2001 2001 ANNUAL REPORT

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
The National Endowment for the Arts provides national

recognition and support to significant projects of artistic

excellence, thus preserving and enhancing our nation’s

diverse cultural heritage. The Endowment was created

by Congress and established in 1965 as an independent

agency of the federal government. This public investment

in the nation’s cultural life has resulted in both new and

classic works of art reaching every corner of America.
N AT I O N A L E N D OW M E N T F O R T H E A RT S The Nancy Hanks Center

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington DC 20506-0001

202/682-5400

Office of the Chairman

Dear Mr. President:

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

Arts for Fiscal Year 2001. 

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

to strengthen the nation’s artistic heritage by supporting the creation, exhibition,

and presentation of quality works of art in dance, design, folk and traditional arts,

literature, music, opera, theater, and the visual arts. The Endowment has awarded

approximately 117,000 grants to organizations and artists residing in all 50 states

and the six U.S. jurisdictions. 

In 2001, with our first budget increase since 1992, the Arts Endowment launched a

major national initiative, Challenge America, to increase awareness of the value of

the arts and to provide greater access to quality art in communities nationwide.

We are proud of the success of Challenge America projects that engage artists, arts

organizations, and communities in underserved areas where the arts have not been

readily available.

Highlights from the first year of Challenge America and other Endowmentsupported programs are presented in this report. We will continue our efforts to

enrich our nation’s diverse cultural heritage by supporting works of artistic

excellence, advancing learning in the arts, and strengthening the arts in communities

throughout the country.

Sincerely,

Eileen B. Mason

Acting Chairman
National Medal of Arts awardee Judith Jamison, artistic director of the Alvin

Ailey Dance Foundation, surrounded by dance students who performed at

the Medals ceremony. Photo by Neshan Naltchayan
2001: Year in Review 4

National Council on the Arts 7

National Medal of Arts 8

Challenge America 9

Fast Track Grants 10

State Partnerships 12

Leadership Initiatives 13

Grants to Organizations 14

Creativity 15

Education 20

Access 23

Heritage/Preservation 25

Organizational Capacity 27

Arts on Radio and Television 28

Individual Fellowships 30

Literature Fellowships 30

American Jazz Masters Fellowships 34

National Heritage Fellowships 35

State & Regional Partnerships 36

Save America’s Treasures 38

Resources for Change 39

Leadership Initiatives 40

AccessAbility 40

Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure 

Initiative 41

International Exchanges 42

Interagency Partnerships 43

National Millennium Projects 44

New Public Works 45

Other Initiatives 46

Policy Research & Analysis 49

Financial Summary 50

Appropriations History 51

CONTENTS
Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 was a transitional year for

the National Endowment for the Arts on many

levels: the Endowment received its first budget

increase in nearly a decade; a major new initiative, Challenge America, was launched to provide access to the arts to all Americans; a new

administration, with the election of George W.

Bush, brought a new vision to the Arts

Endowment; and Chairman Bill Ivey, who had

led the Endowment for three and a half years,

resigned at the end of the fiscal year. 

Congress appropriated $104,769,000 for the

Arts Endowment in FY 2001, an increase of $7

million from the previous year. The increase

was specifically for the Challenge America

initiative to make quality art available to all

citizens throughout the nation. In the first year

of the initiative, funded projects focused on arts

education, access to the arts for underserved

areas, and community arts development.

Through innovative partnerships, arts organizations—together with artists, state arts agencies,

schools, civic groups, and businesses—are

making the arts central to community life.

Challenge America used fast track grants to

bring funding to communities on an accelerated

timetable through streamlined review and

administrative processes. Organizations such as

those designing a new performance center in St.

Marys, Georgia and providing after-school arts

programs in Walla Walla, Washington were

able to receive their grant money sooner, and

use it to leverage other public and private funds. 

Challenge America also provided $500,000

for an important pilot program, Creative

Communities. A partnership with the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban

Development—which provided $3 million for

the project—and the National Guild of

Community Schools of the Arts, the program

provided grants for three-year projects that

offer arts instruction to youth living in public

housing. Approximately 5,400 children and

youth will take part in the program.

2001:YEAR IN REVIEW

4 2001:YEAR IN REVIEW

Walla Walla,

Washington nonprofit organization,

Blue Mountain Arts

Alliance, received a

Challenge America

grant to support

after-school art

classes for city

students. Photo

courtesy of Blue

Mountain Arts

Alliance
2001:YEAR IN REVIEW 5

The Arts Endowment funded another new program in FY 2001, Resources for Change. This

program assists arts organizations in addressing

their organizational development needs. In the

first year of funding, grants assisted organizations in applying technology to enhance their

business operations and better serve their audiences. Resources for Change is the first time the

NEA has designed a grant program specifically

to meet the technology needs of the national

arts field.

In addition to the $7 million for Challenge

America, the Arts Endowment awarded more

than 2,100 grants totaling more than $85

million in the areas of Grants to Organizations,

Individual Fellowships, Partnership

Agreements, and Leadership Initiatives in FY

2001. Of that amount, 40 percent of the grantmaking funds was provided to state arts agencies

and their regional arts organizations. Complete

grant lists for FY 2001 can be found on the

NEA Web site at www.arts.gov.

Arts education continued to be a priority for the

NEA in FY 2001, funding more than 250 projects totaling nearly $6 million. Project activities

such as Shakespeare & Company’s artist residency program in Lenox, Massachusetts, which

brings professional theater artists to schools to

work with students and teachers, not only provide the necessary guidance and knowledge to

produce a new generation of outstanding artists,

but also a new generation of audiences for the

arts. 

The NEA also conducted special activities in

arts education in FY 2001, such as the Songs of

the Century project through a partnership with

the Recording Industry Association of America

(RIAA) and Scholastic, Inc. The nationwide

initiative promotes a better understanding of

America’s musical and cultural heritage in our

schools. Songs of the Century identified 365

key recordings from the 20th century and created a curriculum guide for teachers, students,

and families that addresses core subjects—

including literature, mathematics, and social

studies—through a discussion of the evolution

of music from historical, social, cultural, and

technological perspectives. The lesson plans are

being distributed to 9,500 fifth-grade teachers

nationwide, and are available as a file download

on the Songs of the Century Web site,

www.songs-of-the-century.com. 

In addition to its grantmaking function, the

NEA also serves as a national leader in the

development of the country’s cultural policy. In

Songs of the

Century curriculum

materials were sent

to thousands of

schools nationwide.

Ben Havener as

the Gravedigger

in Springfield

Central High

School's production

of Hamlet as part

of Shakespeare &

Company's arts

education activities.

Photo by Kevin

Sprague
order to better understand the roles and needs

of artists in America, the Arts Endowment put

together colloquia on “Artists in American Life”

in FY 2001. The sessions brought artists and

arts administrators together on panels to discuss

topics such as “the artist and society” and “finding an audience.” Chairman Ivey moderated the

discussions. The sessions took place in October

2000 and May 2001, and panelists included poet

and writer Luis Rodriguez, playwright David

Henry Hwang, composer William Bolcom,

dancer and choreographer Christopher

Wheeldon, and trumpeter Aaron Flagg. 

The Arts Endowment also uses special action

grants for times when extraordinary circumstances necessitate providing grant money

quickly. In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison’s

torrential rains left much of Houston, Texas

flooded, including the city’s theatrical district.

The Houston Symphony’s music library and

some of its instruments were destroyed. The

Museum of Fine Arts’ Education Office was

devastated. Wortham Center, home to the city’s

opera and ballet companies, suffered water damage to its lower-level offices, costume workshop,

and library. To help with the relief efforts for

Houston’s arts organizations, the NEA awarded

the Texas Commission on the Arts a grant of

$30,000, the maximum amount allowed through

a Chairman’s special action grant. The

Commission in turn matched the grant amount

to cover administrative costs of the relief efforts.

The grants helped arts organizations in the city

replace damaged equipment and address other

flood-related needs.

In the following pages, this Annual Report

highlights some of the projects the Arts

Endowment supported in FY 2001. These

projects provide examples of the important

contribution the arts make to American society,

and the many ways the NEA assists in sustaining the arts throughout the nation, in urban

and rural areas, in every region, in every state. 

6 2001:YEAR IN REVIEW

Chad Shelton performing in the Houston Grand Opera’s

production of The Elixir of Love.Wortham Center, the

company’s home, was damaged in the June 2001 flooding

in Houston. Photo by George Hixson
Member whose term

expired in 1998*

Judith Rubin

Patron/Trustee

New York, NY

Members whose terms

expired in 2000*

Patrick Davidson

Television Producer

Chatsworth, CA

Terry Evans

Photographer

Chicago, IL

Ronnie Heyman

Patron/Trustee

New York, NY

Richard Stern

Patron/Trustee

Chicago, IL

Luis Valdez

Theater Company Director

San Juan Bautista, CA

Townsend Wolfe III

Museum Director

Little Rock, AR

Member whose term

expired in 2001*

Hsin-Ming Fung

Architect

Los Angeles, CA

*Continues to serve until a

successor takes office.

Members whose terms

expire in 2002

Joy Harjo

Poet/Musician

Honolulu, HI

Nathan Leventhal

Patron/Trustee

New York, NY

Marsha Mason

Actor/Director

Santa Fe, NM

Joan Specter

Patron/Trustee

Philadelphia, PA

Members whose terms

expire in 2004

Gordon Davidson

Theater Center

Director/Producer

Los Angeles, CA

Cleo Parker Robinson

Dance Company

Director/Choreographer

Denver, CO

Ex officio members

(terms expire in 2002)

Mike DeWine 

U.S. Senate

(R-Ohio)

Richard Durbin 

U.S. Senate 

(D-Illinois)

Jeff Sessions 

U.S. Senate

(R-Alabama)

Three vacancies

U.S. House of Representatives

NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS

NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS 7

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. 

The following indicates Council members who served in FY 2001: 

Bill Ivey, Chairman 
Alvin Ailey Dance

Foundation

Modern Dance Company

and School

New York, NY

Rudolfo Anaya

Writer

Albuquerque, NM

Johnny Cash

Singer and Songwriter

Hendersonville, TN

Kirk Douglas

Actor and Producer

Los Angeles, CA

Helen Frankenthaler

Painter

Darien, CT

Judith Jamison

Artistic Director,

Choreographer, Dancer

New York, NY

Yo-Yo Ma

Cellist

Cambridge, MA

Mike Nichols

Director and Producer

New York, NY

NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS

8 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 who 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, 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. 

President George W. Bush presented the 2001 Medals in a ceremony delayed by the events

of September 11, 2001. 

NATIONAL MEDALISTS FOR 2001

National Medal of Arts awardee Kirk Douglas with the

President and First Lady. Photo by Neshan Naltchayan
Challenge America was a major new National Endowment for the Arts initiative, initially

funded by Congress in FY 2001, to strengthen America’s communities through the unique

power of the arts. The legislation provided nearly $7 million for arts education and public

outreach activities. Within these broad categories, the NEA funded projects that focused on

arts education and enrichment, after-school arts programs for youth, access to the arts for

underserved communities, and community arts development initiatives. 

Organizations and individuals from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors—arts organizations and artists, state arts agencies, local arts groups, social service and civic organizations,

businesses, teachers, and schools—were encouraged to strengthen and build innovative

partnerships through this initiative. For 35 years, the Arts Endowment has helped build a

network and infrastructure to place the creative vitality of art experiences at the center of

community life for all Americans. Challenge America focused new resources to expand the

reach and impact of NEA activities. 

CHALLENGE AMERICA FUNDS WERE DISTRIBUTED IN THREE WAYS IN THE

FIRST YEAR OF THE INITIATIVE:

■ Fast Track Grants, in which the NEA awarded small grants of $5,000 to $10,000 under 

a streamlined application and review process to support arts projects that benefited rural or 

underserved communities. 

■ State Partnerships, in which the NEA invested 40 percent of Challenge America funds in 

ongoing partnerships with state arts agencies to support the initiative’s goals.

■ Leadership Initiatives, in which the NEA collaborated with other national organizations and 

federal agencies in new projects that strengthened communities through the arts.

CHALLENGE AMERICA

CHALLENGE AMERICA 9

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FACTS AND FIGURES

Challenge America

Dollar Amount of

Fast Track Grants:

$3,205,000

Dollar Amount of

Partnerships: $2,793,840

Dollar Amount of

Leadership Initiatives:

$900,000
Community Center

for Youth team

members worked

with Whitman

College students on

“Wall of Words”

mural at Walla Walla

Public Library, led

by Blue Mountain

Arts Alliance head

instructor Karen

Johnson. Photo

courtesy of Blue

Mountain Arts

Alliance

10 CHALLENGE AMERICA/FAST TRACK GRANTS

F AST TRACK GRANTS

Fast Track Grants in the first year of Challenge America fell into two categories: Positive

Alternatives for Youth and Community Arts Development. These grants supported arts education and community-wide outreach projects that served rural and other underserved areas.

Streamlined review and administrative processes brought projects to communities on an

accelerated timetable. The small grants served the arts organizations in two ways: the NEA’s

involvement provided credibility to their projects with the local communities, and the grants

worked as seed money for the projects to help organizations leverage additional funding

from other public and private sources.

