center was

awarded an FY 2003 Save America’s Treasures grant

of $107,000 through the NEA to provide climate

control and fire suppression systems in both the

house and studio.

Jazz at Lincoln Center (New York)

Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) is recognized as the

largest nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting

the appreciation, understanding, and advancement of

jazz. Featuring its resident Lincoln Center Jazz

Orchestra; new sister orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz

Orchestra; and distinguished jazz artists, such as JALC

Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln

Center produces a wide variety of concerts and educational programs reaching a diverse national audience.

In FY 2003,Jazz at Lincoln Center received an NEA

Challenge America: Access grant of $50,000 to

support the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz

Band Competition and Festival. The program

distributed free music scores of six of Duke

Ellington’s compositions to more than 1,100 school

bands around the country. As a complement to

Essentially Ellington, JALC also held an annual training program for band directors in East Lansing,

Michigan, in consortium with Michigan State

University. The Academy taught band directors how

to better teach and conduct the music of Ellington

and other big band composers.

In May 2004, 15 finalist bands traveled to New York

City for three days of rehearsals, workshops, jam

sessions,and performance competition as part of the

ninth annual Essentially Ellington band competition

and festival. The three top-placing bands played two

Ellington compositions, including one with Wynton

Marsalis on solo trumpet during a concert and

awards ceremony at Avery Fisher Hall. A panel of

distinguished judges selected Garfield High School

(Seattle,Washington) as first place winner, Foxboro

High School (Foxboro, Massachusetts) as second

place, and Sun Prairie High School (Sun Prairie,

Wisconsin) as third. Each of the three bands

received a monetary award, which will assist in

further developing the schools’ jazz band programs.

Stony Brook Foundation (Stony Brook)

In 1945,Jackson Pollock,then a fledging artist,

moved to Long Island from New York City with his

new bride, fellow artist Lee Krasner. In this serene

environment,Pollock developed a new technique that

made him one of the leaders of the Abstract

Expressionism visual arts movement. The property

near East Hampton, New York would be Pollock’s

home for the rest of his life and the site of his most

innovative and influential work. The Stony Brook

Foundation,a nonprofit affiliate of the State

University of New York at Stony Brook, took over the

development and preservation of the property, creating a museum and study center devoted to

scholarship in modern American art, with special

emphasis on Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and their

contemporaries.

Everything in the house is original, including the

artists’ personal library of books and large collection

of jazz and classical records. The studio contains

both artists’working materials, with the floorboards

covered with streaks of paint from the unique painting method developed by Pollock. All these materials

stored and used in the house and studio are in

danger of damage by severe seasonal temperature and

humidity fluctuations due to a lack of a heating or

cooling system. In addition, there are inadequate

ventilation and fire protection systems.
Brevard Music Center (Brevard)

For more than 67 years, the Brevard Music Center

(BMC) has provided young musicians with professional-level opportunities to develop their musical

talents. Every summer more than 400 students, ages

14 through post-college, join professional musicians

in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North

Carolina for an intense, seven-week program. In

addition to a rigorous schedule of musical instruction, students perform with faculty and guest artists

in more than 80 public concerts, staged operas,

and musicals.

In FY 2003, the Brevard Music Center received an

NEA Creativity grant of $10,000 to support guest

artist teachers and scholarships for their Advanced

Chamber Music program. Fourteen college and

graduate-level string players were competitively

selected to receive full scholarships for instruction

from top musicians in residence at BMC. Fellows of

the program perform in chamber music ensembles,

recitals, and orchestra concerts under the tutelage of

the guest master teachers. Participating 2003 teachers included Glenn Dicterow, Concertmaster of the

New York Philharmonic; members of the Innuendo

Chamber Group; and members of the Diaz Trio.

Eleven master classes were held by the teachers, with

the fellows performing 18 public recitals and 

10 chamber music performances as part of BMC’s

Bach’s Lunch music series at the lakeside. Beyond

training the next generation of professional musicians, the program provides professional concerts to

the people of North Carolina.

African American Dance Ensemble

(Durham)

The African American Dance Ensemble (AADE) of

Durham, North Carolina has been sharing with the

community the finest traditions of African and

African American dance and music since 1984.

Through touring, concert and residency programs,

workshops, collaborative projects, and outreach,

AADE has educated audiences all over the country

58 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

The African American Dance Ensemble of Durham, North Carolina

performing in Wilson, North Carolina. 

Photo by Richard Sceiford

about African and African American traditions,

encouraging interracial cooperation and cross-cultural

understanding.

In FY 2003, the African American Dance Ensemble

received an NEA Creativity grant of $10,000 to

support the creation of a 45-minute ballet suite entitled Luyala, based on the East African folk tale “The

King’s Daughter Who Lost Her Hair.” The suite will

be adapted from the three-hour dance opera of the

same name that premiered in March of 2000. Dr.

Chuck Davis and Dr. William Banfield, the original

choreographer and composer respectively, will create

the work that is slated to premiere on October 9,

2004. This new rendition will explore the story of

Luyala through a different artistic medium, focusing

on the narrative through movement instead of words.

The story of Luyala is one of a spoiled daughter who

is banished to achieve spiritual rebirth and along the

way reluctantly falls in love with a wounded beggar

named Muoma. The parable addresses moral issues

relevant to today’s society, including positive thinking, community values, and making important

connections to our past.

NORTH CAROLINA
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 59

Grant Highlights

NORTH DAKOTA

Fargo-Moorhead Orchestra Association

(Fargo)

Now in its 72nd season, under the direction of

Bernard Rubenstein, the Fargo-Moorhead

Symphony Orchestra in North Dakota offers local

audiences exposure to traditional and contemporary

symphonic repertoire. The orchestra prides itself on

its integrated educational components, reaching

community members, students, and schools over a

100-mile radius from the Fargo-Moorhead area.

The Fargo-Moorhead Orchestra Association

received an NEA Challenge America: Access grant 

of $10,000 in FY 2003 to support these outreach

and intergenerational education programs for their

2003-4 season. Such programs include two Pizza

Pop Concerts for high school students and three

Young People’s Concerts for elementary school

students and their families.

The aim of the orchestra’s annual Pizza Pop 

Concerts is to attract young adults by offering a 

mixed repertoire of standard classical with contemporary pop music, followed by a pizza party in the 

lobby. This year’s concerts were held on October 

17 and 18,2003,in the Festival Concert Hall at 

North Dakota State University. Boasting a Latin

Fiesta! theme,the program included George

Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, Alberto Ginastera’s

“Malambo” from Estancia,and Blas Galindo’s

Sones de Mariachi.

This year’s Young People’s Concerts featured the

theme “music that tells a story.” Presented in partnership with the Symphony Guild and Minnesota Public

Radio-KCCM, the program included Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid,Frank Proto’s Casey at the Bat,

Dancers perform with the Fargo-Moorhead Orchestra as part of the Latin Fiesta! program, one of the Pizza Pop Concerts put on by

the orchestra in 2003. 

Photo courtesy of the Fargo-Moorhead Orchestra Association

and excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and

Juliet. Approximately 3,000 students attended 

the concerts.

Jamestown Fine Arts Association

(Jamestown)

For more than 38 years, the Jamestown Fine Arts

Association (JFAA) in North Dakota has been enriching its rural community through presentation and

outreach activities in the arts. JFAA established an

Arts Center in 1997, which now houses studio and

exhibition space, administrative offices, and a

performance stage to facilitate theatrical, musical, and

performances from local and national artists, as well as

community classes in the arts.

In FY 2003,the Jamestown Fine Arts Association

received an NEA Arts Learning grant of $18,000 to

support its ongoing Arts After School program for

the 2003-2004 school year. Made up of programs

ranging from one to four months in length, fourthto sixth-graders have the opportunity to participate 

in a range of arts classes from an established artist-inresidence. This year’s classes include Drawing from

Life, Ceramic Animal Mugs, Portraiture, and Painting

from Life given by the artist-in-residence, Kate Troyer.

The aim of the Arts After School program is not only

to help children build invaluable artistic skills but also

to help develop the analytical capability of critiquing

their own work. Recognizing that transportation

presented a barrier to many children in this farming

community, JFAA now offers a YMCA van to transport participants to and from the Arts Center.

Additionally, JFAA waves minimal class fees for those

families unable to afford them. Eighty-five Jamestown

area children participated in the 2003-4 programs.
Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque

Orchestra (Cleveland)

Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, is

celebrated as one of the leading period-instrument

orchestras in the United States. Since its founding in

1992 by Music Director Jeannette Sorrell, Apollo’s

Fire has performed an extensive repertoire of music

from the 17th and 18th centuries on instruments

specific to that time period.

In FY 2003, Apollo’s Fire received an NEA

Creativity grant of $12,500 to support Cleveland’s

period-instrument premiere of J.S. Bach’s sacred

masterwork St. Matthew Passion. This later work of

Bach about the conviction and crucifixion of Christ is

scored for double orchestra, double chorus,and

soloists, providing a major artistic undertaking for

any baroque orchestra.

Apollo’s Fire successfully assembled the largest

group of period-instrumentalists and singers in the

orchestra’s history. Acclaimed Parisian tenor Ian

Honeyman played the role of the Evangelist, along

with soloists soprano Laura Heimes, countertenor

Daniel Taylor, and tenor Rodrigo del Pozo. The text

was presented in English, instead of the original

German,so that audience members could better

understand the work.

One of three Ohio performances, the Cleveland

premiere on March 29, 2003 at Severance Hall met

with both audience praise and critical acclaim. More

than 1,500 attended the performance,and it was

broadcast live on WCLV-FM and redistributed to

more than 150 stations nationwide.

Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland)

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) serves two

important roles: first as an internationally distinguished, comprehensive art museum; and second as

a principal civic and cultural institution for northeastern Ohio. With holdings of more than 40,000

objects from areas all over the world, the CMA is

renowned for its quality exhibitions and collections.

60 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

OHIO

Members of Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, in the lobby

of Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Photo by Jonathan Wayne

In FY 2003, the Cleveland Museum of Art received a

$70,000 NEA Creativity grant to support the touring

exhibition BARCELONA! Gaudí-Picasso-Dalí

(Modernity and National Identity in Catalunya,

1868-1939). Consisting of more than 180 works,

BARCELONA! will be the first major exhibition in the

United States to examine the 71-year period during

which Barcelona produced such major artists as

Antoni Gaudí,Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and

Salvador Dalí. Opening in Cleveland in the fall of

2006, these featured artists will be displayed in

contextual relationships with those of their

colleagues,teachers, and rivals, introducing American

audiences to lesser-known painters, sculptures,

decorative artists, and architects.

BARCELONA! is the collaborative effort of CMA’s

curator of modern European art, William H.

Robinson, Carmen Bélen Lord, Francesc Fontbona,

and an international team of distinguished scholars.

Among its many objectives, the exhibition will examine changing definitions of modernity in Catalunya,

from Modernismeto an array of 20th century avantgarde movements.

The Cleveland Museum of Art will also produce a 

scholarly catalogue and augment its outreach efforts

with digital video presentations, interactive computer

programs, lectures, a symposium, and multilingual

outreach programs. The exhibition will travel to one

other venue and serve an estimated audience of

100,000 in Cleveland alone.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 61

Grant Highlights

OKLAHOMA

Cellist Fred Sherry in a performance at one of the OK MOZART Festival’s daily

mini-concerts, set in the Price Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright’s only skyscraper.

Photo by Becky Burch

and Nature Preserve, 12 miles southwest of

Bartlesville. Additional educational activities

included musical preview lectures and free master

classes for select high school music students, with

instruction from members of Solisti.

The OK MOZART Festival enables people of the

remote Bartlesville region to hear world-class

performances without traveling long distances to

metropolitan cities. Ticket prices are kept low to

attract audiences of all ages and economic circumstances. For the 2003 OK MOZART Festival, as

many as 35,000 people from the Bartlesville area and

beyond attended the more than 17 musical performances and related festival activities.

Tulsa Ballet Theatre (Tulsa)

For more than 45 years, the Tulsa Ballet Theatre has

been bringing the finest works in classical and

contemporary dance to Oklahoma, giving audiences a

unique opportunity to view world-class ballet. The

Tulsa Ballet, made up of 30 highly skilled professionals under the artistic direction of Marcello Angelini,

has remained steady in presenting contemporary

works and premieres, featuring works by some of the

field’s most celebrated choreographers.

In FY 2003,the Tulsa Ballet Theatre received an

NEA Creativity grant of $10,000 to support the

commissioning of three new works for the first ever

Festival of Creations program. This mixed-repertory

program, held from April 4-6, 2003 at the Tulsa

Performing Arts Center, featured premieres from

three internationally renowned choreographers: 

4 Seasons of Buenos Aires by Mauricio Wainrot,

Gustav’s Rooster by Val Caniparoli, and Inside the

Figures by Nicolo Fonte.

The 2003 Festival was the first time in Tulsa that three

back-to-back world ballet premieres were presented in

one evening. An estimated 3,500 people attended the

nine performances making up the Festival of

Creations, which drew audiences from Oklahoma

and beyond. Additionally, the Tulsa Ballet invited

area public schools to a “Journey through Dance”

performance and discussion, placing Fonte’s Inside

the Figures into historical dance context for students.

OK MOZART (Bartlesville)

The OK MOZART Festival in Bartlesville,

Oklahoma is heralded as one of the finest musical

events in the heartland of America. Every June since

1985, artistic director and festival co-founder Ransom

Wilson has been bringing professional musicians to

this rural community for an exciting nine-day festival,

featuring works for solo musicians, orchestra, chorus,

and chamber ensembles.

In FY 2003, the OK MOZART Festival received an

NEA Creativity grant of $12,500 for its 19th annual

festival, which took place from June 13-21, 2003.

Solisti New York Orchestra, the festival’s orchestrain-residence, performed alongside renowned artists,

including pianist Barry Douglas, violinist Sarah

Chang, and the Ahn Trio. The Masters Chamber

ensemble, featuring musicians from Lincoln Center,

also performed in afternoon daily chamber concerts

and morning mini-concerts, often highlighting works

of contemporary composers.

Two concerts were held to bring in new audiences to

the festival: the kick-off “Kaleidoscope Concert,”

featuring a casual outdoor jazz and classical music

concert, and the Woolaroc Outdoor Concert with the

Solisti Orchestra, performing at the Woolaroc Ranch
Immigrant and Refugee Community

Organization (Portland)

The Immigrant and Refugee Community

Organization (IRCO) of Portland, Oregon has been

providing cultural preservation, training, interpretation, employment, and other services to Oregon

immigrants and refugees for more than 25 years.

IRCO has collaborated with the Oregon Folklife

Program and other organizations on traditional arts

projects as well, assisting immigrant artists in continuing their cultural traditions and artistic careers in the

Portland area.

In FY 2003, IRCO received an NEA Challenge

America: Access grant of $50,000 to support a new

project: the Refugee Elder Traditional Arts Project.

Working with refugee elders, an IRCO-trained team

began documenting their cultural traditions to

preserve them for future generations with a video and

publication. From August 2003 to January 2004,

team members have been interviewing elders from

eight Portland-based refugee cultures (Bosnian,

Hmong, Romanian, Somali, Sudanese,

Ukrainian/Russian,and Vietnamese) in their homes

and community settings using various tools, such as

photography and audio and video recording, to

document these traditional arts.

Once the collection of materials was completed, team

members began editing the materials and determining the content and structure of the video and

publication.In addition to the footage gathered by

the team members, some of the participant refugee

elders offered personal archival footage that could be

incorporated into the video.

62 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

OREGON

Worknesh Geda, an elder decorative clothing artist working in the

Oromo tradition of East Africa, is interviewed by videographer

consultant Libby Dawson Farr as part of the Immigrant and Refugee

Community Organization’s Refugee Elder Traditional Arts Project. 

Photo courtesy of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization

In December 2004, the final video will be given a

premiere screening at an event open to the community, where the publication will be available. The

video and publication also will be available as 

educational tools for schools, arts and international

programs, and social service agencies serving

refugees and seniors.

Fishtrap (Enterprise)

Fishtrap is a nonprofit organization in Enterprise,

Oregon dedicated to fostering good writing in and

about the American West. The organization began in

1988 with a Summer Writers Gathering in northeastern Oregon and has become a meeting place for

writers from across the West. In addition to the

Writers Gatherings, Fishtrap’s programs include

summer workshops, writers-in-residence at Wallowa

County schools, and a lecture series.

In FY 2003, Fishtrap received an NEA Challenge

America: Access grant of $10,000 to support its

programs. For 15 years, Fishtrap has brought outside

writers and students to the isolated Wallowa County,

with workshops and conferences often focusing on

issues of special concern to rural residents. During

the 2003 Summer Fishtrap Workshops and

Gatherings,more than 80 people participated in

activities. Almost half of the participants came from

Wallowa and nearby rural counties. The theme of the

summer conference was “Longing and Belonging in

the West,” which focused on the changing population

of the West, including the increase of immigrants and

the resurgence of Native American culture.

Participating writers included fiction and travel writer

John Rember, fiction writer Geronimo Tagatac,

Chicano writer Kathleen Alcalá, and poet Peter

Sears.

The Winter Gathering, held in February 2004, drew

50 participants during the three-day event. The

conference revolved around the theme “Forgiveness

and the Unforgivable,” and featured poet/essayist

Kim Stafford, Bangladeshi scholar Azfar Hussein,

and author Migael Scherer as featured speakers.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 63

PENNSYLVANIA

Touchstone (Bethlehem)

Touchstone began in 1981 as a professional touring

mime troupe in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and has

evolved into a regional theater company producing

and presenting original plays for all ages. The audiences Touchtone draws come mainly from the

Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, including the working-class cities of Bethlehem, Allentown, and Easton.

Touchstone received an NEA Challenge America:

Access grant of $25,000 in FY 2003 to support a

production of Don Quixote with master puppeteer

Mario Donate of Puerto Rico. Since its first publication in the 1600s, the characters and story of Miguel

de Cervantes’ Don Quixote has become part of world

culture, embodying myriad contrasting elements:

reality and fantasy, sanity and insanity, peasantry 

and gentry, idealism and practicality. The universal

nature of the book and its characters and themes

make it a good story to speak across the cultures 

of the community.

Touchstone’s approach to the story was to create a

multilingual children’s play with Donate’s puppets.

Donate provided puppet-making workshops in

October 2003 to the Touchstone ensemble and

community artists in addition to creating the puppets

to be used for Don Quixote.The children’s play was

performed in March 2004 to both the general audience and school groups, with each performance

including a post-show discussion between the 

audience and performers. A study guide was

provided to teachers and group leaders to help

achieve curriculum goals.

Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (Pittsburgh)

The Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was founded in 1968 to

employ the visual and performing arts for connecting

diverse urban populations and educating and inspiring inner-city youth. MCG has been especially

focused on the field of jazz,with programs for not

only presenting and promoting jazz music and 

artists, but also preserving the art form for future

generations.

