FY17 Art Works (Part 2)

Grants to Orchestras

Application Deadline of July 14, 2016
Award Announced June 14, 2016

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

American Youth Symphony, $15,000
To support a concert with related educational activities. In collaboration with Human Rights Watch, Los Angeles, the project will include a multimedia concert of symphonic music, projected images, and testimonials read by members of Human Rights Watch’s student taskforce. Educational activities may include a pre-concert symposium by Music Director Carlos Izcaray, a musicologist, and experts from Human Rights Watch.

Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, $15,000
To support Young People’s Concerts. In an effort to encourage participation in school instrumental music programs, concerts will be performed for elementary school students. Working in collaboration with Anchorage School District music educators, the orchestra will create study materials for classroom instructors. Teacher workshops also will be offered to prepare students for the concert experience.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, $35,000
To support the LB/LB Celebration, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s performance project celebrating the centenary of American composer Leonard Bernstein’s birth (1918-1990). Programming will focus on examining two composers of the 19th and 20th centuries-German composer Ludwig van Beethoven and American composer Leonard Bernstein. Directed by Music Director Robert Spano, the project will feature concert programs with works by Bernstein which will be paired with complementary works by Beethoven. Among guest artists participating in the performances will be American baritone Thomas Hampson, vocalist Jamie Bernstein (Bernstein’s daughter), and pianist Jonathan Bliss. Repertoire will include works such as Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “Serenade,” and “Candide,” as well as Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5, “Missa Solemnis,” and Symphony No. 3.

Austin Symphony, $25,000
To support Connecting with Music, an interdisciplinary learning initiative for high school students. Focusing on the theme-Overcoming Adversity-the initiative will be an examination of the nature of resilience as it influences and is expressed through music. Project plans may include training for teachers and musician teaching artists, in-school workshops by teaching artists, and concerts for high school students. Chosen for thematic appropriateness, repertoire may include selections from the symphonies of Beethoven and Shostakovich, “D’un matin de printemps (Of the Spring Morning)” by Lili Boulanger, Korngold’s “Captain Blood Overture,” and the “Festival Coronation March for Alexander III” by Tchaikovsky.

Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support Rhythm: The Motion of Music, performances at various venues by the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. Plans include a celebration of the relationship between music and motion. Works to be performed may include Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite,” John Adams’ “Short Ride in a Fast Machine,” Thomas Cabaniss’ “Drumlines,” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story.” Educational activities may include a Young Peoples Discovery Concert, and workshops.

Berkeley Symphony, $15,000 
To support the Music in the Schools initiative. Project plans will include classroom visits by musicians, curriculum guides for teachers, school concerts with students rehearsing and performing side-by-side with orchestra musicians, and family concerts. The orchestra staff will work in collaboration with Berkeley Unified School District music teachers and staff to plan overall themes, select repertoire, and ensure the initiative aligns with state and national educational standards.

Boston Landmarks Orchestra, $10,000
To support a production of the musical “West Side Story.” A fully staged production will be presented in collaboration with the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in the summer of 2017. Students from the Boston Conservatory and Boston Public Schools will participate and activities will culminate in a free performance on the Boston Common to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the musical’s Broadway debut. Education and outreach activities leading up to the performance will engage Boston’s urban communities in a citywide discussion surrounding the musical’s themes of gang violence and cultural divides.

Boston Modern Orchestra Project, $20,000
To support recording and post-production costs for a compact disc of orchestral works by an American composer. The recording will feature works by composer David Del Tredici and will be released on the orchestra’s BMOP/sound record label. Repertoire may include Del Tredici’s “Child Alice” (1977-81).

California Symphony, $15,000 
To support the Sound Minds program. The El Sistema-inspired program will provide after-school music instruction to low-income students in the second through sixth grades. Plans include classes in choral music, musicianship, rhythm, violin or cello instruction, and academic enrichment. High school music students will mentor those in the program by sharing their experiences as young string musicians. Musicians in the symphony will offer a master class as well as a side-by-side rehearsal. The program will culminate in a community concert featuring classical, folk, and popular works with singing in both Spanish and English.

Charlotte Symphony, $12,500
To support a performance of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” with related educational activities. In collaboration with the Charlotte Ballet, as many as 80 middle school non-dance students will dance the work along with professional ballet dancers. Performances will take place at Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center as well as in area high schools. Educational activities may include lectures on the work’s controversial premiere performance in 1913. In addition, teacher’s guides and supplemental materials including pre- and post-concert lessons and cross-curricular activities will be developed for classrooms.