BLUE MOUNTAIN ARTS

ALLIANCE EXPANDS ARTS

PROGRAM IN WALLA WALLA,

WASHINGTON 

Since 1998, the Blue Mountain Arts Alliance of

Walla Walla, Washington has operated a wellreceived artist-in-residence program at the local

alternative learning school. In order to expand

the program to the rest of the community,

Blue Mountain assisted in the creation of a

Community Center for Youth, where it provides

arts classes and activities for the city’s middle

and high-school students. More than 200

people attended art classes through Blue

Mountain’s Summer Arts 2000 program, leading

the arts organization to examine the possibility

of expanding its operations.

In FY 2001, Blue Mountain received a $5,000

Challenge America Positive Alternatives for

Youth grant to help expand its programming

in the visual, literary, and performing arts to

encompass an entire year. In addition to the

Community Center for Youth, the Walla Walla

Community College, City of Walla Walla, and

Walla Walla Community Network were partners on the project. 

Scheduled classes, led by local artists, were run

during after-school hours on Mondays and

Wednesdays and during selected evening hours

at the Center. Because Blue Mountain was able

to offer classes in multiple disciplines, the arts

program appealed to a broad spectrum of young

people. Students learned a variety of media,

techniques, and styles in art forms such as

painting, sculpture, and pottery from the artistteachers, and created individual projects. 

Local artists teaching the classes included

Squire Broel, a visual artist who works in

painting and sculpture; Nancy Wells, a dance

instructor who organized the Walla Walla

Dance Foundation in 1982; and Travis Catsull,

a writer and assistant editor for The Temple, a

quarterly publication of international poetry.

To ensure the program maintains its high

quality, Blue Mountain has contracted an

independent auditor to conduct an assessment,

and regularly surveys the teens, parents, and

instructors who participate.
CHALLENGE AMERICA/FAST TRACK GRANTS 11

NEA ASSISTS WITH DESIGN OF

NEW CULTURAL CENTER IN

ST. MARYS, GEORGIA

The Camden Area Players (CAP), an awardwinning performing group in St. Marys,

Georgia and the only theater group in Camden

County, is without a home. Currently, the theater group rehearses and performs in an old,

rented hardware store, which the owner is trying to sell, and puts on approximately six shows

annually for the community. In addition to its

theatrical work, CAP leads a multidisciplinary

fine arts camp for children ages 6 to 18 involving classroom instruction and hands-on experience at various skill levels.

The loss of CAP’s current rehearsal and performance place would be catastrophic—the

county would lose its only performing arts

group, as well as the fine arts kids camp. As

Louis Marcill of the St. Marys Downtown

Merchants’ Association stated, “We know that a

community that includes arts in its foundation

can build and grow with imagination, creativity,

and humanity.”

Partnering with the St. Marys Downtown

Merchants' Association and the nonprofit development corporation Warehouse Theater, Inc.,

CAP received a Challenge America Community

Arts Development grant of $5,000 in FY 2001

to support the design plans for a new theater

and cultural center in downtown St. Marys. The

new theater is tied to the construction of a new

waterfront park on the downtown bank of the

St. Marys River that will include a 1,400-foot

boardwalk, bike paths, kayak launching ramp,

and two fish piers. The building chosen to

house the new theater is an abandoned warehouse located on the grounds of what is to be

the new waterfront park. In addition to being

the home for CAP, the theater can host visiting

performers and groups. 

CAP selected consultants for the project with

both engineering and theater experience to

ensure that the design both fits in with the rest

of the waterfront park design and is suitable for

theater performances. The theater and cultural

center is expected to be completed with the rest

of the waterfront park in 2003. 

The abandoned warehouse on St. Marys waterfront that will house the new

theater and cultural center and an artist’s rendering of what the new theater will look like once renovations are completed. Images courtesy of

Camden Area Players
12 CHALLENGE AMERICA/STATE PARTNERSHIPS

STATE PARTNERSHIPS

State arts agencies received Challenge America funds in FY 2001 through their Partnership

Agreement awards (see page 36). Funds are designated for new or ongoing projects that

advance the goals of community arts development, arts education, cultural heritage/preservation, positive alternatives for youth, or access to the arts. 

MISSISSIPPI ARTS COMMISSION

PROMOTES ADULT LITERACY

PROGRAMS THROUGHOUT

STATE

The Mississippi Arts Commission used $20,000

of its Challenge America State Partnership

Agreement funds for the Deep South Literature

for Literacy project. This project promotes

Mississippi’s rich literary heritage as a resource

to improve literacy via a curriculum that uses

creative writing and regional literature to

increase language skills and performance in

adult education. The project empowers families

and communities weakened by low literacy by

providing access to the literary arts and the

tools for using them to increase their

opportunities. 

The Deep South Literature for Literacy project

involved training Mississippi writers to work

with adult literacy programs throughout the

state. The training included indicating appropriate reading levels, teaching methodologies,

and using Mississippi literature in the classroom. The residencies took place in spring

2002, and potential host sites that were not

matched with a writer were encouraged to apply

for funding to introduce writers into their program. Preliminary evaluation of the residency

program has been very positive; there are plans

to expand the number of writers trained and

working in literacy programs and to develop

partnerships with Mississippi colleges and universities.

In response to requests from literacy programs

for support instructional materials, the Arts

Commission also established a creative writing

curriculum in 2001 called All Write! In partnership with the Mississippi Department of

Education and the Governor’s Office of

Literacy, the curriculum was distributed to all

the adult literacy programs in the state. All

Write! is designed to increase language skill

development, comfort with the process of writing, and GED essay scores. The writers-in-residence at the adult literacy programs use the

curriculum as their teaching material.

Writer Janice Nabors Raiteri works with adult literacy student Jayson

Horton in West, Mississippi as part of the Mississippi Art Commission’s

Deep South Literature for Literacy project. Photo by Beth Batton
CHALLENGE AMERICA/LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES 13

LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES

Challenge America Leadership Initiatives in FY 2001 included $150,000 to the American

Composers Forum for the continuation of Continental Harmony, a National Millennium

Project started in FY 1999 that pairs communities across the country with composers for the

creation of new works, and $200,000 to Young Audiences for the Arts for Learning project,

which provides information and resources to assist educators in integrating the arts into

education curricula. The largest Leadership Initiative was for Creative Communities, a pilot

project to provide arts instruction to youth living in public housing. The NEA contributed

$500,000 to the project, partnering with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban

Development, who provided $3 million in funding, and the National Guild of Community

Schools of the Arts. Approximately 5,400 children and youth will take part in the 20 funded

three-year programs nationwide. 

MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC

PROVIDES AFTER-SCHOOL

MUSIC INSTRUCTION FOR

PUBLIC HOUSING YOUTH

IN CHICAGO

Founded in 1979, the Merit School of Music in

Chicago, Illinois held its first citywide auditions

that year for 160 openings in its tuition-free

Saturday afternoon music education program.

Since then, the program has grown substantially, and thousands of students have received

comprehensive music instruction in instrumental technique, history, theory, and ensemble

playing. The Merit School focuses on economically disadvantaged children and youth, currently serving more than 4,000 students in 54 community centers throughout the city.

The Merit School received a Creative

Communities grant of $135,000 in FY 2001 to

provide high quality, biweekly music instruction

to children and youth residing in public housing

developments in Chicago. Since 1990, the Merit

School has been providing music instruction to

public housing youth both on-site and in

schools and community centers, and is expanding the program with the grant. 

The after-school program was established in

partnership with Duncan YMCA and the

Chicago Housing Authority for children in

the ABLA public housing community, and

complemented the YMCA’s workshops in theater, dance, and film. ABLA is one of the oldest

and largest public housing developments in the

country.

The first semester of the program began in the

fall 2001 at the YMCA community center in the

heart of the ABLA housing development, offering six music classes each week for beginning

instruction in choir, guitar, and percussion to

the 80 registered students. The YMCA, ABLA

residents, local advisory council members, and

youth from the community organized focus

groups to choose these specific music programs.

The children in the classes have shown enthusiasm for the music instruction and are developing skill and discipline that will not only

increase their appreciation for the arts but also

help them succeed in life. A concert to showcase

the students’ work was scheduled for early 2002. 

Students from ABLA

public housing in

Chicago, Illinois

participating in Merit

School of Music’s

percussion instruction

class led by Kalyan

Pathak and Doug

Brush. Photo by

Amanda Huffer
The National Endowment for the Arts offers assistance to a wide range of nonprofit

organizations to support their arts programming. These grants account for more than 41

percent of the Endowment’s annual grantmaking funds. The NEA awards grants for exemplary projects in all artistic disciplines, including dance, design, folk and traditional arts,

literature, media arts, music, musical theater, opera, theater, and visual arts in addition to

supporting arts education, museums, and multidisciplinary projects. All grants must be

matched at least equally by non-federal sources of funds. Many grants have multistate

impact as they fund projects that tour or are distributed across state lines, broadening the

impact of federal investment. 

Panels made up of private citizens review grant applications and recommend proposals for

funding. NEA staff selects artists, arts administrators, arts patrons, and at least one layperson not employed in the arts to serve on each panel, ensuring diverse aesthetic, cultural,

ethnic, and geographic perspectives. To avoid conflicts of interest, panelists do not consider

applications from organizations with which they are affiliated. Panel recommendations for

funding are forwarded to the National Council on the Arts for further review. Applications

approved by the Council are then forwarded to the Chairman, who has final authority on

all funding decisions.

The following pages contain examples of some of the projects that the NEA supported

during FY 2001. Complete listings of FY 2001 grants and panelists are posted on the

Endowment’s Web site at www.arts.gov.

GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS

14 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS

APPLICATIONS GRANTS MULTISTATE GRANTS 

Grant Category Number Amount Number Amount Number Amount

Received Requested Awarded Awarded Awarded Awarded

Creativity 1,235 $66,816,709 717 $16,324,500 186 $5,228,500 

Education 533 $31,381,356 259 $5,854,000 29 $920,000 

Access 433 $22,635,398 236 $4,298,500 70 $1,479,000 

Heritage/Preservation 315 $16,228,713 180 $3,525,500 46 $960,000 

Organizational Capacity* 141 $13,906,553 85 $5,471,000 38 $2,839,000 

Arts on Radio and Television 99 $12,665,979 42 $3,020,000 42 $3,020,000 

*The Organizational Capacity category includes 25 grants totaling $3,099,000 for the Resources for Change initiative (see page 39).

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FACTS AND FIGURES

Grants to Organizations

Number of Grant

Applications Received:

2,756

Number of Grants

Awarded: 1,519

Dollar Amount of

Grants Awarded:

$38,493,500
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/CREATIVITY 15

Peter Pryor in Arden

Theatre Company’s

production of Dennis

Smeal’s play Exit

Wounds, directed by

Terry Nolen. Photo by

Mark Garvin

CREATIVITY

The NEA’s Creativity grants support all aspects of the creation and presentation of artistic

work, including commissions, residencies, rehearsals, workshops, performances, exhibitions,

publications, and festivals. Creativity is by far the largest of the Art Endowment’s grantmaking categories, awarding 717 grants in FY 2001 across 48 states, as well as the District of

Columbia and Puerto Rico. Of these, 186 grants had multistate impact.

THE ARDEN THEATRE COMPANY

PROMOTES NEW THEATRICAL

WORKS IN ANNUAL SHOWCASE

Founded in 1988, the Arden Theatre Company

of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a professional

theater with strong ties to the community. In

addition to offering high quality performances,

Arden also presents children’s theater productions, participates in community benefit activities, offers a professional apprentice program,

and developed a program to nurture new talent

in the theater, The Independence Foundation

New Play Showcase.

Arden began the New Play Showcase in 1999

for the creation, development, and production

of new works of American theater. The program includes a series of one-week workshops

in which playwrights work with actors to develop new plays, culminating in free public readings. In addition, each season Arden stages at

least one world premiere of a play developed

through the program. In FY 2001, Arden

received an NEA Creativity grant of $24,000

for its 2000-2001 season of New Play Showcase.

The season included workshops for

Philadelphia playwright Michael Hollinger’s

Shave and a Haircut; Aaron Posner’s new adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Who Am I This Time?;

and Stinkin’ Rich, an adaptation of Moliere’s

The Miser by Henry Wornociz.

The Showcase also included the world premiere

of Dennis Smeal’s play Exit Wounds, a dark

comedy about the pain of a dissolving marriage,

directed by Arden Theatre’s artistic director

Terry Nolen. The play, told in a series of monologues, revolves around a lawyer whose disintegrating marriage and loss of purpose in his job

lead him to leave his law practice and become a

pizza deliveryman. The Los Angeles playwright’s play was developed in workshops at the

Arden in 1999 and 2000, with open readings

and feedback from the actors. “My play

emerged as something wondrous to me, with a

clearly mapped direction for further work,”

Smeal said after the workshop experience. He

used these opportunities to rewrite and develop

the play. Through the performances of Smeal’s

play and the free public readings, the New Play

Showcase reached more than 8,000 people. 
16 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/CREATIVITY

KRONOS QUARTET EXPLORES

STAGED WORKS AND MUSIC OF

MEXICO WITH TWO NEW

PROJECTS

The Kronos Quartet of San Francisco,

California is known for its musical innovation,

assembling since its inception in 1973 a body of

work unparalleled in range and scope of expression. Through its nonprofit organization,

Kronos Performing Arts Association, Kronos

Quartet presents and promotes contemporary

music and expands the repertoire for string

quartet by commissioning works. More than

450 pieces have been written or arranged for

the group, including those from such noted

composers as Alfred Schnittke, George Crumb,

Morton Feldman, and Terry Riley. 