Vibraphonist Buddy DeFranco and clarinetist Terry Gibbs perform during the

Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild Jazz Concert Series in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo by Bob Bowman

In FY 2003, MCG received an NEA Heritage/

Preservation grant of $50,000 to preserve the 17th

season of the MCG Jazz Concert Series and catalog

the Stanley Turrentine archives given to MCG by the

Turrentine family. Since 1987, MCG has been

presenting a jazz concert series in Pittsburgh over

eight concert weekends. The concerts, featuring

some of the brightest new and established jazz musicians in the country, are recorded on audio and video

tape as well. In this way, MCG captures an oral

history of jazz through the performances and interviews with the artists. The more than 600 concerts

that already have been recorded are kept in the MCG

Jazz archives, one of the largest collections of live

American jazz recordings in the United States.

With the NEA grant,MCG was able to add the

2003-2004 season to the archives, including

performances by Dave Holland, Pat Metheny, Dee

Dee Bridgewater, Russell Malone, Benny Green, and

Sergio Mendes. In addition, MCG is preserving and

sharing with the public the vast archival material on

jazz great Stanley Turrentine, including personal

photographs, music scores, unreleased recordings,

and other memorabilia.
Trinity Repertory Company (Providence)

The Trinity Repertory Company of Providence,

Rhode Island, founded in 1963, has been considered

one of the most respected regional theaters in the

country, bringing new and different works to its audiences. As the largest arts organization in the state,

Trinity Rep has presented issues and concerns that

address the community and offered numerous initiatives that promote access and education for southern

New Englanders, including the theater education

program, Project Discovery. Trinity Rep also presents

a free outdoor performance program, Trinity

Summer Shakespeare Project.

In FY 2003, Trinity Rep received an NEA Creativity

grant of $50,000 to produce the world premiere of

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel’s new

work,The Long Christmas Ride Home. This was the

first time that a world premiere of Vogel’s work took

place in her hometown, where she teaches at Brown

University. Trinity Rep’s artistic director, Oskar

64 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

RHODE ISLAND

Timothy Crowe and Annie Scurria (foreground) star as the parents in the world premiere of Paula Vogel’s play The Long Christmas

Ride Home by the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, directed by Oskar Eustis. 

Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Eustis, best known for first bringing Tony Kushner’s

Angels in America to stage, has long collaborated with

Vogel on projects and directed her new play.

The play takes place on a family drive home after a

disastrous Christmas dinner, where the parents engage

in a quarrel that causes the car to spin out of control

on an icy road. This part of the play is told using

Bunraku puppetry, created by world-renowned

puppeteer Basil Twist. As the family’s fate literally

hangs in the balance, each of the children step from

behind the puppet representing them and tell the 

story of their lives. Vogel twists audiences’ expectations

about and definitions of storytelling and nuclear 

families.

The Long Christmas Ride Home ran from May 16 –

June 29, 2003. Post-show discussions were held after

the performances, and free comprehensive study

guides were available for teachers who brought

groups of students to the performances.
School of Building Arts (Charleston)

The School of Building Arts (SoBA) in Charleston,

South Carolina was created in 1998 out of a demonstrated need for skilled craftspeople in America and

has remained dedicated to restoring pride in craftsmanship and to preserving the rich heritage found in

historical structures.

In FY 2003, SoBA received an NEA Heritage/

Preservation grant of $55,000 to support the Masters

of the Building Arts Festival, which took place from

March 25-27, 2004 on Marion Square in downtown

Charleston. The festival featured 35 nationally recognized artisans,who have worked on such historic

sites as the U.S. Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, Drayton

Hall in Charleston, and Les Invalides in Paris. The

festival was held through collaboration with the

National Trust for Historic Preservation,the City of

Charleston, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Functioning as a museum without walls,The Masters

of the Building Arts Festival was segmented into six

trades: ornamental ironworking, carpentry, masonry,

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 65

Grant Highlights

SOUTH CAROLINA

Festival Ballet Providence (Providence)

Festival Ballet Providence (FBP), founded in 1978,

has grown into the largest professional dance

company in Rhode Island, featuring classic, modern,

and jazz works of the highest artistic quality. In 2001,

FBP purchased and renovated a building that

enabled the organization to expand its Center for

Dance Education.

In 2003, FBP received an NEA Challenge America:

Access grant of $10,000 to support its educational

outreach program Learning Through Dance, which

introduces young students to the art of ballet and

generates an appreciation and enthusiasm for dance.

This program targets schools with a high percentage

of students from poor or low-income families, bringing dance to students who have had little exposure to

the art form.

Professional dancers from FBP teach the classes,

beginning with everyday movements and athletic

sports movements that can become dance steps and

moving on to formal dance movements, such as

grand jetes and double tour en l’air. The dancers

work with the schools’ teachers as well, providing a

resource packet of information on dance, including a

brief history of ballet, glossary of ballet terms, illustration of ballet steps,and art projects and activities tied

to core academic requirements. The classes include a

performance of excerpts of Peter Tchaikovsky’s

ballet,The Sleeping Beauty,and discussions about

the composer and the story by Charles Perrault on

which it is based.

A stone carver demonstrating his artistry at the Masters of

the Building Arts Festival in downtown Charleston, South

Carolina. 

Photo courtesy of the School of Building Arts
Washington Pavilion Management 

(Sioux Falls)

The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences is a

multidisciplinary art and science center in Sioux Falls,

South Dakota that, since 1999, has worked to celebrate the local Ethiopian and Sudanese refugee

communities. In FY 2003, it received an NEA

Challenge America: Access grant of $10,000 to

continue its Extending Hands to Open Minds

Project, a program designed to increase the participation of this diaspora community in the arts.

Each year, approximately 400 individuals from West

Africa are relocated to the region. Each refugee is

given three months of English language instruction

and aid,after which time they are expected to

become functional members of the community.

Participation in classes at the Washington Pavilion

not only provides an outlet for creative energy, but

also helps maintain cultural ties within the community and provide opportunities for practicing English.

Classes are focused around weekly arts activities and

workshops that not only provide an opportunity for

participants to express themselves, but also allow

them a way to interact with other members in the

community and learn new ways of integrating into

American society.

Classes in painting,drawing, sculpture, and mixed

media are taught by 25 artists from the Sudanese or

Ethiopian communities. Each class is offered free of

charge.Last year,the artwork created in the classes

was exhibited in conjunction with Sioux Fall’s 7th

annual Festival of Cultures. The festival features

displays, performances, and food that celebrate the

many cultures that share the city.

South Dakota Arts Council (Pierre)

South Dakota is home to a number of different

cultural communities, including Czech, Norwegian,

German, Russian, Hispanic, and Native American.

Through its Traditional Arts Apprenticeship

program, the South Dakota Arts Council, which was

supported by an NEA Folk and Traditional Arts

Infrastructure Initiative grant of $25,000 in FY 2003,

66 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

SOUTH DAKOTA

timber framing, plaster work, and stone work.

Craftspeople worked on projects at each trade site,

while attendees observed and asked questions. A

stone carver, for example, worked on a commission

for the White House, while the brick masons demonstrated their artistry by building archways out of a

variety of bricks.

More than 5,000 individuals attended the festival,

which was free and open to the public. Children also

benefited from “creation stations,” which allowed

them to emulate the craftsmanship they observed

through a hands-on creation projects.

South Carolina Arts Alliance (Rock Hill)

A statewide assembly of arts organizations, administrators, arts educators, businesses, and individual arts

supporters, the South Carolina Arts Alliance (SCAA)

in Rock Hill has been providing resources, technical

assistance, and advocacy tools to South Carolina arts

organizations since 1979. Collaborating with South

Carolina state and local arts agencies,SCAA has

taken a leadership role in providing services to the

field, placing a special emphasis on those agencies

located in rural areas.

In FY 2003, the South Carolina Arts Alliance

received an NEA Organizational Capacity grant of

$15,000 to support the expansion of their Peer

Advisory Network (PAN) to include accounting and

consulting services for nonprofit arts organizations.

PAN is made up of trained consultants or experienced professionals, who offer their services to local

arts agencies at a greatly reduced rate. With this

additional NEA support, PAN will address the need

for improved financial management skills as

requested by South Carolina arts organizations.

Along with these financial services, SCAA also will

conduct six “Best Practices”workshops throughout

the state, aimed at teaching organizational staff and

board members sound accounting and financial practices. SCAA hopes to reach as many as half of the arts

organizations in South Carolina, roughly 250-300,

with its financial services and workshops.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 67

Grant Highlights

TENNESSEE

helps folk artists in all of these communities continue

practicing their traditional arts. Apprentices and

masters are supported for one-year periods while they

work with a traditional art or craft.

This year, five apprenticeships were awarded. Tilda

St.Pierre, a member of the Lakota tribe, taught

several traditional art forms, including beadwork, doll

making,and quillwork to another member of the

tribe,Stephanie Sorbel.Don Green, a member of a

local woodcarving club, trained three members of his

club in the localized practice of carving canes out of

diamond willow branches.Diane Fields taught her

daughter the Scandinavian tradition of nalbinding, or

making rugs out of old strips of cloth. LeRoy Graber

and his apprentice, his son Kim, made traditional

German-Russian willow baskets. Lastly, Norwegian

woodcarver Stan Fillingsness trained Arne Bortnem,

and together they carved kubbestols, mangletrees,

spoons, clocks,and chairs.

The pieces produced by these partnerships were put

on display as part of the exhibition Links in a Chain:

The Continuity of Tradition at the South Dakota Art

Museum.Several of the artists came to the museum

and also demonstrated their art form for visitors and

put on special programs for local students.

Humanities Tennessee (Nashville)

Humanities Tennessee in Nashville is an independent

state affiliate of the National Endowment for the

Humanities. Since 1973, it has worked to promote

understanding of the humanities in Tennessee

through a variety of art and literature-related

programs, including the Tennessee Community

History Program, Motherread/Fatherread Tennessee,

the Tennessee Young Writers Workshop, and its

largest event, the Southern Festival of Books: A

Celebration of the Written Word.