Chicago Philharmonic, $12,000
To support the Side-by-Side concert series. Presented in Chicago Parks as part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks initiative, the series will feature orchestra performances in culturally underserved communities. Local music students and community musicians will be invited to rehearse and perform alongside the Philharmonic.

Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, $10,000
To support the Stained Glass Series of community concerts in churches performed by the Dayton Philharmonic. The Sunday afternoon free concerts will feature the orchestra in performance with the host church’s choir and, where appropriate, local soloists and guest artists. Programming may include a work from the standard orchestral repertoire including works by composers of African and African-American origin interspersed with choral and gospel pieces.

DC Youth Orchestra Program, $15,000
To support the Children’s Orchestra, an after-school string orchestra program for D.C. public school students in Title I elementary schools. At no cost to the students or the school, teaching artists will provide as many as two hours of instrumental music instruction three times each week through group lessons and string orchestra rehearsals. The project has served two schools and is expanding to a third school. In addition, the project will include side-by-side performances and master classes with professional musicians, such as those from the National Symphony Orchestra, and the opportunity to perform in professional concert venues, such as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and THEARC.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra, $50,000
To support a series of performances. Scheduled to take place during the annual conference of the League of American Orchestras, the concert will be webcast live and feature the works by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Mason Bates, Mohammed Fairouz, and Jonathan Bailey Holland. Project plans also include a performance in the Mix at the Max series by musician Shigeto, who creates a blend of electronic, jazz, and hip-hop music.

Eugene Symphony, $15,000
To support American Encounters: Augusta Read Thomas. The week-long residencies will include performances of Thomas’s recent compositions, the West Coast premiere of a co-commission with Chicago Philharmonic, radio broadcasts on KWAX-FM, and educational activities led by the composer for public school and college students. The co-commissioned work for percussion and orchestra will feature Third Coast Percussion and will be preceded by a joint residency by Thomas and guest ensemble.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, $20,000
To support a touring program. Concerts and educational programs will take place in rural communities in Texas that are more than 100 miles from a professional orchestra such as Brownwood, Glen Rose, Graham, Killeen, Lufkin, Mansfield, Mesquite, and Waxahachie. In preparation of the educational concerts for youth, teachers will receive curriculum materials. 

Grant Park Music Festival, $30,000
To support the Grant Park Music Festival. The free summer festival will take place in Millennium Park-in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the Harris Theater for Music and Dance-and at venues throughout Chicago. Performances will feature the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus as well as guest artists. Through the educational program Festival Connect, activities will include open rehearsals, pre-concert lectures, mentorship opportunities for pre-professional musicians, and a Young Artists Showcase by student ensembles. Several concerts will be broadcast live on WFMT-FM.

Houston Symphony, $20,000
To support the Community-Embedded Musicians program. Select symphony musicians who are trained as teaching artists will lead the program in a variety of education and community settings. The musicians will provide in-depth activities in schools, neighborhood centers, hospitals, and other non-traditional venues. They also will work with other symphony musicians in the existing Community Connections program, providing year-long instrumental coaching, student performance opportunities, and activities in a children’s hospital.

Houston Youth Symphony, $10,000
To support Houston Youth Symphony’s Coda Music Program, serving Title I schools in Houston Independent School District. The project is inspired by El Sistema, Venezuela’s youth orchestra movement supporting social change through music. Elementary students will receive after-school group instruction from professional music educators, learning violin, viola, cello, or bass. Instruments are provided free-of-charge along with dedicated time for a nutritious snack and academic tutoring as needed. One Saturday each month, students from the partner schools will come together for a local “seminario,” a component of El Sistema programs where family and community are invited to a rehearsal or performance. The project aligns with Houston’s Arts Access Initiative which is an action plan to provide students with equitable access to arts education across the school system. Members of the Houston Youth Symphony orchestra program will be included as volunteer mentors.

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, $25,000
To support the Lunch Break Series by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The series will comprise midday concerts lasting less than an hour with the goal of introducing new audiences to the symphonic art form. Repertoire will feature a variety of classical works and patriotic favorites in the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis.

The Knights, $25,000
To support a national touring performance project by The Knights. The orchestral collective will perform a range of repertoire, from early music to contemporary works by composers such as John Adams and Thomas Ades, as well as transcriptions of original music from Middle Eastern, Balkan, and klezmer sources. Community engagement programs, such as conversations, class visits, open rehearsals, side-by-side workshops, and master classes, will be incorporated alongside performances. Venues will range from outdoor parks and summer music festivals to university auditoriums in states such as California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Ohio.

Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support Sound Discovery, a community engagement program. Plans include open rehearsals, Music Discovery Performances for high school students, and an instrument-lending program. Other project activities will include a program offering free concert tickets for families, instrument petting zoos for elementary school students, master classes for students in high schools and universities, and student ensemble performances.

The Little Orchestra Society, $15,000
To support Musical Connections, an in-school music composition residency program. Throughout the school year, teaching artists will lead in-class sessions through which elementary students learn the fundamental building blocks of music. Students also will be engaged in hands-on music-making and composition activities. Participating classes will attend dress rehearsals or performances of a concert series as well as additional pre- and post-concert workshops, connecting the process of composing with live orchestral music. The program will include professional development workshops for classroom and music teachers as well as workshops for parents. Near the end of each residency, there are celebration events in which professional musicians perform the students’ works-in-progress for an audience of families, teachers, and administrators.

Los Angeles Philharmonic, $90,000
To support the Mexico City Festival. Project plans will include orchestral, jazz, world, and popular music concerts; multidisciplinary collaborations; and lectures. The festival will explore the interconnections between American cultures and will include the performance of a new work by composer Gabriela Ortiz. Programming will include a semi-staged performance of composer Gavin Bryars’ “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet” with staging by “Birdman” film director Alejandro G. Inarritu. Associated educational activities may include Mexico City-themed family concerts as well as Upbeat Live!, a pre-concert series which provides audiences with information about the music.

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, $15,000
To support a commission for a new concerto for banjo and orchestra by banjo player and composer Bela Fleck. In celebration of New Orleans’ 300th anniversary, the new work will be performed in New Orleans and in a surrounding community. Educational activities may include a pre-concert talk by the composer, programs with music composition students at local schools, a master class, a reading of student compositions, an open rehearsal of the new banjo concerto, and a family concert.

Madison Symphony Orchestra, $16,000
To support HeartStrings, a music therapy-informed community engagement project. The orchestra’s Rhapsodie String Quartet, with the training and participation of certified therapists, will offer residency programs and perform interactive recitals for underserved and special needs communities. Locations will include healthcare facilities, retirement communities, and state-run institutions throughout Dane County, Wisconsin.

Mercury Chamber Orchestra, $10,000
To support a performance project by the Mercury Chamber Orchestra. The chamber orchestra will present a multimedia project featuring the music of a circle of Romantic era composers such as Clara Wieck Schumann, Robert Schumann, Friedrich Wieck (Clara Schumann’s father), and friend and colleague Johannes Brahms. The programming will weave spoken word and projected visuals with the performances of their music works. The project will explore the lives and relationships of the artists and will be expanded by historical photographs and personal correspondence. The concert will be held at the Wortham Center’s Cullen Theater in downtown Houston.

Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, $12,000
To support an orchestral program for youth. The Progressions program will provide free music education, private lessons, and performance opportunities for children from underserved communities who live in or attend school in the City of Milwaukee. The project will include jazz improvisation classes and a three-day intensive summer music camp. One of the program’s primary goals is acceptance into the audition-based ensembles of the orchestra as students graduate from the program.

Mobile Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support Mobile Symphony Orchestras’s Young People’s Concerts. Programming will feature an adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” with Music Director Scott Speck. Tailoring the classic tale to the Alabama Gulf Coast, the wolf may be a native Alabama animal such as an alligator. Educational study guides and programs will be presented in elementary schools in Mobile and Baldwin Counties. The concerts will be presented during the school day for more than 3,000 elementary schoolchildren.

New York Philharmonic, $40,000
To support the New York Philharmonic’s Philharmonic Schools program, a music education program in New York City public schools. The program will engage elementary students at partner schools through year-long, in-school residencies. Students will build skills and knowledge in music through structured listening activities, playing recorders and percussion, and participating in group music composition. Participants will have the opportunity to attend in-school Teaching Artist Ensemble performances as well as a Young People’s Concert for Schools at Lincoln Center. Philharmonic teaching artists will design and deliver the program in close collaboration with classroom teachers, who will receive extensive professional development and curriculum resources.

New York Philharmonic, $35,000
To support YPC Global, an interactive online platform for the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts. Designed for both home and classroom use, YPC Global includes concerts from previous seasons, video demonstrations from YPC instructors, classroom guides, and interactive features that allow users to develop a deeper understanding of the music being performed. Intended for ages six to eighteen, the platform is available for free on the New York Philharmonic website to audiences across the United States.