Kronos commissions about a dozen new works

each season and performs more than 100 concerts a year. Touring engagements take place in

both rural communities as well as large urban

centers, reaching audiences that rarely have the

opportunity to attend performances of contemporary music. Performances often include educational activities, such as concert discussions,

classroom visits, open rehearsals, master classes,

coaching sessions, and appearances in schools. 

In FY 2001, the Kronos Performing Arts

Association received an NEA Creativity grant

for $35,000 to support the development and

presentation of two new projects: Visual Music

and Nueva Collection. Visual Music is a body

of staged works that add visually engaging elements to the performances to help the listening

audience “see” music from new perspectives.

Pieces performed include Steve Reich’s

Pendulum Music for suspended microphones,

amplifiers, loudspeakers, and performers, and

P. Q. Phan’s Len Dong, based on traditional

Vietnamese funerary rituals and séances.

Nueva Collection is a portfolio of commissioned arrangements for string quartet of celebrated past and present Mexican artists spanning nearly one hundred years. Developed in

collaboration with musicologist and record producer Gustavo Santaolalla, the songs present a

sonic landscape that suggests the vastness of

Mexican culture. The arrangements include

work from noted “space-age” bandleader Juan

Garcia Esquivel, Latin Grammy Award-winning

Café Tacuba, and music from the popular

Mexican television program, Chespirito. 

Kronos is touring 15 states during its 2001-02

season, bringing these two projects of new

music to approximately one million people.

In addition, a recording of the music developed

for the Nueva Collection will be available in

spring 2002. 

Kronos Quartet: David Harrington,

John Sherba, Jennifer Culp, and Hank Dutt.

Photo by Jay Blakesberg
SPACE ONE ELEVEN HOSTS

RESIDENCY FOR ALABAMA

ARTIST LONNIE HOLLEY

Space One Eleven (SOE) is an artist-founded

visual arts organization located in Birmingham,

Alabama that presents local, regional, and

national contemporary art and artists to the

Birmingham community. SOE’s facilities

include more than 1,000 square feet of presentation galleries, a multipurpose studio, a computer lab, a black-and-white photography lab,

and a complete ceramics facility. SOE operates

two basic programs: exhibition and residency

opportunities for professional artists and arts

education activities, often overlapping the two.

In FY 2001, Space One Eleven received an

NEA Creativity grant of $15,000 to support a

12-month residency program by Alabama artist

Lonnie Holley. A self-taught artist, Holley first

began making art in 1978, when he turned byproduct slabs of clay and sand into tombstones

for his nieces and nephews who perished in a

tragic house fire. He began experimenting with

creating complex sandstone sculptures, for

which he is best known. Later he produced

"environmental sculptures," which he constructs

from found objects in his immediate surroundings. Some of Holley's works reside in the

Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection

and have been shown at the White House.

As part of the project, Holley conducted weekly

residencies at SOE for school-age children,

where he created artworks on the spot from discarded bits of wire, wood, tin, and various other

objects. He also provided master classes and

demonstrations to students interested in sandstone carving and found-object sculpture, and

invited fellow local artists, such as Thornton

Dial and Charlie Lucas, to participate in the

activities. Additionally, students took field trips

to Holley’s home in Harpersville, 20 miles from

SOE, to observe the artist at work. At the

conclusion of the residency, an exhibition of

Holley’s work will be shown at SOE.

GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/CREATIVITY 17

Space One Eleven artist-in-residence Lonnie Holley at home in

Harpersville,Alabama with staff made of found materials.

Photo courtesy of Space One Eleven
18 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/CREATIVITY

FESTIVAL IN NEW MEXICO

CELEBRATES THE ART OF

CHAMBER MUSIC 

The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in New

Mexico was founded in 1972, with 14 artists

performing six Sunday concerts in Santa Fe and

touring to several New Mexico and eastern

Arizona communities. Today, the festival presents more than 80 events during the annual

summer season and mini-spring program,

including concerts, free open rehearsals, roundtable discussions with composers and musicians,

and educational activities such as Music in Our

Schools, a music education series for grades K-8

in the Santa Fe public schools. Since 1981, festival performances have been regularly broadcast on national radio networks, ranging from

13-week, hour-long broadcasts to selections on

National Public Radio’s Performance Today

series.

In addition, the festival began a composer-inresidence program in 1976, bringing renowned

artists such as Aaron Copland and Ned Rorem

to Santa Fe. The program includes community

outreach activities and commissioned works by

the resident composer. The festival has commissioned 25 new compositions through the program, contributing significantly to the 20th century chamber music repertoire. 

In FY 2001, the Santa Fe Chamber Music

Festival received an NEA Creativity grant of

$12,500 to support the 2001 festival season and

educational programs by the Festival Institute.

The festival included works by resident composers Peter Lieberson and Per Nørgård, performances by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale,

youth concerts, and more than 20 chamber

music concerts.

The festival, running from July 13 to August 20,

included a mix of the masters, such as Bach,

Beethoven, and Mozart, with contemporary

composers such as Lieberson and Nørgård.

Artistic director Marc Neikrug frequently chose

to pair known music with something new, often

to revelatory effect, such as the combination of

resident composer Lieberson’s world premiere

of a new song cycle on the same program with

Bartók, Mozart, and Dvorak. The festival also

included a world premiere by Nørgård, String

Quartet No. 9, performed by the Orion Quartet,

and a presentation of the works of American

composer Charles Wuorinen.

An estimated 15,000 people attended events

during the seven weeks of the festival, and an

additional four million were reached through

radio broadcasts.

Young audience members have a close encounter with a cello at a

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival youth concert.The Festival

presents five free youth concerts each summer. Photo courtesy of

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/CREATIVITY 19

Ironers (1943) by Jacob

Lawrence, one of the

pieces featured in the

Phillips Collection’s

exhibition: Over the

Line:The Art and Life of

Jacob Lawrence. Image

courtesy of the Phillips

Collection

PHILLIPS COLLECTION IN

WASHINGTON, DC CELEBRATES

THE ART OF JACOB LAWRENCE 

In 1921, Duncan Phillips opened the first

museum in America devoted to the presentation, preservation, and study of modern art and

its sources. Since then, the Phillips has become

one of the finest small museums in the world.

Its collection of more than 2,000 works of art

brings together seminal examples of early

masters such as Claude Monet and Vincent van

Gogh with contemporary works from the likes

of Mark Rothko and Georgia O’Keeffe to

demonstrate the evolutionary nature of art.

More than 200,000 people visit the museum

annually. 

In addition to the permanent collection, the

museum has special exhibitions. In FY 2001, the

Phillips Collection received an NEA Creativity

grant for $100,000 to support the touring exhibition Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob

Lawrence. The exhibit was the first retrospective

on Lawrence—the most prominent and respected African-American artist of the 20th century—that fully examined the evolution of his

style, technique, and methods. The artist himself invited the Phillips, a leading institution on

Lawrence scholarship and one of the first museums to exhibit his art, to organize the retrospective of more than 200 of his works before his

death in 2000.

For more than 65 years, Lawrence addressed, in

stark images and bold colors, many of the social

issues pertaining to the lives of AfricanAmericans, including their struggle for freedom

and justice. Trained in the art workshops of

Harlem in the 1930s, Lawrence was the first

African-American painter to break through the

highly segregated art world and speak to mainstream audiences. The exhibition organized

Lawrence’s work around themes, such as

Performances and Games, Work and Workers,

and Struggle, to demonstrate the artist’s stylistic

development and experimentation within his

treatment of the same subject over time. 

The exhibition showed from May through

August 2001 at the Phillips, then was scheduled

to travel from November 2001 through January

2003 to the Whitney Museum of American Art

in New York City; the Detroit Institute of

Arts in Michigan; the High Museum of Art in

Atlanta, Georgia; and the Museum of Fine Arts

in Houston, Texas. 

In addition, the exhibit had accompanying

education programs, including an interactive

Web site, http://www.phillipscollection.org/

lawrence/index.html, that includes biographical information about Lawrence and teaching

resources in social studies, math and science,

and the language and visual arts related to

Lawrence’s work and life. 
20 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/EDUCATION

EDUCATION

The Arts Endowment supports the arts as an integral part of education, in settings both

within and outside of the classroom. The direct involvement of artists, as well as the use of

original works of art and live performances, is crucial to the success of arts education

projects. The projects supported by NEA Education grants include arts instruction, artist

residencies, performances, workshops, and training and professional development for artists

and teachers. 

More than 500 applications were reviewed in FY 2001 for Education grants, and 259 were

awarded in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The projects awarded

involved more than 20,000 artists, as well as 50,000 teachers and school administrators in

more than 30,000 elementary and secondary schools across the country.

Students performing

excerpts from the

Broadway musical

Pippin as part of

HITS’s Project:

FAME 

program. Photo 

courtesy of HITS

HOUSTON UPSTAIRS THEATRE

TEACHES UNDERSERVED

CHILDREN MUSICAL THEATER

SKILLS

The Houston Upstairs Theatre in Texas, also

known as HITS Unicorn Theatre, is a training

facility in theater arts for ages 4-22. Its goal is

to make the performing arts and arts education

affordable and accessible to the families of

Houston, regardless of their financial condition.

HITS’s programs cover both performance and

education, and the organization was awarded an

NEA Education grant in FY 2001 for $7,000 to

support the expansion of its educational program Project:FAME, which offers arts education through musical theater to underserved

inner-city youth. 

Project: FAME targets children and young

adults ages 12-22 with financial need and an

interest in and aptitude for the performing arts.

With the NEA grant, the project will reach

approximately 150 young people from economically disadvantaged communities with musical

theater production classes taught by experienced

professionals. Many Houston-area schools have

reduced or eliminated arts programming, giving

inner-city children little or no exposure to the

arts. By providing classes in singing, dance, acting, and basic rehearsal and stage skills, HITS is

offering participating students the opportunity

to develop their artistic, technical, and performance skills. 

Participants audition at various locations

throughout Houston to be accepted into the

program, and show not only financial need, but

also a commitment to the program and enthusiasm for learning skills in music and performance. The classes were held from June 2001

through May 2002. 

Some of the students will be included in the

annual HITS production at Miller Outdoor

Theatre in Houston’s Hermann Park, a free

family-oriented Broadway musical that draws

approximately 25,000 people from throughout

the city. 
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/EDUCATION 21

Emma Kibler as Joan

LaPucelle in Mt.

Greylock Regional

High School’s

production of Henry VI,

Part One as part of

Shakespeare &

Company’s

Shakespeare In Action

program. Photo by

Kevin Sprague

SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY

BRINGS THE BARD TO STUDENTS

THROUGHOUT

MASSACHUSETTS 

Shakespeare & Company of Lenox,

Massachusetts reaches more than 40,000 students and teachers annually with innovative,

educationally challenging performances, workshops, and residencies. Since the program was

founded in 1978, more than half a million elementary, secondary, and undergraduate students

have taken part in their education programs.

One education program the Company offers is

Shakespeare in Action. In this artist residency

project, Company artists work with students

and teachers for nine-week periods. In FY 2001,

Shakespeare & Company received an NEA

Education grant of $70,000 to support the residency program for 15 high schools throughout

Massachusetts. 

Working with Company artists, students in each

high school are involved in all aspects of theater

production. Classroom and extracurricular study

sessions focus on Shakespeare’s text, including

close readings and scene and character analysis.

Master classes are offered in such subjects as

stage combat, performance, stage management,

costume and set design, and marketing. At the

end of the residency, the students put on a production of a Shakespeare play for both fellow

students and the community. 

In addition, professional development workshops with re-certification credits are offered

for teachers during the residency and afterwards

in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.

More than 10,000 students, teachers, artists,

and community members are involved in the

project. 

An additional component is Shakespeare &

Company’s touring production of a 90-minute

Shakespeare play, which is performed for the 

participating schools (Julius Caesar in 2001 and

Macbeth in 2002). These performances provide

an additional opportunity for students to experience a professional theatrical production of

Shakespeare. Teachers are provided with a

guidebook that includes background material

for the specific play, a breakdown of the play

scene by scene, and ideas for extending the

play’s reach into other curriculum areas. 

Through the project, Shakespeare & Company

increases students’ knowledge of some of the

great plays in the English language while

strengthening their artistic and academic skills.