The 15th annual festival, which was supported by an

NEA Creativity grant of $15,000 in FY 2003, was

home to three days of lectures, readings, panels,

theater,and food.More than 25,000 visitors attended

the festival, and thousands of others watched the

broadcasts on C-SPAN’s Book TV. More than 260

authors were in attendance, including Mitch Albom,

Bobbie Ann Mason, Garrison Keillor, and Dorothy

Allison. Each writer gave either an individual reading

or participated in a panel discussion on topics such

as short-story writing, Civil War diaries, historical

novelists, Southern poets, and spirituality.

In addition to these literary events, the festival

included a variety of other activities.Poetry readings,

monologues,and the full-length play The Ghost of

Nashville were included as part of the festival.

Musicians such as Danny Flowers, Craig Carothers,

Don Henry and Gene Nelson, and the Alabama

Troubadours also performed. Young visitors

attended a 40th anniversary celebration for Maurice

Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, celebrated

Halloween early at a costume party, and were able to

visit with festival writers as part of Young Adult

Reader Day.

Ballet Memphis (Memphis)

Ballet Memphis was founded 17 years ago by artistic

director Dorothy Gunther Pugh. It is currently one of

the fastest-growing and most respected arts groups in

Memphis, and tours both nationally and regionally.

Past performances have included classics such as

Swan Lakeand Giselle in addition to original,

Apprentice Arne Bortnem of Sioux Falls carves a Norwegian

acanthus-leaf clock. Arne studied with carver Stan

Fillingsness of Canton as part of the South Dakota Arts

Council's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program.

Photo by Andrea Graham, South Dakota Arts Council
Grant Highlights

68 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

innovative programming based on the region’s

cultural heritage.

In FY 2003, Ballet Memphis received an NEA

Creativity grant of $10,000 to produce As the Spirit

Moves You, a three-part program created to introduce

dance to new and diverse audiences. The three

pieces focused on aspects of Southern culture as a

way of inspiring dialogue between different segments

of the population. To create this unique program,

Ballet Memphis collaborated with the STAX Music

Academy, LeMoyne Owen College gospel choirs,

and Mississippi singer/songwriter Kate Campbell.

More than 3,000 individuals attended the performance over two nights.

Twenty-four Ballet Memphis professional dancers,

13 children, three choreographers—along with a 40-

member gospel choir, a five-person band, and singer

Kate Campbell—performed together to create the

three pieces. The first segment,Mystical Divinity,

depicted the life of choreographer and dancer

Damien Patterson who grew up in the Baltimore

public housing projects. In the second piece, South of

Everywhere, choreographer Karl Condon told stories

about growing up white in the rural South during the

civil rights era. In the closing piece,Grace, worldrenowned choreographer Trey McIntyre depicted

the struggle of two human beings who discover a

happier way of being human.

Dancers Marianna Ramsour and Garrett Ammon perform in Trey McIntyre’s Grace as part of Ballet Memphis’s three-part program,

As the Spirit Moves You. 

Photo courtesy of Ballet Memphis
Children’s books were one of the features of the Texas Book Festival in

2003, which also included storytelling, craft activities, costumed characters, and other entertainment for children. 

Photo by Bob Daemmrich

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 69

Grant Highlights

TEXAS

Texas Book Festival (Austin)

The Texas Book Festival (TBF) was founded in 1995

by Mrs. Laura Bush to provide a free event bringing

Texas authors to the State Capitol in Austin. The

festival has since become a much-anticipated annual

event,featuring more than 600 authors from Texas

and beyond over the last eight years.

This past November, the Capitol was overtaken for

two days by more than 180 authors and a record

crowd topping 30,000. The Texas Book Festival

received an NEA Creativity grant of $10,000 in FY

2003 to support the festival. Authors participated in

readings, talks, and panel discussions that included

topics such as “The Border on Its Own Terms,”

“Not Your Father’s Alamo,” and “Award-Winning

Children’s Authors.”

The 2003 festival included a rich collection of writers, including Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Herman

Wouk, Dave Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Calvin Trillin,

Bobbi Salinas, and former First Lady Barbara Bush.

A highlight of the festival was the presentation of the

annual TBF Bookend Awards to Texas novelists

Elmer Kelton and Shelby Hearon.

A special section of the festival is devoted to children,

with costumed characters, entertainment, craft 

activities, and storytelling. TBF also provides

outreach programs to reach potential audiences that

might not be able to attend the festival. TBF On the

Road is a spring program that presents literary events

to smaller Texas cities. Another program, Author!

Author!, brought children’s book authors to read and

hold discussions at seven schools that serve lowerincome areas of Austin.

Irving Arts Center (Irving)

The Irving Arts Center of Irving, Texas is a visual and

performing arts center that provides technical, organizational, and facilities support to arts organizations in

the community. The Arts Center offers many

programs targeted at the Hispanic population, which

makes up one-third of the community, including past

events such as a free concert by conjunto musician

Flaco Jimenez and exhibitions of rare 18th and 19th

century Mexican religious folk paintings.

In FY 2003,the Arts Center began a new project

with the assistance of an NEA Challenge America:

Access grant of $25,000: the Centennial Mural. The

Arts Center commissioned Chicago-based arts

educator and mosaic artist Francisco Mendoza to

work with teams of paid high school student workers

during the summers of 2003 and 2004 on an original

10 x 66 foot Venetian glass tile mural. Mendoza’s

previous projects have included murals on the

façades of the Cooper Elementary School and the

Jose Clemente Orozco Community Academy

(completed with students) as well as a mural for the

Chicago Transit Authority 18th Street train station.

Mendoza is a lead artist with Chicago’s nationally

recognized arts-based youth employment program

Gallery 37.

During the summer of 2003, Mendoza and the

student workers collaborated on the creation and

design of the mural. In the summer of 2004, they

began creating the mural from the design. The mural

will commemorate the city’s centennial, depicting an

historic timeline of the City of Irving, and will be

permanently installed in the Arts Center’s Sculpture

Garden in the fall of 2004.
Moab Music Festival (Moab)

Coined “Music in Concert with the Landscape,” the

Moab Music Festival (MMF) presents world-class

chamber music set in the natural red rock beauty of

southeastern Utah. Under the guidance of Music

Director Michael Barrett, this annual festival highlights the works of modern to traditional composers

through a two-week concert series, bringing professional quality music to a remote community with

limited musical exposure.

In FY 2003, the Moab Music Festival received an

NEA Challenge America: Access grant of $10,000 to

support the MMF’s 11th annual season. Held from

August 30-September 14, 2003, the festival consisted

of 12 concerts in and around the Moab area.

Featuring some of the state’s best classical musicians,

the concerts presented themes such as “From the

French Court to the Cajun Kitchen” and “Czechs

and Americans.” The concerts were supplemented

with lectures. Pianist Paul Hersh, for example, gave

his annual “Piano Talk” concert with violinist Axel

Strauss, in which he led audience members through

the intricacies of Schubert’s Fantasie in C major for 

Violin and Piano. 

With declining music education programs and

limited classical music outlets in Moab,the annual

festival serves as a cherished learning and listening

experience for area students and residents.

Composer and clarinetist Eric Thomas has served as

festival artist-in-residence since 1991,and teaches

70 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

UTAH

The Moab Music Festival in Utah includes outreach to local schools,

reaching more 1,500 students annually. 

Photo courtesy of the Moab Music Festival 

music appreciation and performance classes, such as

Composing/Arranging and Musicianship Skills for

Youth and Adults.

Additionally, the MMF extends its reach to local

schools, where more than 1,500 students benefit

annually from assemblies, in-class presentations, and

concerts. In total, more than 2,600 individuals

participated in the 11th annual Moab Music Festival,

most hailing from the surrounding Moab region.

Children’s Dance Theatre (Salt Lake City)

The Children’s Dance Theatre (CDT) in Salt Lake

City, Utah aims to introduce children to the joy of

movement and the discipline of dance. Educational

outreach services are a large portion of CDT’s activities, using performance,lecture demonstrations,and

teacher residencies as tools for integrating dance into

the classroom.

In FY 2003, the Children’s Dance Theatre received an

NEA Arts Learning grant of $45,000 to support the

Side-by-Side Teacher Training Residency for the

2003-4 school year. This 35-week program provides

creative modern dance instruction for teachers and

students, followed by the development of related

lesson plans. Split into three phases, the residency will

serve a total of 60 classrooms in seven area schools.

During the first phase of the program, CDT faculty

members provide an hour of dance instruction per

week, closely following the guidelines of Utah’s State

Dance Core Curriculum. The dancers instruct the

classes while classroom teachers observe and participate in teaching methodology and technique. In the

second phase, CDT faculty and teachers collaborate

on teaching plans and share the instruction aspect of

the dance session. In the third and final phase of the

residency, the teachers take sole responsibility for the

lesson plans and instruction under the guidance of

CDT staff.

The Side-by-Side Teacher Training Residency is

designed to help teachers incorporate dance methodology into their lesson plans. Dance has proven to be

a useful tool in breaking down cultural, social, and

economic barriers in the classroom, as well as formulating effective problem-solving skills in children.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 71

VERMONT

Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

(Burlington)

The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts has been

presenting the Burlington, Vermont community with

high-quality music, dance, multidisciplinary, and

theater events for nearly 25 years. The 1,453 seat

Mainstage hosts an annual season of more than 40

performances, with smaller, more experimental works

held in FlynnSpace. The Flynn also encourages 

new artists through the development and presentation

of their work, benefiting the community through 

exposure and related educational programs and 

workshops.