New York Philharmonic, $30,000
To support the weekly public radio broadcast, “The New York Philharmonic This Week.” Hosted by Alec Baldwin, the program will feature performances, intermission segments, and interviews with Maestro van Zweden, composers, scholars, and guest artists and conductors. The broadcasts will reflect the New York Philharmonic’s commitment to both contemporary works and historic masterpieces and feature works from such artists as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Leonard Bernstein. In addition, previous broadcasts, live performances, and program notes will be available for free on the Philharmonic’s Watch & Listen website.

Oakland Symphony, $10,000
To support the commissioning of a new work by composer Chris Brubeck to be premiered by the Oakland Symphony with related educational activities. The new work will be a concerto for low brass (trombones and tuba) and orchestra. The composer, also a trombone player, is the son of the late NEA Jazz Master Dave Brubeck. In the weeks preceding the premiere, a preview program, part of the symphony’s Essentials series, will take place featuring the brass soloists in performance at a non-traditional venue.
 

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, $40,000
To support a performance touring project. During a national tour, the chamber orchestra will present diverse programming and be joined by guest artists such as pianist Andre Watts, violinist Lisa Batiashvili, cellist Truls Mork, and trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth. Orchestra musicians will conduct in-school classroom visits at partner public schools throughout the tour. The project will engage audiences through live performances in states such as Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and Nebraska.
 

The Philadelphia Orchestra, $75,000
To support the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Free Neighborhood Concerts and a community composer residency program. Through its Engaging Diverse Communities and Musicians project, the orchestra will perform free neighborhood concerts including the orchestra’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert and a surprise “Pop-up” concert. In addition, community choral groups will join the orchestra in performing “Voice of Philadelphia,” a new work by American composer Tod Machover with contributions from singers of all ages and skill levels. Commissioned in partnership with the Knight Foundation, the work will be conducted by Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Also planned is a composer residency by Hannibal Lokumbe and the Philadelphia Orchestra String Quartet titled “Healing Tones” in sites throughout the city.

Portland Youth Philharmonic, $10,000
To support a performance of “Voices of Light” by Richard Einhorn. The project will feature the 1994 work for instrumentalists and vocalists by composer Richard Einhorn to accompany Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent film “The Passion of Joan of Arc.” The performance will be presented at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland as part of Northwest Film Center’s 2018 Reel Music Festival. The Portland premiere will mark the 90th anniversary of the release of Dreyer’s classic film and the 94^th season of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Collaborators will include Northwest Film Center (NWFC), the professional vocal ensemble In Mulieribus, professional vocal soloists, Portland State University choirs, and Portland Youth Philharmonic’s chamber orchestra Camerata PYP. Portland Youth Philharmonic and NWFC plan complementary lectures and community events prior to and after the performance.

Post-Classical Ensemble, $30,000
To support a performance and community engagement project. The project will include performances, a film, an art exhibition, and educational events. Conducted by Music Director Angel Gil-Ordonez, directed by Artistic Director Joseph Horowitz, and planned in consultation with Vladimir Feltsman, programming will explore Russian music concurrent with the Russian Revolution of 1917. Repertoire will include works by Russian composers of the 1920s. In addition, the orchestra will perform works by contemporary Russian composer Victor Kissine (b. 1953), who will participate in the project. The performances, lectures, and community events will be held at several venues around Washington, D.C.
 

Richmond Symphony, $10,000
To support a community engagement project. The orchestra and Music Director Steven Smith will present its Engaging New Audiences Through Big Tent Festivals project using a mobile performance space. Multi-day festival performances will be presented free-of-charge in neighborhood parks in Richmond. Venues will include Joseph Bryan Park in the city’s north side and Brown’s Island, adjacent to the James River.
 

Rockford Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support Leonard Bernstein at 100, a music festival celebrating the centenary of American composer Leonard Bernstein. Programming will include the composer’s orchestral, choral, chamber, vocal, opera, and musical theater works. Archival recordings of Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, Harvard lectures, and documentaries may be presented with the collaboration of the Leonard Bernstein Center. Among the works that will be performed will be “On the Town,” “Serenade” with the Rockford Dance Company, and concert music performed by the Rockford Wind Ensemble. Other project partners may include Rockford University, Rockford Public Library, and the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center.
 