The effectiveness of the company’s educational

efforts was evaluated by Harvard Project Zero

and documented in the 1999 landmark research

report on the role of arts education in general

learning and achievement, Champions of Change,

published by the Arts Education Partnership

and President’s Committee on the Arts and the

Humanities.
22 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/EDUCATION

INNOVATIVE PROGRAM

PROVIDES STRINGEDINSTRUMENT INSTRUCTORS

TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The American String Teachers Association with

the National School Orchestra Association

(ASTA with NSOA) is addressing the shortage

of stringed-instrument instructors with an innovative program, supported by an NEA

Education grant of $80,000 in FY 2001. ASTA

with NSOA is working through a network of 15

university departments of music, stretching

from South Carolina to California, to create a

new teacher-training model that enlists dedicated university freshman string students to

instruct elementary and secondary school students. This project, entitled the String Project,

is based on a prior successful program at the

University of South Carolina in Columbia.

The String Project provides music instructors

for students from the third or fourth grade

through 12th grade and provides opportunities

for them to participate in a youth orchestra.

Students receive instruction in both theory and

technique.

For the undergraduate musicians, the commitment begins in their freshman year with the

award of an assistantship. Study of both their

own instruments and secondary stringed instruments is combined with classes in pedagogy and

technique in addition to the usual undergraduate courses. The student teachers actively

participate in all the activities of a professional

teacher under the supervision of a Master

Teacher: recruiting students, planning lessons,

writing report cards, teaching classes, setting up

rehearsals, and organizing recitals. By graduation, these student teachers are fully prepared to

teach on their own.

The five project sites supported by the Arts

Endowment in 2001-03 are Ball State

University in Indiana; California State

University, Sacramento; Illinois State

University; Texas Tech University; and the

University of Portland, Oregon.

Student Sarah Shin (foreground) learning to play the violin through the

California State University at Sacramento’s participation in the String

Project, which enlists dedicated university freshman string students to

instruct elementary and secondary school students. Photo courtesy of

ASTA with NSOA
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/ACCESS 23

Hasan Davis

performing for students in Milledgeville,

Georgia as part of

the ROOTS on Tour

program. Photo

courtesy of Alternate

ROOTS.

A CCESS

The NEA’s Access grants perform a vital community service by taking the arts to people and

places where few such opportunities exist. Disseminating the arts is accomplished in several

ways: through regional touring of performances or exhibitions, artist residencies, radio and

television broadcasts, publication of books and magazines, and distribution over the Internet.

Of the 433 Access applications received, 236 were awarded grants in 48 states, the District of

Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Seventy of these grants had multistate impact.

ALTERNATE ROOTS BRINGS

THE ARTS TO RURAL AREAS

THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHEAST

Founded in 1976, Alternate ROOTS (Regional

Organization of Theater/Arts South) of Atlanta,

Georgia is a nonprofit organization run by and

for southeastern performing artists who are

creating original work in the region. The

membership includes theater, dance, and mime

companies, musicians, storytellers, playwrights,

and individual artists from all disciplines. The

goal of the organization is to make the arts

more accessible to underserved areas in the

region by creating better distribution networks

and increasing artistic resources. 

In FY 2001, Alternate ROOTS received an

NEA Access grant for $40,000 to support

ROOTS On Tour, a program started in 1984.

This program provides services to artists,

presenters, community organizations, and

communities in 12 southeastern states and the

District of Columbia. Performers in the touring

program offer a variety of workshops for the

communities in addition to staged productions

and residencies. 

The grant supports artists and performing companies on Alternate ROOTS’ roster, including

Academy Theater for Youth from Atlanta,

Georgia, which has been touring schools with

issue-oriented plays and a nationally recognized

workshop curriculum for over three decades;

Carpetbag Theatre from Knoxville, Tennessee,

one of the oldest and most highly respected

African-American professional companies in the

South; the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange from

Washington, DC, which offers quality dance

performances and residencies; Hasan Davis, a

poet, performer, and storyteller from Berea,

Kentucky; and Silent Partners from Asheville,

North Carolina, a movement theater and mime

company that also uses text, dance, sound, and

masks. 

Underserved communities have benefited

greatly from the ROOTS On Tour program,

having quality artists brought to their towns.

ROOTS On Tour also provided training,

technical assistance, forums, and examples of

successful residencies and tours for artists,

presenters, and community representatives who

are inexperienced in forming partnerships. 
24 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/EDUCATION

EUGENE BALLET COMPANY

DANCES ACROSS FIVE STATES IN

REGIONAL TOUR

The award-winning Eugene Ballet Company in

Oregon received an NEA Access grant of

$20,000 in FY 2001 to support its regional tour

through 14 rural communities in Idaho,

Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

Eugene Ballet brought a repertory including

Agnes DeMille’s Rodeo, Luis Montero’s Bolero,

Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s In A Word, Toni

Pimble’s Silk & Steel and Slipstream, and the

classic Swan Lake to places that do not have easy

access to the arts, such as Walla Walla,

Washington and Pocatello, Idaho. The tour

is in two parts: Oregon and Idaho in October

2001 and Montana, 

Washington, and Wyoming in the spring of

2002. 

Eugene Ballet was formed in 1978 by Toni

Pimble and has grown to become one of the

country’s most versatile dance companies, presenting annually more than 100 performances

and educational activities in classical ballet

and contemporary dance throughout 14 western

states and Canada. Additionally, the company

has participated on U.S. State Department tours

to Asia and Africa, and conducted two monthlong residencies in Arizona and New Mexico

through the NEA-sponsored Dance on Tour

program.

In addition to performances, Eugene Ballet

conducts educational outreach activities in the

communities they visit. This includes providing

interactive residency programs

with master classes,

lecture/demonstrations,

in-class presentations, and an

impressive curriculum guide for

teachers. The curriculum guide provides

instruction and activities for elementary and

middle-school levels, and supplements

Eugene Ballet’s performances by providing

historical and cultural contexts for the dance

presentations. 

Altogether, the tour will reach approximately

25,000 people through performances and an

additional 15,000 students through outreach

activities. 

Eugene Ballet: Brett

Mills as the White

Swan in Eugene Ballet

Company’s performance of Swan Lake,

which was performed

during their regional

tour. Photo by Kent

Peterson
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/HERITAGE/PRESERVATION 25

Melvin Wine performs

with his apprentices at

the Old-Time Fiddlers’

Reunion in Elkins,

West Virginia, sponsored by the Augusta

Heritage Center.

Photo by Dave Savage

HERITAGE/PRESERVATION

The NEA’s Heritage/Preservation category embraces the twin concepts of preserving our

nation’s evolving cultural heritage and conserving important works of art that are products

and symbols of this heritage. In FY 2001, 315 applications were received for

Heritage/Preservation grants, of which 180 were funded. These projects represent 36

states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, with 46 projects involving artists or

reaching audiences in more than one state.

WEST VIRGINIA TREASURES ITS

TRADITIONAL ARTS WITH

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

AND MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Augusta Heritage Center of Davis &

Elkins College in West Virginia is one of the

foremost centers for traditional arts in the

country. Dedicated to the promotion, presentation, and documentation of traditional folk art,

Augusta encourages wider understanding of a

variety of ethnic and traditional cultures,

including Irish, Cajun, and African-American,

among others. 

Augusta received an NEA Heritage/

Preservation grant in FY 2001 for $20,000

to support its West Virginia Folk Arts

Apprenticeship Program and Old-Time

Fiddlers’ Reunion. The apprenticeship program

was established in 1988 with support from an

NEA grant, approving six apprenticeship applications that year. In all, more than 100 apprenticeships have been conducted in 39 of the 55

West Virginia counties since the program

began. The apprenticeships involve one-on-one

teaching between a master teacher and apprentice in a West Virginian folk tradition, such as

music and song, woodcarving, fiber arts, basketmaking, blacksmithing, and musical instrument

construction. To ensure the continuance of

these important local skills in the traditional

context, the learning takes place in the home of

the master artist. 

Many of the master teachers and apprentices

make appearances at the annual Fiddlers’

Reunion, providing one of the few opportunities for them to publicly present their artistic

talents. The Reunion takes place every October

to celebrate West Virginia’s traditional music.

Dozens of the state’s older musicians gather,

along with hundreds of visitors and local folks,

for a weekend of jam sessions and informal concerts with revered musicians such as Melvin

Wine, Woody Simmons, Lester McCumbers,

and Leland Hall. The Reunion is the culmination of Old-Time Week in Elkins, during which

numerous music workshops take place to continue the musical tradition from generation to

generation. 
26 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/HERITAGE/PRESERVATION

TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION

PRESERVES TRADITION OF

BASKETWEAVING IN ARIZONA

One of the 21 Native

American tribes that

make up Arizona’s

rich cultural heritage

is the Tohono

O’odham Nation,

who live in the heart

of the Sonaran

Desert, 60 miles from Tucson. The Tohono

O’odham community, like many other tribes,

faces the challenge of maintaining its traditions,

folk arts, language, and ceremonies. For example, there is only one basketweaver who still

knows how to create traditional burden baskets,

an important part of the tribe’s history and

culture.

To preserve Tohono O’odham culture and language, the nonprofit organization Tohono

O’odham Community Action (TOCA) of Sells,

Arizona was formed in 1996 to foster cultural

revitalization and community development. The

organization offers classes and activities in a

number of traditional arts—mask making, pottery, storytelling, singing and dancing, and basketweaving—all to rejuvenate the O’odham

legacy. In FY 2001, TOCA received an NEA

Heritage/Preservation grant of $23,000 to support classes and activities related to traditional

basketweaving.

Basketry has played a central role in Tohono

O’odham culture for thousands of years. Used

for everything from the most practical tasks—

such as cooking and carrying loads—to the most

sacred ceremonies, baskets are one of the most

important forms of social and artistic expression

for the tribe. In addition, basketry plays a role

in other areas of Tohono O’odham culture, such

as in traditional basket dances, native legends

where the basket is prominently featured, and

ceremonies like the annual rain rituals. 

In addition to the classes, TOCA is conducting

through the Tohono O’odham Basketweavers

Organization at least 80 public basketweaving

demonstrations and educational presentations at

several locations throughout the state. They are

also sponsoring a significantly expanded version

of the Celebration of Basketweaving: Arizona

Indian Basketweavers Gathering and Market at

the Heard Museum in Phoenix. This annual

event is a statewide gathering of Native

American basketweavers for public presentations and related cultural practices, such as basket dances. By expanding the number of participants in the gathering, TOCA is expecting to

triple the size of the audience who attend to a

projected 12,000 people. 

A basket made

through Tohono

O’odham

Community Action’s

basketweaving activities. Photo courtesy

of Tohono O’odham

Community Action

Baskets on display during the Celebration of

Basketweaving at the Heard Museum in

Phoenix. Photo courtesy of Tohono O’odham

Community Action
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY 27

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

The Organizational Capacity grant category replaces the previous year’s Planning &

Stabilization category, and focuses on developing future arts leaders and enhancing the skills of

those already working in the field. Funded projects help organizations and agencies assess

their strengths and weaknesses in bringing the arts to communities throughout the country.

The Arts Endowment awarded grants to 60 organizations in 24 states, as well as the District of

Columbia. This included four states previously underserved by direct NEA grants. In addition,

the new Resources for Change initiative (see page 39) also provided grants to address the

organizational development needs of arts organizations.

DESIGN CORPS SEEKS TO

PROMOTE COMMUNITY DESIGN

THROUGH NATIONAL

CONFERENCES

Design Corps of Raleigh, North Carolina is a

nonprofit organization whose goal is to offer a

wide range of affordable, quality design services

to underserved communities. To help Design

Corps achieve its goal, the Arts Endowment

awarded the organization a $34,000

Organizational Capacity grant to support a

publication and conferences promoting

community design. 

Design Corps held its first conference on this

issue at Princeton University in 2000. The

NEA grant will support two upcoming conferences in 2002-03 to be held at the University

of Virginia and Pennsylvania State University.

Both conferences will include faculty and students from the participating universities as well

as professional designers and architects. The

conferences will develop future design professionals who will provide quality design to community-based projects. 

Many young designers feel they must either

pursue quality design at a commercial firm or

work on affordable housing and scrimp on good

design. The conferences will provide students,

young designers, and professionals with pathways to pursue alternative community-based

work that is of high quality, with evidence

from recent case studies. Whereas the first

conference at Princeton dealt specifically with

housing, the Pennsylvania State conference

focused on collaboration and public projects,

such as buildings, landscape, and infrastructure.

The third conference will continue the discussion of issues raised in the first two conferences.

Princeton Architectural Press has committed to

a publication that will disseminate nationally the

results of the conferences and include selected

essays of conference participants. 

Sergio Palleroni, Director of the Design/Build Mexico Program at the

University of Washington (second from left), converses with students from

the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee over their design model for an

orphanage in Costa Rica at the Structures for Inclusion 2 conference at

the Pennsylvania State University in April 2002. Photo by Kindra Welch
28 GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/ARTS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION

ARTS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION

The NEA’s Arts on Radio and Television grants support the development, production, and

national distribution of radio and television programs on the arts. Priority was given to artistically excellent programs that have the potential to reach a significant national audience. In

FY 2001, 99 applications were received, of which 42 were funded. Projects supported included ongoing series, such as Great Performances and Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, and new

series such as Visiones: Latino Art and Culture and Studio 360.