In FY 2003, the Flynn Center received an NEA

Creativity grant of $55,000 to support three components of its 2003-4 performance series: the China

Project, new commissions of interdisciplinary work,

and presentations from international dance companies.

The China Project presented a rich array of

Chinese/Chinese American artistry through performances such as the U.S. premiere of Report to Body by

choreographer Wen Hui and media artist Wu

Wenguang, co-directors of China’s first independent

dance/theater company, Living Dance Studio. The

work, presented three times on April 11, 12, and 13,

2003, explored how Chinese women find the relationships with their bodies challenged and changed

in the context of contemporary China.

The China Project, which also included Jon

Jang/James Newton’s When Sorrow Turns to Joyand

Li Xiao Dan’s Chinese opera company, appealed to

area artists and community members as well as the

growing Asian population in the Burlington area,

which gave back to the project through enthusiastic

participation and scholarly collaboration.

Vermont MIDI/ARTT Project (Montpelier)

Created in 1995 to help teachers meet established

national and state teaching standards in music

composition,the Vermont MIDI/ARTT Project in

Montpelier serves the students and teachers of

Vermont with online arts mentoring, collaboration,

Annapurna Kocherlakota, a fourth-grader at Champlain Elementary School in

Burlington, Vermont, composed a piece for flute, bassoon, and cello as part

of Vermont MIDI/ARTT’s programs. 

Photo courtesy of Vermont MIDI/ARTT

and professional development in the areas of music

composition and visual arts.

In FY 2003,the Vermont MIDI/ARTT Project

received an NEA Arts Learning grant of $70,000 to

support several components of its project,including the

expansion of the online mentoring program and

student participation and continued professional development workshops at the annual Summer Institute.

One of the more striking aspects of the Vermont

MIDI/ARTT project is the online mentoring

component, in which selected mentors provide 2.5

hours of online feedback per week to posted student

music compositions in the Vermont area. Eighteen

online music mentors will be selected over the granting period,and participating students will range in

grades from K-12.

The NEA grant also will supplement stipends for

students to attend the annual Summer Institute,

previously open only to teachers. The Institute,

made up of weeklong workshops at Castleton 

State College, offers instruction in areas such as

Photoshop, digital imaging, digital movie editing, and

Sibelius 3 notation software for music composition.
Barter Theatre (Abingdon)

The Barter Theatre of Abingdon, Virginia began as

one of the first professional regional theaters in the

country, and in 1946 was the first to be designated

officially as a “state theater.” The Barter Theatre’s

audiences have grown from 62,000 to 140,000 annually over the last nine years, despite being located in a

remote area of the country.

With an FY 2003 NEA Creativity grant of $15,000,

the Barter Theatre produced the world premiere of

Keep On The Sunny Side by first-time playwright

Doug Pote. The play tells the story of the Carter

Family, considered one of the most influential 

musical groups in American folk and country music.

Popular in the 1920s and 1930s,A.P.,Sara,and

Maybelle Carter created a string of hits that still are

72 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

VIRGINIA

The Barter Theatre of Abingdon, Virginia produced the world premiere of Keep On the Sunny Side by first-time playwright Doug Pote

about the musical group, the Carter Family, starring (left to right) Gill Braswell, Eugene Wolf, Teresa Williams, Nicholas Piper, and

Mimi Bessette. 

Photo courtesy of the the Barter Theatre

performed today, such as “Wildwood Flower,”

“Keep on the Sunny Side,” and “Will the Circle Be

Unbroken.” The story of this important American

group is largely unknown, however. Pote’s play helps

to change that.

Although a physician by profession rather than a

playwright, Pote’s knowledge of Appalachian music,

and the Carter Family in particular, is extensive: he

had previously written a radio program on the

history of the Carter Family and given lectures at

Emory & Henry College on musical topics. The play,

including performances of Carter Family songs, is a

celebration of Appalachian culture while touching on

universal themes of struggle and fame. Pote developed the play by working closely with A.P. and Sara’s

daughter Janette Carter.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 73

Grant Highlights

WASHINGTON

Art Museum of Western Virginia (Roanoke)

Incorporated in 1951, the Art Museum of Western

Virginia (AMWV) in Roanoke, Virginia presents

exhibitions and programs with a mix of national,

regional, traditional, and contemporary art. The

primary focus of the museum’s collection has been in

19th century American art, contemporary art, works

on paper, and African art. In addition to collecting,

AMWV has undertaken several conservation projects

over the last couple of decades, including improving

the storage of the collection of works on paper and

providing the special materials for the conservation 

of a collection of Japanese prints.

In FY 2003, AMWV received an NEA

Heritage/Preservation grant of $20,000 to support

the conservation of paintings, preliminary studies,

and sculpture by American artist Thomas Eakins 

and members of his artistic circle. Eakins, who spent

most of his life working and teaching in Philadelphia,

is considered one of the finest American portrait

painters of the 19th century. Twenty-seven paintings

and one sculpture by Eakins, his wife Susan

Macdowell Eakins, her sister Elizabeth Macdowell

Kenton, and artists Peter Rothermel and Ellen

Ahrens will be cleaned,repaired,and readied for

exhibition.

The works were sent to the Williamstown

Conservation Center in Massachusetts in June 2003

to be treated and will be worked on concurrently.

The conservation will be completed by May 2005.

Many of the paintings suffer from discolored 

varnish and surface dust and grime, and some have

paint flaking and cracking. The sculpture requires

cleaning, repairing, and stabilizing. The artistic 

and scholarly importance of these pieces, in 

combination with the rest of the AMWV’s 

associated materials, is immense.

New Old Time Chautauqua (Port Townsend)

New Old Time Chautauqua (NOTC) in Port

Townsend, Washington carries on the late 19th and

early 20th century tradition of Chautauqua, which

brought artists, lecturers, musicians, and theater

troupes to rural America. In FY 2003, NOTC

received an NEA Challenge America: Access grant of

$6,000 to support tours to five communities in three

states, where they participated in two-day residencies.

They visited Yakima, Washington; Sandpoint, Idaho;

Salmon, Idaho; Whitefish, Montana; and Eureka,

Montana.

NOTC consists of approximately 50 performers at

any one time, ranging in age from 4 to 86, including

writers, visual artists, clowns, circus performers, and

musicians. In each town it put on a four-part

program, beginning with a large “Everybody’s

Welcome” parade in which members of the community could join the troupe for an opening celebration.

Following the parade, educational and artistic workshops were held by the NOTC artists. In the past,

they have taught visitors how to juggle, write poetry,

do the samba, and play ragtime guitar.

The culmination of the residency is the main-stage

family variety show,which showcases the talents of

members of the troupe.In 2003, the show featured

performances by the Flying Karamazov Brothers, folk

singer Faith Petric, stand-up comedian Joey Pipia,

poet Kevin Murphy, and many jugglers, aerialists, and

gymnasts. The artists also performed a smaller

version of this program at local institutions, such as

prisons, hospitals,senior centers,and juvenile detention facilities.

Northwest Folklife (Seattle)

Founded in 1971, Northwest Folklife is one of the

largest multicultural arts organizations in the country,

producing year-round cultural and educational

programs in schools, community centers, and lowincome neighborhoods. It is also the producer of the

Northwest Folklife Festival, one of the country’s

biggest festivals and a significant event for the region.

More than 5,000 artists perform free of charge at the

event,which is attended by 275,000 visitors.
Yupik dancers perform traditional dances as part of the East Meets West:

Cultural Conservation in the Atlantic Northeast and the Pacific Northwest

component of the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, Washington. 

Photo courtesy of the Northwest Folklife Festival

74 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

WEST VIRGINIA

In FY 2003,Northwest Folklife received an NEA

Creativity grant of $30,000 to continue its program

East Meets West: Cultural Conservation in the

Atlantic Northeast and the Pacific Northwest,a

special component of the festival which concentrates

on the relationship of natural resources to culture.

This year they showcased the impact of the ocean on

the residents of two parts of North America with the

program Maritime Cultures in the Atlantic Northeast

and the Pacific Northwest.

Four program curators, two from the northeast and

two from the northwest, were chosen to develop the

program, identify key traditions, and select participants to be featured at the festival. The curators also

wrote cultural essays for the festival guide, created

text for each demonstration area, developed interpretive signs, and presented the artists on festival stages

or within their demonstration areas.

Thirty-two traditional artists worked for the full four

days of the festival, in addition to 70 other maritime

artists who volunteered their time. Maritime activities

presented at the festival included model shipbuilding,

lightship basketmaking, canoemaking,sailmaking,

lobstering, crabbing, and decoy carving. In addition,

artists performed Norwegian and Croatian fishing

songs, poetry about the ocean, original comedy, and

traditional dances.

West Virginia Symphony Orchestra

(Charlestown)

The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, based in

Charlestown, is the largest professional performing

arts organization in the state, serving more than

100,000 people annually. Founded in 1939, the

orchestra, in addition to playing concerts in

Charlestown, travels throughout the state, providing

additional public access to their performances. Host

sites usually are located in areas that do not otherwise have access to live orchestral music or resources

to support a professional orchestra, and the orchestra often visits elementary schools to offer

supplemental music education activities.

In FY 2003, the orchestra received an NEA

Challenge America: Access grant of $20,000 to

support its 2003-2004 tours to five communities

throughout the state. The orchestra’s touring

program has been supported by the NEA over the

last five years.

The 2003 tour included a full orchestra with violin

soloist Ilya Kaler, performing pieces by Lilburn,

Lalo,and Mendelssohn.In 2004,a smaller component of the orchestra toured pieces by Biber, Bach,

Mozart, and Schubert. Valentina Lisitsa was a guest

pianist at the show in Parkersburg, and in March

2004 the tour continued to Elkins and Hurricane.