San Diego Youth Symphony, $45,000
To support an effort to expand access to music education for Chula Vista public school students. A communitywide initiative of the San Diego Youth Symphony’s Community Opus Project, the project will build on existing successes in developing long-term sustainability for in-school music instruction. Students will participate in after-school orchestra, band, and chamber music instruction with multiple opportunities to perform for the community. A conservatory program provides many of the students a chance to work with guest conductors and artists, and a pilot summer music program is planned for 2018. With project partners Chula Vista Elementary School District, Sweetwater Union High School District, and the VH-1 Save the Music Foundation, the symphony has created an opportunity to bolster public school music education in the district.
 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, $15,000
To support an educational community engagement project. Very First Concerts will be presented for toddlers and very young audiences and their families. Family Concerts will include the Side-by-Side program in which young pre-professional musicians participate in master classes and perform with the orchestra musicians in concert. Performances under the direction of Music Director Benjamin Simon will be offered free-of-charge at the Crowden Music Center and other venues, such as public libraries, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 

Santa Cecilia Orchestra, $10,000
To support Discovering Music, an educational and community engagement project. Directed by Artistic Director Sonia Marie De Leon, the project will feature orchestral performances and educational programs at venues ranging from elementary schools to community centers. Discovering Music will introduce children to classical music through concerts and string instruction. The neighborhood concerts will enable families to join their children in a shared musical experience. Founded in 1993, the organization brings orchestral music to new audiences in underserved communities in Los Angeles.
 

Santa Fe Pro Musica, $10,000
To support a performance project featuring the Santa Fe Pro Musica (SFPM) Orchestra and the SFPM Baroque Ensemble. Concert programs will be directed by Music Director Thomas O’Connor and may include chamber and orchestral repertoire such as Beethoven’s Piano Concertos No. 1 and 5 with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. Performances will be preceded by conversations with O’Connor. Venues will include the Lensic Performing Arts Center and Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe.
 

Sarasota Orchestra, $10,000
To support the Sarasota Music Festival. The Sarasota Orchestra will present the residential training festival for college music students. Plans for the festival include individual and ensemble training, coaching, and mentoring from the faculty of instructors, scholars, and orchestra musicians. Performance opportunities will consist of weekly orchestra concerts, student chamber recitals, and chamber concerts featuring faculty alone as well as together with students.
 

Symphoria, $10,000
To support Connecting Kids with Classical Music, a community music education and engagement project. Symphoria will bring orchestra musicians into classrooms with ensemble performances. Maximizing the learning experience with different ensembles, full orchestra concerts will be performed in schools throughout the region during the academic year. The orchestra will partner with music educators in elementary, middle, and high schools in several school districts of the Central New York region.
 

Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, $15,000
To support activities of the Tallahassee Symphony Jazz Orchestra. The orchestra’s 50-piece big band and strings ensemble TSO Jazz aims at re-creating the sounds of the Glen Miller and Tommy Dorsey orchestras by performing a program featuring both traditional and modern big band standards.
 

Tanglewood Music Center, $50,000
To support the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood Music Center. The festival, curated by Tanglewood alumni Kathryn Bates, Jacob Greenberg, and Nadia Sirota, will feature chamber music and orchestral performances by resident musicians and guest artists. Each of the curator’s selections will reflect their musical influences and interests.
 

Vermont Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support the 22nd annual Made In Vermont Music Festival Tour, a performance touring project in underserved rural communities. The orchestra will present concert programs and educational outreach activities and will include the commissioning and premiere performances of a new work by native Vermont composer Paul Dedell. The composer will join Music Director Jaime Laredo and orchestra musicians in engaging high school and college students and members of each community in engagement activities, such as the Green Room Program, workshops, and public lectures.
 

Virginia Symphony Orchestra, $15,000
To support a commissioning and performance project by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will premiere a new work by American composer Michael Daugherty-concerto for orchestra, “Steel, Smoke, Stars and Steam.” The Grammy Award-winning composer will draw inspiration from the 1950s black-and-white photographs of railways, trains and industry by American photographer O. Winston Link (1914-2001). A commercial photographer, Link helped establish rail photography as a hobby and pioneered night photography. In addition to orchestral performances, programming will include forums hosted by representatives from the Virginia Museum of Transportation and the O. Winston Link Museum, both located in Roanoke, Virginia.
 

West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, $15,000
To support a statewide touring and community engagement project. The orchestra, under the leadership of Artistic Advisor and Conductor Grant Cooper, will introduce orchestral and chamber music to new audiences throughout West Virginia, as well as present educational programming in schools. Programming may include Young People’s Concerts, as well as master classes and chamber music concerts by the orchestra’s musicians and guest artists. Concerts and events will be presented in rural and small towns in West Virginia, such as Beckley, Elkins, Fairmont, Hinton, Lewisburg, Parkersburg, Summersville, and Morgantown.
 