FROM THE TOP SHOWCASES

TALENTED YOUNG CLASSICAL

MUSICIANS

In order for the arts to survive, a new generation of artists must be nurtured. The public

radio series From the Top understands that concept, and highlights exceptional, young classical

musicians every week. In addition to performances, the program includes guest artists, such

as Yo-Yo Ma and Pablo Ziegler, as well as a

14-year-old “roving reporter” who profiles the

young musicians. 

The program also features “On the Road”

shows during the year, taped before a live

audience in various locations throughout the

country. Concert Productions of Boston,

Massachusetts, which produces the radio

program, received a FY 2001 NEA grant of

$25,000 to support the production of 10 new

“On the Road” shows in locations such as

Interlochen, Michigan; Charlotte, North

Carolina; Starkville, Mississippi; and Kerrville,

Texas. 

Pianist Christopher O’Reilly hosts the series,

interviewing the young musicians and guest

artists and guiding the audience on musical

nuances. Haley Goldbach, the 14-year-old

reporter, provides insight into the young

musicians’ backgrounds, including their home

life, favorite school subjects, and social

activities. 

The young performers are selected by submitting a written application and audiotape of their

work to From the Top staff to evaluate. Once

chosen, the musicians are flown to the performance location the night before the taping and

participate in the three-hour rehearsal before

the show is recorded. 

The show also has an interactive Web site,

www.fromthetop.org, with a special section

for parents and teachers, including an Ask the

Expert feature that provides answers to parents’

questions about musical instruction, and sample

curricula and educational activities for teachers

to use. 

Cellist Martin

Torch-Ishii of San

Antonio,Texas with

From the Top host

Christopher 

O’Riley in the radio

program’s “On the

Road” show in

Kerrville,Texas.

Photo courtesy of

Concert Productions,

Inc.
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS/ARTS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION 29

Paul McCartney

(from left) with Sun

Records artists D.J.

Fontana and Albert

“Sonny” Burgess

from the American

Masters program

“Good Rockin’

Tonight:The Legacy

of Sun Records.”

Photo by Dan Griffin

AMERICAN MASTERS CONTINUES

TO PROFILE THE COUNTRY’S

GREATEST ARTISTS

Since its premiere in 1986, the American Masters

television series has created nearly 100 documentaries on internationally renowned artists

who have shaped and defined American culture

in the 20th century. Such artists as Eugene

O’Neill, Duke Ellington, Man Ray, Georgia

O’Keeffe, Charlie Chaplin, Martha Graham,

and Isaac Bashevis Singer have been subjects of

the series in the past. The Arts Endowment’s

funding helped initiate the series 15 years ago,

and provided a grant of $450,000 in FY 2001

to support the creation of new programs.

The program averages 4.7 million viewers per

broadcast hour, bringing these important artists

to wider audiences. For example, the 2000

broadcast of “Norman Rockwell: Painting

America” was seen by five million viewers—an

audience far greater than the number of people

who have access to an exhibition of Rockwell’s

work in any given year. Since its inception, the

series has received 11 Emmy Awards (out of 23

nominations), an Academy Award, five Peabody

Awards, and one Grammy Award.

In 2001, profiled artists included F. Scott

Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Merce Cunningham,

Richard Rodgers, and Ralph Ellison, as well as a

special presentation on the legendary recording

studio and label, Sun Records. The film portraits detail the working methods and accomplishments of America’s most significant and

influential writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, and filmmakers. 

Videos of some American Masters programs are

available publicly. In addition, the American

Masters Web site, www.pbs.org/wnet/ammasters, contains an archival database of the artists

profiled—containing essays, interviews with

the filmmakers, and additional materials—

and educational resources for teachers. 
The National Endowment for the Arts funds individual artists through its fellowship programs: Literature, American Jazz Masters, and National Heritage Fellowships. All fellowship

recipients must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Literature Fellowships in poetry,

prose, and translation are awarded competitively to writers of exceptional promise. The

American Jazz Masters and National Heritage Fellowships are awarded, based on nominations, to master artists with distinguished careers. 

INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIPS

30 INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIPS/LITERATURE FELLOWSHIPS

LITERATURE FELLOWSHIPS

Unlike most other national awards, the

National Endowment for the Arts Creative

Writing Fellowships have sought to encourage

new work and allow emerging and mid-career

writers the time and means to write. Since

1967, the NEA has awarded $37 million

through these fellowships to 2,380 writers,

resulting in more than 2,200 books, many highly acclaimed works of art. Every recipient of the

Pulitzer Prize in Poetry since 1990 received a

Literature Fellowship from the NEA at least

seven years prior to winning the national award.

This investment in American letters has ensured

that a diversity of voices has defined our national literature during the second half of the 20th

century. 

This year’s Literature Fellowships are for

Poetry (Prose and Poetry fellowships alternate

years). Of the 1,230 applications received, 34

writers from 16 states were awarded $20,000

grants. 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 fiction 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, from the

ancient poetry of Dante to the modern writings

of Jorge Luis Borges. In 2001, 34 applications

for Translation in Poetry grants were received,

of which six translators in five states were

awarded grants. 

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FACTS AND FIGURES

Individual Fellowships

LITERATURE

FELLOWSHIPS:

Number of Grants

Awarded: 40

Dollar Amount of

Grants Awarded:

$800,000

AMERICAN JAZZ

MASTERS 

FELLOWSHIPS:

Number of Grants

Awarded: 3

Dollar Amount of

Grants Awarded:

$60,000

NATIONAL 

HERITAGE 

FELLOWSHIPS:

Number of Grants

Awarded: 12

Dollar Amount of

Grants Awarded:

$120,000
INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIPS/LITERATURE FELLOWSHIPS 31

CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIPS—POETRY

TRANSLATION FELLOWSHIPS

Enrique P. Barot

Oakland, CA

Sharona Ben-Tov Muir 

Perrysburg, OH

Roy Bentley

Granville, OH

Judith A. Berke

Miami Beach, FL

Bruce C. Bond

Denton, TX

James E. Brasfield

State College, PA

Stephanie C. Brown

San Clemente, CA

Christopher Buckley

Lompoc, CA

Cheryl Burket

San Francisco, CA

Jean T. Day

Berkeley, CA

Maggie Dubris

New York, NY

Gary Duehr

Somerville, MA

Denise L. Duhamel

Woonsocket, RI

Caroline Finkelstein

Westport Point, MA

Josephine Foo

Philadelphia, PA

Phillip O. Foss

San Juan Pueblo, NM

Forrest Gander

Barrington, RI

Christopher Howell

Spokane, WA

Susan Kwock Kim

Milton, NY

Noelle Kocot

Brooklyn, NY

John A. Latta

Ann Arbor, MI

Dorianne L. Laux

Eugene, OR

Rinehardt Z. Linmark

Honolulu, HI

Paula McLain

Madison, WI

Roger S. Mitchell

Bloomington, IN

Nicole Moustaki

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Charles, L. North

New York, NY

Anna Rabinowitz

New York, NY

Boyer Rickel

Tucson, AZ

Kay Ryan

Fairfax, CA

Charlie Smith

New York, NY

Hugh Steinberg

San Francisco, CA

Virgil Suarez

Tallahassee, FL

Nance Van Winckel

Cheney, WA

Donald J. Gecewicz

Evanston, IL

David Hinton

East Calais, VT

Stephen J. Kessler

Gualala, CA

Rika E. Lesser

Brooklyn, NY

Philip J. Metres III

Bloomington, IN

John O. Simon

Berkeley, CA
32 INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIPS/LITERATURE FELLOWSHIPS

“Thelonious Sphere Monk”

by Bruce Bond

Used by permission of the author

Take any solo session from the Riverside

years, those long trapped breaths of dissonance 

like smoke, a holding back of fulfillment 

that becomes just that, our glad and broken 

contract; and you hear the great sad boulders 

of chords thump into place, foundation stones 

for later work, entire soaring tenements 

of work. Difficult at times, the way he kept 

everyone waiting, those hours he stumbled 

through uncharted tunes, tape rolling, until 

his stagger had a heart’s precision to it, 

a largesse of hands startled by choice. 

Which is why, beyond the scarred edifice 

of tone-clusters and uneven strides, each room’s 

waste of cups and ashes, beyond the nights 

his strings soured in a New York basement, 

there’s a lightness here, a compulsion

to surprise. Less an end to silence

than a yielding to its wants, to the bloom 

of poverty and water inside it: 

Photo courtesy of author

sound as the hard fruit of deprivation.

And though you see him stab at the odd key,

his finger blunted like a cigarette, 

it’s not rage at a world slow to forgive

or understand, not merely; not the chronic 

deafness of taxis and jail-clerks, the phony 

drug charge that left him jobless; but more 

a private joy working on its problem. 

To raze and resurrect, to resurrect by razing.

There are moments he seems so thickly bound 

in the black suns of his eyes, his face

bearded as a buffalo, mumbling in the shade 

of a dark-felt hat. How better to inhabit 

the pride of disappointment, to spark 

against the corners, making a language 

out of a failure to speak—though in time

failure became just that, a handful of days 

he refused it all: the phone calls, his wife, 

his health, his music. They block-and-tackled 

his spinet through the high window of a cramped 

apartment. Who was he to suffer fools, 

let alone his own hands; and it came on 

so swiftly: the thinning of his face

in the stream of silence. Soon his piano

too was a black chest of wire and dust. 

And memory was small comfort. All his life

the giant spools of pleasure and tape flowed 

in one direction: how he lived, he died,

the high gothic cathedral of his style 

eroding, its stones condemned, windows boarded. 
INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIPS/LITERATURE FELLOWSHIPS 33

Photo courtesy of author

“hwajon”*

by Sue Kwock Kim

Used by permission of the author

There is no need to keep

humiliating me: even you must feel

these stubble-fields are slashed enough, 

crags glinting blackly like sockets

burned bare, blood-glitter of mud,

wind galloping across the torn, steaming soils.

But you cannot know

what terror is, to be trapped inside the dirt

without a voice, thirsty roots

thrusting toward air, shoving aside

rock-rung and gorse—; nor can you feel

this ecstasy of the earth,

the wild ore tearing through

its throat of stone, erupting from soil-silence

like the moment my voice first

hurls me, astonished and stinging, into the acid light. 

*Hwajon is Korean for “fire-field.” During the Japanese occupation

of Korea (1910-45), rural homelessness rose drastically and many

peasants were forced into vagrancy, resorting to slash-and-burn

farming in the mountains. 

“Drinking Wine”

Tao Ch’ien (365-427 C.E.)

Translated from Chinese by David Hinton

Used by permission of the author

I live here in a village house without

all that racket horses and carts stir up, 

and you wonder how that could ever be.

Wherever the mind dwells apart is itself 

a distant place. Picking chrysanthemums

at my east fence, I see South Mountain 

far off: air lovely at dusk, birds in flight

returning home. All this means something, 

something absolute: whenever I start

to explain it, I forget words altogether.

Photo courtesy of author
34 INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIPS/AMERICAN JAZZ MASTERS FELLOWSHIPS

AMERICAN JAZZ MASTERS FELLOWSHIPS

“Jazz has long since left the back rooms and alleys....Jazz now has a place in our communities,” said 1996 American Jazz Master Benny Golson, and since its beginnings in the early

20th century, jazz has been an intricate part of the American cultural heritage. The NEA

recognizes the importance of this musical tradition with the American Jazz Masters

Fellowships. These fellowships honor living jazz masters for their artistic excellence and

impact on the music field. American Jazz Masters, named each year since 1982, form a

veritable jazz hall of fame, including such luminous past members as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles

Davis, Marian McPartland, and George Russell. This year’s recipients of the $20,000 awards,

presented at the annual International Association for Jazz Education conference, were

saxophonist and composer-arranger Frank Foster, bassist Percy Heath, and pianist and composer McCoy Tyner. To celebrate 20 years of the fellowship program, the NEA published

American Jazz Masters Fellowships: 1982-2002, which can be obtained on the NEA Web site,

www.arts.gov.

FRANK FOSTER,

SAXOPHONIST/COMPOSER-ARRANGER

Frank Foster is best known for his work in the

Count Basie Orchestra (1953-64) and as the

composer of the Count Basie hit, “Shiny

Stockings.” During his time with the Basie

band, his fiery improvisations and inventive

arrangements were important factors in Basie’s

success. Foster assumed the leadership of the

Count Basie Orchestra from 1986-1995. He

continues to compose and record his music, and

to lead educational activities. 

PERCY HEATH, BASSIST

Percy Heath was the backbone of the popular

jazz group, Modern Jazz Quartet, as well as a

sought-after freelance musician, appearing on

more than 200 jazz albums. Playing with Dizzy

Gillespie’s sextet from 1950-52, he then joined

MJQ, staying with the band for more than 40

years. In addition to his duties with MJQ, he

also recorded albums with his brothers, saxophonist Jimmy and drummer Albert “Tootie.” 