The 2003 fall tour also included Young People’s

Concerts for students in Woods County Schools in

Parkersburg, where they performed Grant Cooper’s

composition Boyz in the Wood and a holiday show

with the West Virginia Symphony Chorus.

Contemporary American Theater

(Shepherdstown)

The Contemporary American Theater (CAT) of

Shepherdstown, West Virginia was founded in 1990

to produce and develop new plays by American

playwrights, expanding the program in 1998 to

include commissioning new plays from writers of

promise. Located at Shepherd College, CAT

includes educational programs such as apprentice
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 75

and intern programs as well as post-show 

discussions and forums.

In FY 2003,CAT received an NEA Creativity grant

of $15,000 to support the development and production of a new play,Bright Ideas, by Eric Coble. The

play involves a couple––whose three-year-old is on

the waiting list for the best preschool available, the

Bright Ideas Early Childhood Development

Academy––who resort to murder to get their child

into the school. With references to Shakespeare’s

conniving Macbeths throughout, the play examines

the issue of how American parents push their children to excel at even the preschool level and just

how far parents will go to get their children in the

very best schools.

During the spring of 2003, Coble met with Ed

Herendeen,CAT founder and producing director,

to discuss the play and the changes the playwright

was working on. Coble then worked with the director and cast during the first week of rehearsals. The

play opened July 12, 2003 during the annual CAT

festival, which was attended by the playwright. Since

the opening, the play has traveled to 20 states and

the District of Columbia.

Two desperate parents are driven to murder, all in the name of quality preschool education, in Eric Coble’s comedy, Bright Ideas,

premiered at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. From left to right: Catherine Curtin, Lee

Sellars, and Jennifer Mudge. 

Photo by Stephanie K. Patterson
Danceworks (Milwaukee) 

Danceworks, founded in 1992, is one of the few

dance organizations in the United States which

implements outreach activities for the elderly in senior

centers and treatment facilities. Although it tours and

has implemented programs nationally and internationally, most of its programs serve southeastern

Wisconsin.

In the fall of 2000, the Milwaukee organization

launched The 50+ Initiative, a series of classes,

outreach activities, and residency programs aimed at

providing dance and multi-arts education for older

adults. In FY 2003, the program was expanded using

an NEA Challenge America: Access grant of $30,000

to include additional movement programs,workshops in senior centers, and multi-arts residencies.

The program includes components suitable for more

than 2,000 high- and low-functioning older adults,

including those with physical and cognitive disabilities such as Alzheimer’s disease. Participants range

from 65 to 103 years of age. Classes take place in

adult day care centers, residential facilities, and in the

company’s fully accessible dance studio.

Classes are designed to match the participants’ skill

level; they range from advanced tap and Charleston

lessons for high-functioning participants to seated

creative movement for low functioning participants.

Each level works to improve the individual’s physical,

mental, and emotional well-being and to promote

sociability. Movement is frequently paired with visual

arts and storytelling, sometimes in an intergenerational setting.

Project activities have included weaving memory

baskets, creating collages to illustrate life stories, and

designing and constructing quilts and gardens.

Many movement and visual arts activities provide

opportunities to tell stories and create poems,

enabling elders to share their lives through 

movement and dance, and to tell their stories to 

a new generation.

76 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Grant Highlights

WISCONSIN

Steve Faust and his son Carson experience the art of woodcarving at the

Paine Art Center and Gardens’s exhibition Discover Art! Looking and

Creating, designed specifically for kids to interact with the artwork. 

Photo courtesy of the Paine Art Center and Gardens and Weston Photography

Paine Art Center and Gardens (Oshkosh)

The Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh,

Wisconsin is a 1920s Tudor Revival-style mansion

and gardens, which is home to an active art center.

The center features a permanent collection of fine art

and decorative objects as well as changing exhibitions

of international, national and regional art. More than

40,000 people visit the Paine annually. In 2003, a

new Family Discovery Gallery was created devoted

exclusively to multimedia educational and outreach

activities for children.

One of the components of the new gallery is an exhibition called Discover Art! Looking and Creating,

supported by a FY 2003 NEA Arts Learning grant of

$23,000. The exhibition consists of two sections: a

“looking” area where children can view reproductions of famous art works from the Paine’s galleries
Grant Highlights

WYOMING

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 77

Community Visual Art Association 

(Jackson Hole)

The Community Visual Art Association (CVAA) of

Jackson Hole, Wyoming is a multidisciplinary organization that holds classes for all ages in a variety of

media, operates a gallery with ongoing exhibitions,

and has a broad outreach program to schools, hospitals, and senior centers. In 2001, it began Young

Artists Revolutionary Designs (Y.A.R.D.) Art, a

program to provide local high school students the

opportunity to design, build, and sell their own works

of art in unusual media, such as metal sculpture. The

program provides a creative outlet for troubled youth

in the region and gives students in arts classes new

media in which to express themselves.

In FY 2003, an NEA Arts Learning grant of $8,000

helped expand Y.A.R.D. Art to include a larger

number of students, provide supplies, and support

artists residencies. Seventeen students were

taught the basics of designing in metal by

CVAA staff members; then they created

miniature models of their designs. The

seven models that they selected for fabrication were sent to the Simms Metal

Studio,where the students were taught to

use welding torches, plasma cutters,and

grinders and produced 10 to 15 copies of

each design. Objects made by the students

included benches, chairs, clocks, magazine

holders, picture frames, and bicycle racks.

In the past year, the students have also been

commissioned to create several large-scale

outdoor sculptures.

Following production of the furniture the

participants were responsible for tracking the

income of the project, designing a catalogue

of their merchandise, and determining a price

for the pieces. They created a comprehensive

marketing plan that helped them to sell their

creations at the local fine arts fair, fetching prices

ranging from $25 to $1,500.

up close, and a “creating” area where children and

family members can create their own artworks.

Since it opened in October 2003, more than 5,000

children have visited the new exhibits. In the looking

area, activities explain the artistic elements present in

each piece and allow children to explore and change

certain properties like color, texture, and perspective.

In the creating area, a range of materials and tools are

provided to create pieces, and rotating activities

include printmaking, painting, drawing, and sculpting.

Nearly every Saturday, the exhibit also features a

series of interactive projects for parents and their children designed by local artists, educators, and arts

education students from the University of Wisconsin,

Oshkosh.Children and their families have created

masks, photograms, charcoal drawings, bottle

animals, and mosaics with the help of volunteers 

and educational assistants.

One of the pieces of furniture created by

participates of Y.A.R.D. Art, a program by

Jackson Hole’s Community Visual Art

Association to provide local high school

students the opportunity to design, build,

and sell their own works of art. 

Photo courtesy of the Community Visual Art Association
Grant Highlights

78 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

University of Wyoming (Laramie)

The University of Wyoming Student Union, established in 1939, is one of the focal points of the

university’s campus. It serves not only as a gathering

place for students but also offers a wide range of

activities and programs for the Laramie community

at large.

In 1940, the U.S. Work Projects Administration

(WPA) hired Utah artist Lynn Fausett to create a

mural in the Union. In 2003, this mural was restored

by painting conservator M. Randall Ash and moved

into its new permanent location in the Union’s

Yellowstone Ballroom. These renovations,

supported by an NEA Heritage/Preservation grant

of $10,000 in FY 2003,will save an important piece

of history for the campus.

Welcoming of President Arthur G. Crane was one of

the last murals created under the Federal Art Project

of the WPA, and is the only mural in Wyoming that

was created by an out-of-state artist. The mural

depicts a mythological interpretation of the events

surrounding the arrival of the university’s new 

president, including his mock kidnapping. Crane

served at the university from 1922-1941, and 

went on to become the Secretary of State and 

later Governor of Wyoming.

Following renovations of the Union, the large mural

could no longer fit in its original location. Ash

removed the mural from its former location, had it

attached to a special backing board, cleaned it, and

then carefully reinstalled it in the Yellowstone

Ballroom of the Union.The mural was dedicated

during the university’s 2003 homecoming.

Lynn Fausett's mural Welcoming of President Arthur G. Crane, one of the last created under the 

Work Projects Administration, was restored with support from the NEA. 

Photo courtesy of the University of Wyoming
LITERATURE FELLOWSHIPS

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 79

Literature Fellowships represent the National Endowment for the Arts’s most direct

investment in American creativity. The program’s goal is to encourage the

production of new work and allow writers the time and means to write or translate.

At the time of the fellowship award, few recipients make their living from writing; most hold

full-time jobs as teachers, administrators, day laborers, or temporary office workers.

Literature Fellowships not only give writers national recognition—often for the first time—

they also give writers valuable creative time away from their daily jobs. Sixty-one percent of

the writers recommended for fellowships this year are 40 or younger; more than one-third

have not yet had a book published.

Over more than 35 years, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded $39 million

through its Literature Fellowships to more than 2,450 writers, and sponsored work resulting in

more than 2,300 books, including many acclaimed works of contemporary American

literature: Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Louise Glück’s The Wild Iris, William Kennedy’s

Ironweed, Philip Levine’s The Simple Truth, and Bobbie Ann Mason’sIn Country.

The record of the Literature Fellowships program shows unparalleled support for writers at

critical, early stages of their careers. Every recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry from 1990-

2002 received a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts at least seven

years prior to winning the national award.

This year’s Literature Fellowships are for Poetry (Prose and Poetry fellowships alternate years).