Wheeling Symphony, $10,000
To support a performance and community engagement touring project. The orchestra, with Music Director Andre Raphel, will perform Young People’s Concerts in schools, as well as conduct teacher workshops and distribute educational materials. Programming will include Orchestra from Planet X, an innovative production featuring the Magic Circle Mime Company, as well as orchestral works by American composers such as Aaron Copland, Louis Moreau Gottshalk, Leroy Anderson, and Morton Gould. The project will serve children and their families in communities near Wheeling and Glen Dale, West Virginia; Steubenville, Ohio; and Washington, Pennsylvania. 

Related Art Works, Part 2 Grants

Act One, $10,000
To support the Field Trip Program and related activities. Students from Title I schools will experience arts learning opportunities through educational field trips. Tickets will be provided to a performance or exhibition and teachers will be equipped with teaching guides to prepare the students prior to the event. The program will be provide an opportunity for partnering arts organizations, such as the Phoenix Symphony and Ballet Arizona, to build new audiences.
 

American Festival for the Arts, $15,000
To support Summer Music Conservatory, a music education program for students from the greater Houston area. For several weeks during the summer, professional musicians and music educators will provide instruction in strings, piano, choir, wind and brass instruments, and music composition. Students will participate in large ensembles, chamber or small ensembles, individual coaching sessions, and musicianship classes. In summer 2017, the program will expand to include elementary level piano and orchestra. Conservatory faculty and guest conductors will ensure students gain skills and knowledge in music as well as learn the value of teamwork, discipline, motivation, and leadership. Students are selected through an audition process, and scholarships are widely available.
 

Aspen Music Festival and School, $30,000
To support Aspen Music Festival and School’s music education and engagement project. The year-long AfterWorks educational programming has been designed to supplement public school music education during and after the school day. The Teaching for Our Future project will engage additional teachers to provide music instruction for students in elementary and middle schools of the Roaring Fork Valley. Lessons, after-school classes, and master classes will be offered in instrument and voice study through courses such as Beginning Strings, Lead Guitar, and Maroon Bel Canto Children’s Chorus.
 

Association of California Symphony Orchestras, $15,000
To support professional leadership development and technical assistance programs for California orchestras. Plans include an annual statewide conference. The programmatic theme for the conference will focus on diversity and engagement.
 

Cabrillo Music Festival, $25,000
To support the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Under the direction of newly named Music Director and Conductor Cristian Macelaru, the festival orchestra will perform music by living composers. Festival concerts will be held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Other activities will include chamber music concerts, composers-in-residence, and a workshop for conductors and composers. Past composers-in-residence have included Anna Clyne, John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, and Jennifer Higdon, among many others. Featured programming will include the commissioning and world premiere of a new work by composer Clarice Assad for percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. Educational and community activities will include open rehearsals, panel discussions, and a street fair.

Cal Performances, $30,000
To support an artist-in-residence project by Cal Performances. The Seattle Symphony and Music Director Ludovic Morlot will participate in residency activities that will include performances, workshops, master classes, and community engagement events in the Bay Area. The residency will be part of Cal Performances’ exploration of themes connected to “The Natural World”-a project initiated to celebrate the centenary of the U.S. National Park Service. Programming will feature works such as “Oceanides, Op. 73” and “Symphony No. 2” by Jean Sibelius, “Become Ocean” and “Become Desert” by John Luther Adams, and “Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a” by Benjamin Britten. Project collaborations will include organizations such as The Trust for Public Land in San Francisco, the UC Berkeley Center for New Music and Audio Technology, and the San Francisco public school district.
 

California State University Fullerton, $20,000
To support the development and presentation of “There Will Come Soft Rains.” This multimedia work by composer Pamela Madsen will feature videos of percussionists, a string quartet, an orchestra, a choir, and electronic musicians. Commissioned by Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, percussionist Cory Hills, cellists Ashley Bathgate and Maggie Parkins, Eclipse String Quartet, and the CSUF Symphony Orchestra and University Singers, the work will weave a narrative reflecting on the need for water and the meaning of rain. The work will be presented at the CSUF New Music Festival; Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach, California for World Water Day; CSU Desert Studies Center in Zzyzx, in the Mojave National Preserve, California; and at other venues in Los Angeles, New York City, and Orange County, California.
 

Classical Kids Music Education, $10,000
To support the production and distribution of a video recording of “Gershwin’s Magic Key,” a theatrical symphony concert production. The recording features the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, professional actors, and a pianist. The historical fiction production includes performances of a variety of Gershwin’s compositions including “Porgy and Bess,” “An American in Paris,” and selections from the American Songbook such as “I Got Rhythm.” The educational video is intended to serve elementary and middle school children.
 