MCCOY TYNER,

PIANIST/COMPOSER

McCoy Tyner’s powerful, propulsive style of

piano playing was an integral part of the John

Coltrane Quartet’s sound in the early 1960s,

and influenced countless musicians that followed him. Tyner played a major role in the

success of the quartet, using rich-textured harmonies as rhythmic devices against Coltrane’s

“sheets of sound” saxophone playing. After leaving the quartet, Tyner continued to experiment

with his sound, pushing rhythms and tonalities

to the limit, and demonstrated his flair for compositions on such albums as The Real McCoy. 

“Art is a

wonderful way

to express who

we really are,

and what we

desire to be.” 

– McCoy Tyner

Frank Foster. Photo

by Steve T. Sherman

Percy Heath.

Photo courtesy of

Percy Heath

McCoy Tyner. Photo by

Gene Martin
INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIPS/NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIPS 35

“We need to make

sure that this music

doesn’t die out and

that people hear the

real thing and not

just the revivalists.

There are not a lot

of people left that can

do the music in the

old form and style.

These people need to

be honored.” 

– Hazel Dickens

NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIPS

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

than 200 artists who have dedicated their lives to celebrating the nation’s diverse cultural

heritage. Previous honorees have included bluesman B.B. King, cowboy poet Wally McRae,

Irish stepdancer Michael Flatley, and bluegrass artist Bill Monroe. 

The 2001 National Heritage Fellowships, the country’s most prestigious honor in the folk

and traditional arts, were awarded to 12 artists. The fellowships include a one-time award

of $10,000. Artists who received the award included performers, such as Appalachian singersongwriter Hazel Dickens, and craftspeople, such as rug weaver Dorothy Trumpold. Two

new artistic traditions were included in 2001: capoeira, rooted in Brazilian cultural identity,

and taiko, a Japanese ritual performance. Ordinarily, awards are only given to living artists,

but an exception was made this year for Boozoo Chavis, who died after he had already been

selected. 

In addition, Joseph Wilson, folklorist and presenter, received the Bess Lomax Hawes Award,

given to those 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. 

Interviews with the 2001 awardees, as well as presentations of their work, can be found on

the NEA Web site at www.arts.gov/explore/Heritage2001/NHFIntro.html.

2001 FELLOWSHIPS

Celestino Avilés

Santero

Orocovis, Puerto Rico

Mozell Benson

Quilter

Opelika, AL

Wilson “Boozoo” Chavis

Creole Zydeco Accordionist

Lake Charles, LA

Hazel Dickens

Appalachian SingerSongwriter

Washington, DC

João Grande

Capoeira Angola Master

New York, NY

Evalena Henry

Apache Basketweaver

Peridot, AZ

Peter Kyvelos

Oud Maker

Bedford, MA

Eddie Pennington

Thumbpicking-style Guitarist

Princeton, KY

Qi Shu Fang

Beijing Opera Performer

Woodhaven, NY

Seiichi Tanaka

Taiko Drummer/Dojo

Founder

San Francisco, CA

Dorothy Trumpold

Rug Weaver

East Amana, IA

Fred Tsoodle

Kiowa Sacred Song Leader

Mountain View, OK

Joseph Wilson

Folklorist, Advocate,

Presenter

Silver Spring, MD

Hazel Dickens.

Photo by David Gahr
The National Endowment for the Arts greatly extends its impact through its partnerships

with the 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies and six multistate regional arts organizations. Forty percent of the NEA’s grant funds are distributed through these Partnership

Agreements, helping support local, state, and regional arts activities for children and adults

across the nation. A complete listing of Partnership Agreements in FY 2001 is available

online at www.arts.gov.

State arts agencies used their federal and state appropriated funds in 2001 to promote access

to the best of America’s cultural heritage through assistance for arts groups and artists, artist

residencies, performances and exhibitions, arts education, programs in the traditional arts,

and cultural tourism initiatives among other projects. 

KANSAS ARTS COMMISSION

BRINGS ARTS INSTRUCTION TO

UNDERSERVED YOUTH

The Kansas Arts Commission was established in

1966 to increase the support, awareness, understanding, and availability of the arts in communities across the state. For more than 35 years,

the Arts Commission has been helping Kansas

value and celebrate the arts, with support from

the National Endowment for the Arts.

In FY 2001, the Kansas Arts Commission

received $473,000 from the NEA through its

State Partnership Agreement. Matched with

$1.6 million in state funds, the Arts

Commission was able to reach 4.2 million

Kansas residents and tourists through arts projects involving more than 26,000 artists. These

projects generated $20 million in

economic activity for the state.

One of the Commission’s initiatives over the last three years has

been an arts education program

for underserved youth. With partnership funds from the Arts

Endowment and additional funding set aside by the governor, the

Commission is helping these young people

develop creativity and communication skills

through learning in the arts. 

One of the activities funded by the Commission

in FY 2001 was a summer dance camp for

underserved youth conducted by the Friends of

Alvin Ailey in Kansas City. Through dance,

participants gained social and interpersonal

skills as well as artistic ability. 

Storytellers, Inc. and Youth Friends of Kansas

City, Kansas also received funding from the Arts

Commission for arts education activities. These

two organizations brought artists to schools for

projects involving environmental art, theater,

poetry with drumming, and video technology.

Poetry in particular has helped youth to express

their feelings and discuss topics important to

them. 

The Kansas Arts Commission plans to use

NEA Partnership Agreement funds to expand

the program and bring the arts to more youth

in the future.

STATE AND REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

36 STATE AND REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

Marini Brown of

Wyandotte High

School recites her

poetry with musical

accompaniment as

part of a poetry program coordinated by

Youth Friends and

Storytellers, Inc. of

Kansas City and

funded by the

Kansas Arts

Commission. Photo

by Bob Burtch

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FACTS AND FIGURES

Partnership

Agreements

Dollar Amount of 

State Partnership

Agreements:

$27,934,954

Dollar Amount of

Regional Partnership

Agreements:

$5,430,200
STATE AND REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS 37

WORLD-RENOWNED TRIO

PERFORM IN HOMER, ALASKA 

Homer, Alaska is known for its beautiful vistas

and halibut fishing, but also has a thriving arts

community. Though only approximately 4,000

people live in the town proper, Homer hosts a

large number of potters, artists, musicians, and

art galleries. The Homer Council on the Arts

helps maintain the town’s strong commitment

to the arts by organizing activities such as the

January 2001 residency of the Amadeus Trio, a

world-renowned classical music ensemble.

Receiving support from the Alaska State

Council on the Arts and the NEA Regional

Touring Program (through the Western States

Arts Federation’s TourWest program), the

Homer Council worked to increase the audience for classical music, creating a new ticket

outlet to reach communities outside Homer

that are not usually targeted by the Council. As

a result, the Amadeus Trio’s concert attracted

double the audience of any other classical performance the Council sponsored.

The Amadeus Trio’s residency included one

public performance and three outreach activities, which included a lecture/demonstration at

the local elementary school, a workshop for area

musicians, and a post-concert reception. The

workshop in instrument care was especially

important to the Homer community, where

instrument repair and tuning instruction are

difficult to obtain. Beyond the residency, the

Amadeus Trio’s cellist, Jefferey Solow, provided

free instruction to local cellists and pianist

Marian Hahn spoke to Homer’s local music

ensemble.

Jenny Carroll, Interim Director of the Council,

stated that “the residency was an outstanding

success....We feel we optimized our opportunities to touch many corners of the community

with this residency.” The contributions of the

community and of the artists were reciprocal.

Besides indulging the musicians in the pleasures

of winter in Alaska, such as dogsled rides, they

provided cellos for Solow to use when baggage

restrictions imposed by the local airline prevented him bringing his own cello for the

concert. 

The interest and investment by the community

created a strong desire in the artists to return to

the area to do even more public work. In the

words of Timothy Baker, the group’s violinist:

“Afterwards, I called to tell them how much I

enjoyed it. We would be delighted to be

considered to go back.”

Jeffrey Solow

examines instrument belonging

to a workshop

participant. Photo

by Carey Restino,

Homer News

The NEA also awarded Partnership Agreements to six regional arts organizations, created to

transcend state boundaries and provide access to a greater variety of arts experiences, especially in underserved areas. One of the ways the Arts Endowment works with the regional

arts organizations is through the NEA Regional Touring Program, which provides assistance

for the presentation of touring performing artists and companies, especially in underserved

communities. In most cases, the evening performances are supplemented by educational programs in the community.
METROPOLITAN OPERA

PRESERVES RADIO AND

TELEVISION ARCHIVES DATING

BACK TO 1931 

The Metropolitan Opera in New York City,

the country’s largest opera company, has an

unprecedented collection of radio and television

recordings in its archives, going back as far as

1931. To ensure the survival of this important

part of American culture, the Met has undertaken a seven-year preservation/restoration project

to maintain and copy those tapes that are still in

good condition, and restore those that are deteriorating. The Metropolitan Opera Association,

Inc. was awarded a Save America’s Treasures

grant of $200,000 in FY 2001 to support the

restoration and preservation project. 

The archives’ collections are a repository of

the voices of three generations of great artists,

such as Marian Anderson, Beverly Sills, Richard

Tucker, and Robert Merrill. With more than

1,200 broadcasts, the radio archives is an

unmatched documentation of live opera

performance in America. Likewise, there are

video and audio tapes for each of 90 telecasts

since 1977.

Although the Met has maintained the collections in special climate-controlled storage facilities, some of material is deteriorating and needs

immediate attention to retain these important

pieces of American musical history. This grant

will allow for the systematic preservation of

these materials using the finest technology

available. The radio tapes for 1987-95, for

example, are especially at risk due to the chemical formula used at the time to create magnetic

tape. The Met is having the tapes cleaned and

copied onto new reel-to-reel tapes and compact

disc to preserve these works. Both reel-to-reel

and CDs are expected to last for 50 years.

The television tapes are being evaluated as to

which need to be restored, transferred to digital

tape, or maintained. The tapes will then be

documented in a professional library database

by a qualified librarian. Through this preservation and restoration project, some of the definitive performances of the 20th century will be

saved for future generations. 

Save America’s Treasures was launched in 1998 as a program of the White House

Millennium Council, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation,

National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services

to protect the nation’s threatened cultural resources. Congressional appropriations for the

program began in FY 2000, the same year that the National Endowment for the Arts joined

the partnership. In FY 2001, the NEA provided five grants to nonprofit organizations for the

preservation or conservation of nationally significant collections of cultural artifacts—such as

documents, works of art, maps, and journals—that illuminate the history and culture of the

United States. 

SAVE AMERICA’S TREASURES

38 SAVE AMERICA’S TREASURES

Judith Blegen as

Sophie and Tatiana

Troyanos as Octavian

in the Metropolitan

Opera’s performance

of Strauss’ Der

Rosenkavalier, which

was originally broadcast in 1982. Both

the audio and video

tapes were restored

to broadcast quality

for an encore presentation on PBS almost

two decades later.

Photo by Winnie Klotz

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FACTS AND FIGURES

Save America’s

Treasures

Dollar Amount of NEA

Funding for Save

America’s Treasures

Grants: $1,330,000
In FY 2001, the National Endowment for the Arts funded a new program, Resources for

Change—a series of initiatives designed to address the organizational development needs of

arts organizations. The first series of grants focused on technology and assisting nonprofit

arts organizations in applying technology to enhance their business operations and better

serve their audiences. Projects included developing or adapting software; developing archival,

documentation, and preservation standards and techniques; adapting technology developed

for the commercial world to the nonprofit world; and enhancing the arts experience of

audience members with special needs. The NEA awarded 25 grants to nonprofit

organizations in 15 states. 

RESOURCES FOR CHANGE

RESOURCES FOR CHANGE 39

Michael Tilson

Thomas of the New

World Symphony in

Miami Beach, Florida

conducts a seminar

via Internet2 with

student conductors

and an ensemble at

Columbia University

in New York in

October 2001. Image

courtesy of New World

Symphony

NEW WORLD SYMPHONY

IN FLORIDA EXPLORES NEW

TECHNOLOGY FOR MUSICAL

EDUCATION 

Established in 1986, the New World Symphony

(NWS) in Miami Beach, Florida, is a unique

orchestral academy that offers an intensive

three-year fellowship program for aspiring

classical musicians and conductors. NWS

annually invites stellar artists from worldrenowned institutions to coach fellows on

musical technique. 

Since 1996, NWS has been investigating ways

to extend the benefits of its educational activities through real-time distance learning. This

investigation led to NWS becoming an affiliate

member of the Internet2 community in 2000.

Internet2 is a high-speed Internet system with

an extremely wide bandwidth, allowing high

fidelity communication that eliminates time

delays and loss of sound quality in transmission.

This technology is crucial to long-distance

musical training. Internet2 has been used mainly for educational experimentation in engineering and science, but NWS will explore the possibilities of teaching and community outreach

using this promising system. 

In FY 2001, NWS received a $200,000 NEA

Resources for Change grant to support its use

of Internet2 for master classes, auditions, and

coaching and rehearsal sessions among participants across the country. NWS will be able to

provide its educational programs with greater

ease and less cost by eliminating expenses for

transporting instructors and guest artists to students—or students traveling to auditions and

training sessions. NWS also will be able to

reach more people with its outreach activities,

which currently serve approximately 11,500

children, and with its free concerts, which are

attended by an estimated 38,000 people. 