Of the 1,617 applications received, 38 writers from 23 states were awarded $20,000 grants,

totaling $760,000. In addition to the creative writing fellowships, every year Literature

Fellowships are awarded for translation projects to translate literary works written in foreign

languages into English (alternating between prose and poetry to coincide with the creative

writing fellowships). The art of literary translation has made available to the American public

some of the most important literature in the world, providing insights into other countries’

cultures not necessarily found in history books or nightly newscasts. In 2003, 43 applications

for Translation in Poetry grants were received, of which 10 translators in five states and two

foreign countries were awarded grants totaling $140,000. Grants to translators are awarded for

specific translation projects.
80 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Literature Fellowships

Creative Writing Fellowships—Poetry

(all grants are $20,000) 

A lifelong resident of New Orleans,Ralph Adamo

has published six collections of poetry. He teaches at

Louisiana State University, Tulane University, and at

the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Academy.

Daniel Anderson’s poems have appeared in Poetry,

The Kenyon Review,New England Review,The

Hudson Review,The New Republic,The Southern

Review,The Best American Poetry,and Southwest

Review among other places. His first collection of

poems, January Rain, was published in 1997.

Quan Barry was born in Saigon and raised on

Boston’s north shore. Her work has appeared in 

such journals as The Kenyon Review,The Missouri

Review, and The New Yorker.

Kevin Bowen currently serves as Director of the

William Joiner Center for the Study of War and 

Its Social Consequences at the University of

Massachusetts-Boston.The Progressive magazine

chose Bowen’s first book,Playing Basketball with 

the Viet Cong, a “Pick of the Year.”

Geoffrey Brock earned a Ph.D. in Comparative

Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and an

MFA in Poetry from the University of Florida. His

poems have appeared in The Hudson Review,Poetry,

Paris Review, and Southern Review.

Poetry Director of the Napa Valley Writers’

Conference,Nan Cohen’s poems have appeared in

Tikkun,Poetry International,Prairie Schooner, and

The Prentice-Hall Anthology of Women’s Literature,

among others.

Theodore Deppe earned his MFA from Vermont

College. He is the author of The Wanderer King,

Children of the Air, and the chapbook Necessary

Journeys.

A graduate of Stanford University and the MFA

program at UNC-Greensboro,Camille Dungy is

Assistant Professor of English at Randolph-Macon

Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She has

been published in various literary magazines and

journals, including recently,The Missouri Review,

Crab Orchard Review, and The Mid-American

Review.

Jill Alexander Essbaum was midway through her

studies at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the

Southwest when her collection of poetry Heaven

won the 1999 Bakeless Prize and was published by

University Press of New England the following year.

In addition, her poems have appeared in journals

both national and local, including The Christian

Century, Sojourners,Image,The Texas Observer,

Artful Dodge, and Borderlands.

Beth Ann Fennelly is the recipient of a Pushcart

Prize,the Wood Award for Distinguished Writing

from The Carolina Quarterly,a fellowship from

Breadloaf, and residencies at the University of

Arizona and MacDowell. Her poems have been

published in TriQuarterly, Shenandoah,The

Georgia Review,The Michigan Quarterly Review,

The American Scholar, and Poetry Ireland Review.

Used by permission of the author.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 81

Literature Fellowships

Ted Genowaysis the editor of the Virginia

Quarterly Review. He is the author of Bullroarer,

which won the Nebraska Book Award, and his work

has appeared in Ploughshares, Southern Review,

Prairie Schooner,and The New Republic.

Diane Glancy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to

a mother of English and German descent and to a

father of Cherokee descent. She has written numerous works across a wide range of genres, including

Brown Wolf Leaves the Res and Other Poems;

Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears; War

Cries, a collection of one- and two-act plays; and The

West Pole, a series of vignettes.

Awarded the Iowa Poetry Prize for her first collection,Trace of One,Joanna Goodman’s work has

appeared in New Letters,Prairie Schooner, and the

Kenyon Review. She teaches in the English Program

at Penn State Altoona.

David Gravender won the E.J. Pratt Poetry Prize

while a graduate student at the University of Toronto.

His poetry has appeared in The Fiddlehead,Queen’s

Quarterly,The Tabla Book of New Verse, and on the

buses of his hometown of Seattle.

Lola Haskins has published six collections of poetry,

most recently The Rim Bendersand Extranjera.Her

work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly,The

Christian Science Monitor,The London Review of

Books, Southern Review,Prairie Schooner,Beloit

Poetry Review,Georgia Review,and elsewhere.

David Keplinger’s first book,The Rose Inside, was

chosen by Mary Oliver for the 1999 T.S.Eliot Prize.

His essays, translations, and poems have appeared in

Poetry,Prairie Schooner,Gettysburg Review,AGNI,

Virginia Quarterly Review,Mid-American Review,

The American Voice, and many other journals.

Jacqueline Lyons’ first collection of poetry,The Way

They Say Yes Here, was published by Hanging Loose

Press. Her poems and essays have appeared in

numerous journals, such as Barrow Street,

Bellingham Review,Beloit Poetry Journal,

Chattahoochee Review, Florida Review,Hanging

Loose,Phoebe,Puerto del Sol,Calyx,Turnrow,

and others.

Carl Marcum has received a Wallace Stegner

Fellowship and was nominated for the 2001

American Book Award. His collection,Cue Lazarus,

was published by the University of Arizona Press.

Corey Marks’s first book,Renunciation, was a

National Poetry Series Open Competition winner

published by University of Illinois Press. His poems

appear in a number of journals, including Antioch

Review,Black Warrior Review,New England

Review,The Paris Review,Raritan,and

TriQuarterly.

A professor of English at Dartmouth College,

Cleopatra Mathis has published five collections of

poetry. Additionally, she has been published in The

New Yorker,TriQuarterly,American Poetry Review,

The Extraordinary Tide,New Poetry By American

Women,and The Made Thing: An Anthology Of

Southern Poetry.

Davis McCombsteaches in the Creative Writing

Program at the University of Arkansas. His first book,

Ultima Thule,was chosen by W.S.Merwin as the

winner of the 1999 Yale Series of Younger Poets.

Jeffrey McDanielwas born in Philadelphia in 1967.

He is the author of three books of poetry: The

Splinter Factory,The Forgiveness Parade, and 

Alibi School.

Kat Meads has published several books of both

fiction and poetry, including Night Bonesand The

Queendom.

Joseph Millar holds an MA in poetry from Johns

Hopkins University and is the author of Overtime,

from Eastern Washington University Press. His

poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review,

Poetry Daily, Manoa, Jacaranda,New Letters,

Ploughshares, and Doubletake.
82 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Literature Fellowships

D.A. Powell is the author of Tea and Lunch, both

from Wesleyan University Press, and Cocktails, from

Graywolf Press. He has received a Pushcart Prize and

other awards. He teaches at Harvard University,

where he is the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Poetry

and co-edits Electronic Poetry Review.

Paisley Rekdal is the author of a book of essays,The

Night My Mother Met Bruce Leeand two books of

poetry,A Crash of Rhinosand Six Girls Without

Pants. She is an Assistant Professor of English at the

University of Michigan.

Thomas Reiter holds the Wayne D. McMurray

Endowed Chair in the Humanities at Monmouth

University. His most recent poetry collections,Pearly

Everlasting and Powers and Boundaries were

published by Louisiana State University Press.

Angela Shaw’s poems have twice been included in

the Best American Poetryanthology in 1994 and in

1996, and won a Pushcart Prize in 1999. They have

also been published in Poetry, Seneca Review,

Chelsea,Field,Indiana Review,and others and have

been anthologized in The New Young American

Poets.

Peter Shippy is the author of Thieves’ Latin,

published by the University of Iowa Press. He 

has had work recently appear in Verse, Octopus 

Magazine, and the Iowa Review. He teaches at

Emerson College.

Ron Silliman has written and edited 25 books to

date, including the anthology In the American Tree.

He lives in Chester County,Pennsylvania, with his

wife and two sons, and works as a market analyst in

the computer industry.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Literature

at Bowling Green State University,Larissa Szporluk

is author of three books of poetry,Dark Sky Question,

winner of the Barnard Poetry Prize; Isolato, winner of

the Iowa Poetry Prize; and The Wind, Master

Cherry, The Wind. She has been published in

Daedalus,Faultline,Meridian,and Poetry Review.

Brian Teare received his MFA from Indiana

University, where he was a Lilly Fellow in Poetry. He

has poetry appearing or forthcoming in such journals

as Ploughshares,Pleiades,Boston Review,VOLT,and

Colorado Review, and his critical prose has appeared

in Black Warrior Review,Quarterly West, and

Indiana Review.

Robert Thomas has lived all his life in the San

Francisco Bay Area. His poems have appeared in

Agni,The Antioch Review,The Iowa Review,The

Kenyon Review,New England Review,The Paris

Review, Shenandoah, and elsewhere.

Ann Townsend’s first collection of poems,Dime

Store Erotics, was published in 1998. Her poems,

stories,and essays have appeared in Poetry,The

Kenyon Review,The Nation,North American

Review,TriQuarterly,The Southern Review, and

many other magazines. She teaches at Denison

University.

Chris Tysh is the editor of Everyday Lifeand is the

poetry editor of mark(s),an online literary journal.

Her publications include Continuity Girl,In the

Name, and Coat of Arms.

Marlys West is a Hodder Fellow at Princeton

University. Her book of poems,Notes for a LateBlooming Martyr, was published by the University of

Akron Press in 1999.

Eliot Wilson in an English instructor at the

University of Alabama. He has been published in

The Journal, Spoon River Poetry Review, and

Ploughshares.

Gary Young received his MFA from the University of

California,Irvine.His book,Braver Deeds,was

published in 1999.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 83

Literature Fellowships

Translation Projects in Poetry

Roger Greenwald $20,000

To support the translation from Danish of selected

poems by Henrik Nordbrandt. Winner of the 2000

Nordic Council Literature Prize, Nordbrandt is one

of the most significant poets to have emerged in

Scandinavia since the end of World War Two.