Collide, $20,000
To support the presentation of TRAFFIC JAM. Artists working with local youth will choreograph automobiles, bicycles, golf carts, and pedicabs to perform skilled movements in a parking lot, making art inspired by Austin’s traffic congestion. A final live interactive concert will feature the audience, artists, and machines. Partners will include Austin Soundwaves, a nationally recognized El Sistema-inspired orchestra program, and the Hispanic Alliance for the Performing Arts.
 

Colorado Music Festival, $20,000
To support the Colorado Music Festival. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the summer festival will feature a retrospective of past programming with a performance by the festival orchestra conducted by founder and original artistic director, Giora Bernstein. In addition, the current music director, Jean-Marie Zeitouni will conduct a series of concerts of rarely performed classical French works. The festival also will include a family and community series, an orchestra and chamber orchestra series, and a guest artist series.
 

Education Through Music-Los Angeles, $25,000
To support weekly, year-long music instruction for students in Los Angeles public schools. Teaching artists will provide general music and instrumental music instruction to students through in-school classes in strings, ukulele, band, guitar, recorder, and chorus. Students will perform in mid-year and year-end student concerts at school as well as in the community. The program will include professional development for classroom teachers to learn how to integrate the arts into the curriculum. Participating schools host community events and festivals, and students will have the opportunity to attend events such as professional symphony concerts.
 

From the Top, $45,000
To support educational outreach activities. Musicians selected by audition to appear on the classical radio program “From the Top” will take part in the Center for the Development of Arts Leaders, an arts leadership and outreach program. The workshops will help prepare young musicians to connect with new audiences and to serve as positive peer role models. The musicians will perform concerts in school classrooms and community venues.

Interlochen Center for the Arts, $15,000
To support the Arts Academy guest artists and artists-in-residence program. Professional artists from a variety of arts fields will go to the rural campus to teach, mentor, and inspire students. Master classes may teach students a new technique not covered by the core curriculum (e.g., music composition, filmmaking, or specific choreography) or broaden and deepen students’ skills in their chosen instrument or arts medium. Guests also will share their own past works or works-in-progress with students through readings, recitals, concerts, film screenings, exhibits and performances broadcast on Interlochen Public Radio. The project will benefit dozens of guest artists and high school students majoring in creative writing, dance, media, music, theater, and visual arts at the academy.
 

Lake George Music Festival, $10,000
To support artists’ fees for the Lake George Music Festival. Plans include chamber music and orchestral performances, open rehearsals, interactive workshops, and outreach events. Outreach activities will feature impromptu flash-mob shows.

Lincoln Center Education, $80,000
To support Lincoln Center Education – Arts in the Middle. In partnership with the New York City Department of Education, Lincoln Center Education’s specially trained faculty of teaching artists will provide professional development for middle school teachers to co-lead classroom units for their students in theater, dance, music, and visual arts. As part of the professional development and classroom curriculum, teachers and their students will have opportunities to visit Lincoln Center and other cultural institutions to experience the art forms they are teaching and learning together. A third-party researcher will collect data on implementation and outcomes in order to develop a model that can be used in partnerships with other schools.
 

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, $75,000
To support production and post-production costs for the publicly broadcast series, “Live from Lincoln Center.” Hosted by Audra McDonald, the Emmy Award-winning series features live performances of music, drama, and dance by leading artists from around the world and will air to national audiences on PBS and be made available for free online at www.pbs.org. Additional online features accompanying the series include special performance segments, artist interviews, and video shorts. Recent programs include the Tony-winning production “The Nance,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” and “Show Boat” in concert with the New York Philharmonic.
 

Longy School of Music of Bard College, $15,000
To support the El Sistema Side-by-Side Series at Longy School of Music. The program will pair student musicians ages seven to fourteen with those in Longy’s Conservatory Orchestra at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus. The younger students in the program will take part in a summer academy as well as meet with conservatory students throughout the school year for rehearsals in preparation for public concerts.
 

Mann Center for the Performing Arts, $20,000
To support New Frontiers: Launch, Explore, Discover, a performance and community engagement project. The themed community festival will include a premiere of a new work by American composer Nolan Williams, Jr., featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra with community choirs. The inspiration for the composition is the legacy and 75th birthday celebration of former NASA astronaut and Philadelphia native Guion S. Bluford, Jr., who became the first African American to travel into space in the 1983 Space Shuttle Challenger mission. The concert will be augmented by thematically related programming presented in partnership with local schools, museums, libraries, churches, and other community organizations in the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area.
 