NWS plans over the next three years to create

a pilot project involving Internet2 connections

with three universities: the University of

Mississippi at Jackson, Indiana University, and

Yale University. Activities will include coaching

student musicians, providing access to NWS

master classes, and accessing online libraries of

printed and digitally recorded music for study

and concert preparation.

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FACTS AND FIGURES

Resources for Changes

Dollar Amount of

Resources for Change

Grants: $3,099,000
Through its Leadership Initiatives, the National Endowment for the Arts complements its

principal grantmaking activity by developing and implementing projects that address special

needs to advance the arts in American life. These initiatives are frequently undertaken in

collaboration with nonprofit organizations or other federal agencies. Initiatives funded this

year include continuation of projects funded in previous years, such as the National

Millennium Projects and New Public Works, and others that are new, such as the Sesame

Street Music Works. 

A CCESS A BILITY

The AccessAbility Office serves as the advocacy and technical assistance arm of the NEA for

older Americans and those who are disabled or living in institutions and long-term care settings. The Office works in a myriad of ways to assist staff, grantees, and applicants in achieving the NEA’s goal of increased access to the arts for all Americans. The Office’s efforts

include providing technical assistance, such as convening panels, workshops, and symposia

for arts service groups and organizations, and working through interagency agreements with

other federal agencies, such as the agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to train

and place artists in one-year residencies at federal correctional institutions. The focus of

these efforts is inclusion, opening up existing programs and outreach to citizens who would

not otherwise have opportunities to be involved in the arts. 

NEA SUPPORTS

CREATIVITY AND

AGING STUDY 

America and the world

are witnessing an explosion in the number of

people aged 65 or older

who are seeking meaningful ways to spend their

leisure time. Experience

has shown that older

people involved in arts

programs, conducted by professional artists,

have dramatic improvements in their quality of

life. 

To document these experiences, the NEA

AccessAbility Office developed an interagency

agreement in FY 2001 with the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services to

support a three-year study that measures and

evaluates the effects of arts programming on

older Americans. In addition, the American

Association of Retired Persons and Guttman

Foundation are providing funding for this

first-ever study.

George Washington University in Washington,

DC will conduct the study, involving more than

600 participants in arts programs administered

by the Levine School of Music in Virginia,

Elders Share the Arts in New York, and

Artsworks in California. This study will document the importance of arts in the lives of older

citizens, and the improvement in their quality of

life. The ultimate goals of this effort are to significantly expand arts programming for, by, and

with older Americans and to increase support

for such programs within the public and private

sectors. 

LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES

40 LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/ACCESSABILITY

Artworks artists work

with the On Lok Senior

Health Center in San

Francisco, California to

create Chinese lanterns

to be displayed

throughout the center.

Photo by Sue Tallon

Photography

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FACTS AND FIGURES

Leadership Initiatives

Dollar Amount for

Leadership Initiatives:

$11,588,771
LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/FOLK & TRADITIONAL ARTS INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVE 41

Scene from the

Hispanic Festival in

Georgetown,

Delaware; Latinos are

the fastest growing

population in the

Delmarva region.

Photo by Katherine

Borland

FOLK & TRADITIONAL ARTS 

INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVE

For more than 20 years, the NEA has helped to create and support a network of folk and

traditional arts programs, many of which are housed in state arts agencies and regional arts

organizations. The Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure Initiative, now in its fourth year,

addresses the need to strengthen an infrastructure of support for these art forms—which

reflect the rich culture and heritage of the United States. Arts Endowment funds go toward

technical assistance, research, programming, and documentation in the folk and traditional

arts. In FY 2001, 33 grants were awarded to organizations in 31 states as well as Guam and

the District of Columbia for a total of $800,000. 

MID ATLANTIC ARTS

FOUNDATION PRESERVES

CULTURAL HERITAGE OF

DELMARVA PENINSULA

Created in 1979 to encourage continued development of the arts and to support arts programs

on a regional basis, the Mid Atlantic Arts

Foundation is dedicated to the growth and

appreciation of the arts throughout the region.

One of the Foundation’s program areas is traditional arts, addressing the needs of the region’s

folk and traditional artists, arts organizations,

and constituents. In FY 2001, the Foundation

received a $22,000 NEA Folk & Traditional

Arts Infrastructure Initiative grant to support an

audio tape tour that promotes the traditional

culture of the people on the Delmarva

Peninsula. 

The Delmarva Folklife Project focuses on the

Delmarva region, which is defined by the land

and waterways of the Chesapeake Bay area,

including parts of Delaware, Maryland, New

Jersey, and Virginia. By viewing the peninsula as

a cultural region, the Foundation has been able

to identify and document an otherwise hidden

network of cultural connections that cross ethnic, professional, religious, and community

lines. The pace of demographic changes, commercial development, environmental pressures,

and diminishing economic opportunity presents

a constant threat to the maintenance of certain

cultural traditions on the peninsula.

As part of the multi-year initiative, the

Delmarva Folklife Project field team will work

with local arts organizations, museums, historical societies, heritage and preservation committees, economic development councils, and

tourism commissions. The project will create a

guide to help local community-based organizations connect to the resources and develop programs that conserve and promote traditional

culture on the Delmarva Peninsula, and an

audio tour of the region. The audio tour will

highlight the traditions, people, and places that

make the region unique and distinctive, and

may serve as a model for further efforts in educating the public about folklife. Both the guidebook and audio tour will be based primarily on

the research and fieldwork conducted by the

Delmarva Folklife Project and will be available

in 2002. 
42 LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES

To share the excellence and diversity of American arts, the NEA supports international activities that showcase our nation’s arts abroad and also enrich the artists’ work through new

experiences with different cultures. The NEA works with CEC International Partners on

ArtsLink, an exchange program with Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Newly

Independent States, and the Baltics. Another program, the Fund for U.S. Artists at

International Festivals and Exhibitions, administered by Arts International, supports the

participation of American artists in international festivals and exhibitions across the globe.

The NEA’s partners in the Fund are the U.S. Department of State, the Rockefeller

Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The NEA also works with the Japan/U.S.

Friendship Commission on the U.S./Japan Creative Artists’ Program, which provides sixmonth residencies in Japan for artists in any discipline to explore aspects of Japanese culture

that are relevant to their creative work. 

FIRST AMERICAN DANCE

COMPANY APPEARS AT

INTERNATIONAL

CHOREOGRAPHY FESTIVAL

IN BELARUS

The International Festival of Modern

Choreography (IFMC) in Vitebsk, Belarus,

began in 1987 to highlight innovations in the

forms and techniques of dance. IFMC is considered one of the biggest and most prestigious

forums on contemporary dance in Eastern

Europe, with its main event being the international competition biennale. More than 40

prominent dance companies and solo dancers

from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia,

Moldova, Poland, Germany, France,

Netherlands, Israel, China, and Japan have

performed at IFMC in recent years.

In 2001, the Fund for U.S. Artists at

International Festivals and Exhibitions

supported Dancing People Company (DPC)

of Sandstone, Minnesota with a $5,000 grant

to attend IFMC, the first American dance company to do so. DPC was committed to making

this connection across cultures and saw it as an

investment in the company’s creative growth.

DPC presented three performances (reaching

approximately 3,600 audience members), and

members of the company taught six master

classes at the festival. In addition, DPC artistic

director Robin Stiehm served on the panel of

judges for the international competition. 

Every DPC performance was sold out at the

1,200-person theater, as interest in seeing the

American professional dance company was high.

DPC performed one full evening performance

and two other short programs. The audiences

were very receptive to DPC’s performances and

there was much media interest as well. 

The interaction between DPC and dance

companies from other countries exposed the

American dancers to new techniques and

inspired a deeper commitment to their art.

Upon her return to the U.S., Steihm immediately created a new dance, stimulated by the

varied work she had seen and artists she had

met at the festival. 

Jessica Cressey of

Dancing People

Company in In the In

Crowd, choreographed

by Robin Stiehm,

during the company’s

performance at the

International Festival

of Modern

Choreography in

Belarus. Photo by

Vladimir Bazan
LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/INTERAGENCY PARTNERSHIPS 43

As part of the Biggs

Early Childhood

Education Center’s art

instruction classes,

which received a 2001

Coming Up Taller

Award, children studied Robert La Duke’s

Big City and then

created artwork related to their own city.

Photo courtesy of the

Biggs Center

INTERAGENCY PARTNERSHIPS

The NEA works with more than 20 other federal agencies on projects that provide opportunities for thousands of Americans to experience quality arts programming throughout the

country. These joint projects help to expand the reach and impact of federal arts dollars, and

provide a national model for the types of partnerships the NEA encourages at the state and

local levels. Federal partnership programs range from after-school arts education for youth,

recognized annually by the Coming Up Taller Awards, to arts initiatives in rural communities under the Arts and Rural Community Assistance Initiative. Federal partners include the

Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture, the National Park Service, the

National Endowment for the Humanities, and the President’s Committee on the Arts and

the Humanities.

KENTUCKY EARLY CHILDHOOD

CENTER IS HONORED WITH A

COMING UP TALLER AWARD

The James E.

Biggs Early

Childhood

Education

Center is

located on a

busy street in

Covington,

Kentucky,

where low

standardized

test scores,

high poverty, and increasing school dropout

rates are prevalent. In 1996, the Biggs Center

added the fine arts to its array of services for

underserved children ages 3-5 in its community.

Through its hard work and dedication, the

Biggs Center’s work in early childhood arts education earned the Center a Coming Up Taller

Award in FY 2001. 

The Coming Up Taller Awards, begun in 1998,

are annually presented to ten organizations that

provide America’s young people with creative

learning opportunities outside the regular

school day. Awards of $10,000 each are

bestowed to the honorees in a ceremony in

Washington, DC. The award program is sponsored by the President’s Committee on the Arts

and the Humanities, National Endowment for

the Humanities, and the NEA, and brings

national attention to these recipients as well as

support for their continued work.

The Biggs Center offers a variety of arts

instruction services that serve not only the children but the parents and community as well.

The Center’s Family Literacy Campaign brings

in storytellers to coax stories from the children;

then, a theater artist works with the children

and their parents on a community performance

based on the stories. This campaign has helped

increase the children’s early reading ability and

encouraged them to see learning as fun. 

The Biggs Center works in other art forms as

well: a potter helps children and parents create

tile murals based on a favorite children’s book;

a photographer teaches children how to use a

camera to understand better the world around

them; and teachers lead students in a survey of

visual artists such as Jackson Pollock, Alexander

Calder, and Marc Chagall, having the children

interpret the different painting styles. 

“I believe some of these children will grow up

to be great artists,” said Dr. Diane Roketenetz,

director of the Biggs Center, “and all of them

will be in a much better position to be

successful.”
Choreographer-inresidence Jill

Eathorne Bahr

teaching students at

the University of

Akron, Ohio during

her participation in

the National College

Choreography

Initiative. Photo by

Jim Manning

44 LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/NATIONAL MILLENNIUM PROJECTS

NATIONAL MILLENNIUM PROJECTS

Over the past few years, the NEA has funded National Millennium Projects to support artistic activities in local communities in all 50 states, increasing public awareness of the nation’s

cultural life. Projects that have been supported under this initiative include LIVE! at the

Library 2000, in collaboration with the American Library Association; The Mars Millennium

Project, an interdisciplinary learning project sponsored in partnership with the U.S.

Department of Education, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and J. Paul

Getty Trust; and the National College Choreography Initiative, in collaboration with the

national dance service organization Dance/USA.

CHOREOGRAPHER-INRESIDENCE SHARES EXPERIENCE

WITH DANCE STUDENTS IN

AKRON, OHIO 

A 1979 graduate of the University of Akron,

Ohio dance program, Jill Eathorne Bahr, now

an award-winning choreographer, returned to

the university in 2001 as a choreographer-inresidence through the NEA National College

Choreography Initiative. Through this program, colleges and universities nationwide bring

in professional dance artists to restage classic

American dance works or create new works for

students. A significant component of the program is the sharing of work with the larger

community beyond the student population

through outreach activities. Grants were awarded to universities in all 50 states and the District

of Columbia.

The University of Akron received a $10,000

grant to support Bahr’s residency and outreach

activities, which included master classes, lectures, and a touring program for area public

schools. Bahr, who is the resident choreographer for the Charleston Ballet Theatre in South

Carolina, has created more than 30 original ballets in her 14 years with the company. In addition, Bahr has worked for the previous 15 summers at Boston Ballet teaching young dancers. 

Bahr brought her breadth of experience and

knowledge to the students of the university’s

dance program, which has been rated as one of

the top 28 dance programs in the United States

by Dance Spirit magazine. She made it clear to

the students that the only way to succeed in

dance with so much competition is through

hard work and strong motivation, and worked

with them on a presentation for March 2002.

