FY15 NEA Grants to Orchestras

May 18, 2015, Washington, D.C.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded 102 grants to orchestras through the Grants for Arts Projects categories in FY2015, totaling $2,692,500. In FY15 orchestras directly received NEA grant support through Challenge America and Art Works in the discipline categories of music, arts education, and media arts. Awards to all arts disciplines through the NEA’s largest grant categories – Art Works and Challenge America – numbered 2,040 and totaled $53,800,000 million.

In addition to the grants awarded through the Grants for Arts Projects categories, FY2015 funding supports the following:

• Congress requires that 40% of NEA grant funds be made available directly to the states; $48.7 million has been awarded through Partnership Grants to state and regional arts agencies.  Orchestras, in turn, benefit from grants at the state and local level.
• The NEA awarded $300,000 in Research Grants in FY2015.
• Additional FY2015 grants include awards for National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards and the NEA also allocates funds to national initiatives, such as the NEA/ Walter Reed Healing Arts Partnership, Our Town, the Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, literature fellowships, and other programs. Complete information about NEA national initiatives is available on the NEA website.

Below is a list of grants to orchestras and for programs related to the orchestra field. Complete lists of grant amounts and project descriptions for awards in all disciplines may be found on the NEA web site, arts.gov.

• Art Works (Part 1)
• Art Works (Part 2)
• Challenge America