Jerzy Gregorek $10,000

To support the translation from Polish of selected

poems by Mauryey Szymel. Gregorek will collaborate

with his wife, Aniela Gregorek.

Henry Israeli $10,000

To support the translation from Albanian of selected

poems by Luljeta Lleshanaku.Israeli will collaborate

with Shpresa Qatipi.

Shirley Kaufman $20,000

To support the translation from Hebrew of selected

poems by Meir Wieseltier. Born in Moscow in 1941,

Wieseltier lived in Siberia and throughout Europe

before he settled in Israel.

Alexis Levitin $10,000

To support the translation from Portuguese of two

collections of selected poems by Sophia de Mello

Breyner Andresen and Herberto Helder. Both 

distinguished,award-winning poets,Andresen 

(b. 1919) and Helder (b. 1930) represent two

extremes among the diversity of voices in 

contemporary Portuguese poetry.

Mike O’Connor $20,000

To support the translation from Classical Chinese of

Another Path: Poems on Chinese Reclusion. The

collection will feature 15 poets from the mid- and 

late Tang Dynasty.

Daniel Shapiro $10,000

To support the translation from Spanish of Cipango

by Chilean poet Tomas Harris. Little known in the

U.S., Harris received numerous awards in Latin

America, including the Pablo Neruda Prize, the

Altazor Award, and the Casa de las Amercas Prize.

Carol Ueland $10,000

To support the translation from Russian of selected

poems by Aleksandr Kushner. Ueland will collaborate with Robert Carnevale.

Keith Waldrop $20,000

To support the translation from French of Jean

Grosjean’s book of poems,Terre du temps. Born in

1912, Grosjean has published more than a dozen

books of poetry. His first book of poems,Terre du

temps was published in 1946 and was awarded the

Prix de la Pleiade.

Elizabeth Wright $10,000

To support the translation from German of Zafer

Senocak’s sixth book of poems,Fernwehanstalten.

Raised in Turkey and Germany, Senocak has

published seven books of poetry.

Translation © 2004 by Roger Greenwald; poem used

by permission of Henrik Nordbrandt and Gyldendal

Nordisk Forlag.
NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 85

The National Council on the Arts advises the Chairman of the National Endowment for

the Arts on agency policies and programs. It reviews and makes recommendations on

applications for grants, funding guidelines, leadership initiatives, and nominations for

the National Medal of Arts. The Council meets three times a year.

Fourteen voting members of the Council—all private citizens—are appointed by the President

and confirmed by the Senate for six-year terms, and are selected for their distinguished service

or achieved eminence in the arts. In 1997, Congress enacted legislation that required the

appointment of six members of Congress, three from the House of Representatives and three

from the Senate, to serve in an ex officio, non-voting capacity for two-year terms. Current

Council members can be found on the NEA Web site at www.arts.gov.

The following Council members served in FY 2003: 

Donald V.Cogman

Patron/Trustee

Scottsdale,Arizona

Mary Costa

Opera Singer

Knoxville,Tennessee

Gordon Davidson

Theater Center Director/Producer

Los Angeles, California

Katharine Cramer DeWitt

Patron/Trustee

Cincinnati, Ohio

Makoto Fujimura

Visual Artist

New York,New York

Hsin-Ming Fung *

Architect

Los Angeles, California

David H. Gelernter

Author/Critic/Educator

Woodbridge,Connecticut

Joy Harjo *

Poet/Musician

Honolulu,Hawaii

Nathan Leventhal *

Patron/Trustee

New York, New York

Teresa Lozano Long

Patron/Trustee

Austin, Texas

Marsha Mason *

Actor/Director

Santa Fe,New Mexico

Maribeth Walton McGinley

Art Director/Designer

Glendale, California
86 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

National Council on the Arts

Jerry Pinkney

Artist/Illustrator

Croton-on-Hudson, New York

Earl A. Powell, III *

Museum Director

Washington, District of Columbia

Cleo Parker Robinson

Dance Company Director/Choreographer

Denver, Colorado

Deedie Potter Rose

Patron/Trustee

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Joan Specter *

Patron/Trustee

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Luis Valdez *

Theater Company Director

San Juan Bautista, California

Dr. Karen Lias Wolff

Music Educator

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ex officio members

Cass Ballenger

U.S. House of Representatives

(R-North Carolina)

Mike DeWine **

U.S. Senate

(R-Ohio)

Richard Durbin **

U.S. Senate 

(D-Illinois)

Betty McCollum

U.S. House of Representatives

(D-Minnesota)

Howard “Buck” McKeon

U.S. House of Representatives

(R-California)

Harry Reid

U.S. Senate

(D-Nevada)

Jeff Sessions **

U.S. Senate

(R-Alabama)

* End of term in FY 2003

**Terms expired in December 2002
FINANCIAL SUMMARY

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 87

SUMMARY OF PROGRAMMATIC FUNDS AVAILABLE1 FY 2003

Appropriated Program and State/Regional Grant Funds $95,162,659

Appropriated Balance, Prior Year2 2,549,482

Nonfederal Gifts2 698,739

Interagency Transfers2 2,595,500

TOTAL FUNDS AVAILABLE $101,006,380

1 Excludes salaries and expenses and program support funds.

2 Includes FY 2002 unobligated funds brought forward into FY 2003 and prior year deobligations carried forward into FY

2003.

SUMMARY OF FUNDS OBLIGATED 

Challenge America

Access to the Arts $ 8,235,000

State and Regional Partnership Agreements 6,766,000

Leadership Initiatives

Shakespeare in American Communities 1,060,000

Mayors’ Institute on City Design 440,000

Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure Initiative 441,000

AccessAbility Initiatives 211,000

Other Initiatives 330,000

Access to Artistic Excellence

Grants to Organizations

Creativity 19,983,000

Heritage/Preservation 4,440,000

Organizational Capacity3 3,015,000

Arts on Radio & Television 4,455,000

Literature Fellowships 900,000

NEA Jazz Masters & NEA National Heritage Fellowships 280,000

Leadership Initiatives

Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure Initiative 400,000

National College Choreography Initiative 1,000,000

JazzNet 156,500

Coming Up Taller Awards 248,000

Other Initiatives (including International Exchanges) 2,272,732

3 Includes $1,500,000 that was used for Resources for Change grants.
88 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Financial Summary

Learning in the Arts

Arts Learning Grants4 10,851,000

Leadership Initiatives

Shakespeare in American Communities 540,000

Other Initiatives 442,000

State & Regional Partnership Agreements 31,029,000

Save America’s Treasures 1,814,000

TOTAL FUNDS OBLIGATED $99,309,232

4 Includes $2,100,000 of NEA direct grantmaking funds obligated under State & Regional Partnership Agreements for

arts learning activities.
APPROPRIATIONS HISTORY

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 89

Fiscal Years 1966 – 2002

FISCAL YEAR TOTAL FUNDS

1966 $ 2,898,308

1967 $ 8,475,692

1968 $ 7,774,291

1969 $ 8,456,875

1970 $ 9,055,000

1971 $ 16,420,000

1972 $ 31,480,000

1973 $ 40,857,000

1974 $ 64,025,000

1975 $ 80,142,000

1976 $ 87,455,000

1976T* $ 35,301,000

1977 $ 99,872,000

1978 $ 123,850,000

1979 $ 149,585,000

1980 $ 154,610,000

1981 $ 158,795,000

1982 $ 143,456,000

1983 $ 143,875,000

1984 $ 162,223,000

1985 $ 163,660,000

1986 $ 158,822,240

1987 $ 165,281,000

1988 $ 167,731,000

1989 $ 169,090,000

1990 $ 171,255,000

1991 $ 174,080,737

1992 $ 175,954,680

1993 $ 174,459,382

1994 $ 170,228,000
90 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Appropriations History

1995 $162,311,000

1996 $ 99,470,000

1997 $ 99,494,000

1998 $ 98,000,000

1999 $ 97,966,000

2000 $ 97,627,600

2001 $104,769,000

2002 $115,220,000

2003 $115,731,000

* In 1976, the Federal government changed the beginning of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1, hence the 1976

Transition (T) Quarter.
CREDITS

2003 ANNUAL REPORT 91

2003 Annual Report published by:

National Endowment for the Arts

Office of Communications

Felicia Knight, Director

Don Ball, Publications Manager

November 2004

Written by Don Ball,Christy Crytzer, and Annie Gilsdorf.

With thanks to NEA staff for their assistance, and to grantees for their photographs 

and information.

This annual report,as well as all grant and panel information for FY 2003, can be ordered 

and accessed electronically at the NEA Web site: www.arts.gov.

National Endowment for the Arts

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20506-0001

(202) 682-5400

2003 Annual Report designed by:

Fletcher Design, Inc.

Washington, DC

Cover Photo: 1989 NEA National Heritage Fellow John Cephas, a master of the Piedmont style of finger-picking

blues, performing at the 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival as part of a series of evening concerts sponsored by

the National Endowment for the Arts.Photo by Jim Saah

Voice/TTY: (202) 682-5496

For individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Individuals who do not use conventional print may contact the Arts Endowment’s Office for AccessAbility to

obtain this publication in an alternate format.

Telephone: (202) 682-5532

This publication was printed on recycled paper.
Paradigm Shift by Irina Koukhanova was one

of the large-scale sculptures featured at the

2003 Navy Pier Walk in Chicago. 

Photo courtesy of 3-D Chicago
The National Endowment for the Arts is the largest 

annual funder of the arts in the United States. An

independent federal agency, the NEA is the official arts

organization of the United States government, dedicated to

supporting excellence in the arts––both new and

established, bringing the arts to all Americans, and

providing leadership in arts education.
A Great Nation Deserves Great Art.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20506-0001

(202) 682-5400

www.arts.gov