Bahr presented her work Foxtrot Circa 1990, a

ballet for 11 dancers set to the music of noted

composer John Adams. The piece updates the

foxtrot dance of the 1940s to evoke the excitement of a generation whose expression of freedom was exemplified through the dance. 
LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/NEW PUBLIC WORKS 45

Eric Owen Moss

Architects’ winning

design for the new

Queens Museum of

Art with an

amphitheater covered by a cascading

glass façade. Design

courtesy of Eric

Owen Moss

Architects

NEW PUBLIC WORKS

The New Public Works initiative provided $490,000 in grants to ten organizations to help

fund national design competitions that will result in a range of public projects from schools

to housing to parks. The NEA’s support helps to defray the costs of running these national

competitions, including funding for honoraria to participating designers and jurors. The

winning projects will develop the highest quality of design for these community structures,

involving landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, and industrial design.

QUEENS MUSEUM OF ART

UNDERGOES EXPANSION WITH

NEA HELP

The New York City Department of Design and

Construction was awarded an NEA New Public

Works grant of $50,000 to support a two-stage

open design competition for an expansion of the

Queens Museum of Art. The New York City

Department of Cultural Affairs and the Queens

Museum of Art are partners in this project. 

The Queens Museum of Art was founded in

1972 and is dedicated to presenting high quality

visual arts and educational programming for the

citizens of New York, particularly residents of

Queens. The museum is located in the New

York City Building, which is the only surviving

building from both the 1939 and 1964 World’s

Fairs. Currently, half of the building is used as a

skating rink; the proposed project will relocate

the skating rink and utilize this space to expand

the museum, doubling its size. The expansion

will allow the museum to host many different

kinds of art and educational programming and

permit larger audiences for its exhibits. The

museum serves more than 200,000 persons a

year.

Although the NYC Department of Design and

Construction previously has been responsible

for award-winning and ambitious work, the

NEA-funded competition was an opportunity

to reach new architectural talent outside the

department’s existing resources. In the first

phase of competition, individuals or teams were

invited to submit conceptual proposals for innovative approaches to the museum’s expansion.

After the finalists were selected, a symposium

was staged for the competitors to meet with and

listen to community groups, parks officials, and

the museum staff. In the second phase, selected

finalists received a stipend to develop their

proposal into a design. The entries from both

phases of the competition will be exhibited by

the museum.

The winning design was proposed by California

firm Eric Owen Moss Architects. In transforming the museum building into a 100,000-squarefoot visual and performing arts complex, Moss

plans on replacing the middle third of the

building with an amphitheater covered by a

cascading glass façade. 
46 LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/OTHER INITIATIVES

O THER INITIATIVES

The NEA supported additional Leadership Initiatives during FY 2001, such as JazzNet, a

collaboration of the Arts Endowment, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Nonprofit

Facilities Fund to further jazz creation, presentation, and education; and the Arts Education

Partnership, a national coalition of education, arts, business, philanthropic, and government

organizations that demonstrates and promotes the essential role of arts education in schools.

More examples include:

SESAME STREET MUSIC WORKS

CREATORS OF SESAME STREET

PRESENT MULTIMEDIA PROGRAM

FOR PRESCHOOL MUSICAL

EDUCATION

Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit educational

organization best known as the creators of the

immensely popular educational television program Sesame Street, received a $25,000 NEA

Leadership Initiative grant in FY 2001 to create

Sesame Street Music Works, a multimedia educational program designed to provide parents,

early childhood professionals, music educators,

and music therapists with tools and activities to

bring music to life for young children.

This program includes a free toolkit and an

interactive Web site to help children to create,

explore, and learn through music. The kit—

which has been distributed to more than 65,000

educational organizations and homes in nearly

every state—includes a 25-minute video featuring Muppet characters learning the joys of

music-making; a guide with instructions for

making simple instruments, learning activities,

and information on music in child development;

and a colorful poster. All the materials in the

toolkit are in both English and Spanish.

The program’s Web site, www.

sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/music/,

includes a section on pre-school development

and music with age-appropriate musical activities, and the Sesame Music Zone, which offers

interactive educational games in four thematic

areas led by Sesame Street characters.

Sesame Workshop is evaluating the use of the

material by parents, educators, and children,

and the extent to which their attitudes toward

music and the arts have increased or improved. 

Additional partners in this initiative include

NAMM – the International Music Products

Association, MENC: the National Association

for Music Education, and the Texaco

Foundation. 

A guide with instructions for making simple

instruments, learning activities, and information

on music in child development is included in the

Sesame Street Music Works toolkit in both

English and Spanish. Image courtesy of Sesame

Workshop
LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/OTHER INITIATIVES 47

VISUAL ARTISTS FELLOWSHIP ARCHIVE

NEA AND SMITHSONIAN

INSTITUTION CREATE ARCHIVE

OF VISUAL ARTISTS FELLOWSHIP

PROGRAM

Beginning in 1998, the NEA partnered with the

Smithsonian American Art Museum to create an

electronic archive that documents the history,

artists, and awards of the NEA’s Visual Artists

Fellowship Program. The Visual Artists

Fellowships, along with all other competitive

individual grants (except the Creative Writing

Fellowships), were eliminated by Congress in

1996. The documenting of the Arts

Endowment’s pre-1996 fellowship program

presents a history of the visual arts in America

in the latter part of the 20th century for use by

researchers, scholars, and others interested in

the arts. In FY 2001, the NEA provided

$150,085 for the project.

From 1966 to 1995, 6,500 fellowships were

awarded to approximately 5,000 artists in the

disciplines of painting, sculpture, crafts, works

on paper, photography, printmaking, video, performance art, installation work, and other visual

art forms. Many of the most influential and critically acclaimed American artists of this period

received a fellowship, some early in their

careers, giving them crucial incentive and timely

opportunities to grow professionally. Museum

staff, working with the NEA Visual Arts staff,

compiled information and obtained work samples from all the fellowship awardees. 

The archive contains brief biographical information on each artist who received an NEA

Visual Artists Fellowship (whether directly from

the NEA or through one of the regional arts

organizations), digital images of the artworks

submitted with grant applications, and factual

information about the award (such as date,

amount, category of award). The archive is

available online at the Smithsonian American

Art Museum in Washington, DC.

Corresponding with the archive, a 256-page

coffee-table book was published in 2001 by

Harry N. Abrams, Inc. on the Visual Artists

Fellowship Program. A Creative Legacy: A

History of the National Endowment for the Arts

Visual Artists Fellowship Program includes 293

illustrations with 100 plates in full color, offering a broad sampling of the high quality work

by a number of artists who received grants.

Narrative essays on the history of the program,

as well as listing of all fellowship awardees and

application review panelists, are also included. 

Contemplating the View at Muley Point, Utah (1994) by Mark Klett,

who received Visual Arts Fellowships in 1980, 1982, and 1984 for his

photography.
48 LEADERSHIP INITIATIVES/OTHER INITIATIVES 

Black Gowns (1994) by

Beverly Semmes, who

received Visual Arts

Fellowships in 1991 and

1994 for her fabric

sculptures. Photo by

Charles DuPrat, Paris
The Office of Policy Research & Analysis (OPRA) supports the Chairman and NEA staff with statistical and other information about the agency’s applications and awards, including grantee and applicant profiles, the distribution of awards by state and artistic discipline, and analysis of overall trends

in NEA funding. The Office’s Research Division issues periodic reports on larger issues affecting

artists and arts organizations that are distributed to Congress, the arts community, and the public.

These reports and analyses help shape changes in the NEA’s grantmaking policies. 

One of OPRA’s projects is a geographic database that provides a comprehensive picture of the broad

reach of NEA-supported activities. In FY 2001, the Endowment awarded approximately 2,100 grants

and other awards. Through touring and outreach activities in communities beyond grantee homebase locations, these grants resulted in approximately 8,300 additional activities in 3,900 different

communities.

In 2001, the Research Division continued to support work on several major projects to improve the

quantity and quality of data and analyses on the condition and needs of individual artists, arts organizations, and arts audiences.

One research project on individual artists, conducted by the Research Center for Arts and Culture at

Columbia University, is a study of jazz artists in four U.S. cities: Detroit, New Orleans, New York,

and San Francisco. The study included two surveys—first, a telephone survey of a random sample of

members of the American Federation of Musicians (totaling 2,500) in the four cities, and second,

personal interviews with jazz musicians. This project will provide a context for how the jazz community is organized in each of the targeted cities, the condition of jazz artists in each location, the

resources and support systems employed in each site, and the challenges faced by the jazz artists in

each city. It also will provide a detailed needs assessment from jazz artists themselves. The results

will be highlighted on the NEA Web site and published in 2002.

In the arts organization study area, the Division is supporting new studies that examine trends in

nonprofit dance companies and theaters. These studies utilize two newly available data sources on

arts organizations: the 1997 Economic Census and the first version of the Unified Database on Arts

Organizations (UDAO). The Economic Census was obtained through the U.S. Census Bureau and

the UDAO was produced in conjunction with the Urban Institute and the National Assembly of

State Arts Agencies. Information from both will be compared and analyzed in order to provide an

overview of trends in dance and theater. The dance study will be available in the fall of 2002 and the

theater study in the spring of 2003.

POLICY RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

POLICY RESEARCH & ANALYSIS 49
SUMMARY OF FUNDS AVAILABLE1 FY 2001

Program and State Grant Funds2 $79,749,165

Challenge America 6,984,600

Total Federal Appropriations 86,733,765

Nonfederal Gifts3 249,211

Interagency Transfers3 4,909,000

Unobligated Balance, Prior Year3 2,353,982

TOTAL FUNDS AVAILABLE $94,245,958

SUMMARY OF FUNDS OBLIGATED 

Challenge America

Positive Alternatives for Youth $ 1,735,000

Community Arts Development 1,470,000

State Partnership Agreements 2,793,840

Leadership Initiatives 900,000

Grants to Organizations

Creativity 16,324,500

Education 5,854,000

Access 4,298,500

Heritage/Preservation 3,525,500

Organizational Capacity4 5,471,000

Arts on Radio & Television 3,020,000

Individual Fellowships

Literature Fellowships 800,000

American Jazz Masters Fellowships 60,000

National Heritage Fellowships 120,000

State & Regional Partnership Agreements5 33,333,991

Save America’s Treasures 1,330,000

Leadership Initiatives

AccessAbility 392,000

Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure Initiative 800,000

International Exchanges 665,000

National Millennium Projects 896,128

New Public Works 490,000

Other Initiatives (including Interagency Partnerships) 8,345,643

TOTAL FUNDS OBLIGATED6 $92,625,102

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

50 FINANCIAL SUMMARY

1 Excludes salaries and

expenses and program

support funds.

2 The FY 2001

appropriation includes

$25,117,619 for support

of state arts agencies and

regional arts organizations and $6,804,996

for support through the

underserved communities set-aside. 

3 Only grantmaking

funds, including unobligated commitments

totaling $1,042,856.

4 Includes $3,099,000

that was used for the

Resources for Change

grants.

5 Includes four awards to

the National Assembly of

State Arts Agencies for

activities providing services to the field.

6 Program obligations

reflect FY 2001 transactions and in some cases

may differ from final

allocations due to variations in the obligations of

prior year funds or

receipts of gifts and

funds from other agencies. 
FISCAL YEARS 1966 – 2001

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

Fiscal Year Total Funds

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

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

* In 1976, the Federal government changed the beginning

of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1, hence the 1976

Transition (T) Quarter.

APPROPRIATIONS HISTORY

APPROPRIATIONS HISTORY 51
CREDITS

2001 Annual Report published by:

National Endowment for the Arts

Office of Communications

Mark D. Weinberg, Director

Don Ball, Editor

August 2002

With thanks to Arts Endowment staff for their

assistance, and to grantees for their photographs

and information. 

Designed by:

Marketing Ahead, McLean, VA

FRONT COVER PHOTOS:

Background left: Emma Kibler as Joan LaPucelle in

Mt. Greylock Regional High School’s Henry VI, Part

One, as part of Shakespeare & Company’s

Shakespeare in Action program, supported by an

NEA FY01 Education grant. Photo by Kevin Sprague

Background right: Katrina Valentine participates in

Tohono O’odham Community Action’s traditional

basketweaving classes, supported by an NEA FY01

Heritage/Preservation grant. Photo by Bruce Hucko

Small photos, counterclockwise from top:

American Jazz Masters Fellowship awardee Frank

Foster. Photo by Steve T. Sherman

Jessica Cressey of Dancing People Company at the

International Festival of Modern Choreography in

Belarus through the NEA-supported Fund for U.S.

Artists at International Festival and Exhibitions. Photo

by Vladimir Bazan

Student Sarah Shin learning to play the violin

through the California State University at

Sacramento’s participation in the String Project,

supported by an NEA FY01 Education grant.

Photo courtesy of ASTA with NSOA

Untitled sandstone sculpture by Alabama artist

Lonnie Holley, whose residency at Space One Eleven

was supported by an NEA FY01 Creativity grant.

Photo courtesy of Space One Eleven

Voice/TTY: (202) 682-5496

For individuals who are deaf or hard-ofhearing.

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

National Endowment for the Arts

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20506-0001

(202) 682-5400

This annual report, as well as all grant and panel

information for FY 2001, can be accessed electronically at the NEA Web site: www.arts.gov.

This publication was printed on recycled paper.

?
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20506-0001

www.arts.gov