Mayerson Foundation, $25,000
To support visual arts, music, and dance artists residencies for students at the School for Creative & Performing Arts in Cincinnati. Students will attend master classes as well as receive coaching, private lessons, and mentorship from professional artists. The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) is a Cincinnati public school offering pre-professional arts training. Members of local organizations such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Ballet, Contemporary Arts Center, Taft Museum of Art, and University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, as well as visiting artists on tour to those local institutions will present the master classes at SCPA. K-12 students from underserved communities are expected to participate.
 

Miami Department of Tourism, Culture & Economic Development, $20,000
To support an outdoor performance and film series. A series of short animated films by William Kentridge (South Africa) will be screened on the exterior wall of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Symphony building in SoundScape Park. The opening screening event will feature live music accompaniment, with works performed by the New World Symphony and directed by Kentridge and composer Phillip Miller (South Africa). Subsequent repeat screenings will feature a recording of the original music performance. This event is presented as part of the city’s annual Art in the Parks performance season.

Miami Music Project, $25,000
To support Children’s Orchestras, a free after-school instrumental music program for students in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Inspired by El Sistema, Venezuela’s youth orchestra movement supporting social change through music, the program includes professional musicians teaching students through year-round orchestra rehearsals and individual lessons, while building students’ self-confidence and leadership skills for academic and social success throughout their lives. All students will receive a free musical instrument, will have the opportunity to perform, and advanced students will mentor their peers. The program adheres to the philosophical fundamentals of El Sistema’s rigorous, ensemble-based music program with a youth development focus, serving children from some of Miami’s lowest income communities.
 

Midori & Friends, $35,000
To support Learning with Music, year-long music instruction and enrichment programs for students in New York City public schools. Programs are customized to align with each partner school’s needs and vision for arts learning, expanding the schools’ existing music programs. Offerings will include the 12 Notes residency program, in which professional teaching artists will provide strings, woodwinds, guitar, brass, percussion and voice lessons in small group classes and instrumental ensembles during and after school. 12 Notes students will have opportunities to perform in the community at events such as CityMusic, a free event at Lincoln Center. Partner schools may also subscribe to the Signature Concert & Workshop Series, in which professional artists will provide interactive concerts and workshops at the schools, and introduce students to varied genres including classical, jazz, blues, gospel, and global music traditions. The program will include a five-part professional development series for teaching artists that will guide instructors in implementing the Milestones of Student Learning curriculum in their lesson plans.

Minnesota Public Radio, $30,000
To support a community engagement touring project by American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio. The Performance Today’s Young Artist Outreach project will bring musicians into schools for live performances and educational engagement with students. Project activities will include live performances and educational lecture-demonstrations by several artists that have been featured previously on Performance Today. Participating schools will be located primarily in underserved communities of the five regions.
 

Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, $15,000
To support Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts’ new music festival and artist residency project. From Page to Performance will feature performances of new work from emerging composers by artist-in-residence Saint Louis Symphony with Music Director David Robertson. Activities will include free public readings of scores with Robertson and the festival orchestra Festival Sinfonietta, orchestral concerts by the Saint Louis Symphony, pop-up events in the community, and pre-concert talks.
 

Ojai Music Festival, $15,000
To support a performance project featuring a new work by American composer Vijay Iyer during the annual Ojai Music Festival. The festival will premiere a new violin concerto by Iyer with a performance featuring violinist Jennifer Koh and International Contemporary Ensemble. Additional activities will include in-depth talks with the composer and free live-streaming of both the performance and the composer talks.

Pennsylvania State University Hershey Medical Center, $10,000
To support jazz and classical music performances. More than 30 performances will take place in partnership with the Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. Musicians will perform in the Medical Center’s lobbies, family areas, cafeterias, and inpatient units for diverse audiences comprised of patients, caregivers, family members, and healthcare professionals including clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, and medical students. Select musicians will be invited to share their experiences and stories at a video-recorded lecture for educators and medical professionals at the Penn State College of Medicine Department of Humanities.
 

Ravinia, $15,000
To support Reach*Teach*Play. The Ravinia Festival Association will continue its partnership with the residents of Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood through community engagement and educational programs for children and adults. Additionally, Reach*Teach*Play will offer free lawn passes to annual festival concerts for residents from Chicago’s West Side and will present One Score, One Chicago, an initiative that introduces new audiences to classical masterworks. The project also will include KidsLawn-an area at the outdoor concerts with music-related arts and crafts and an instrument petting zoo. Project activities also will include a community-based music school in Lawndale.
 

RenArts, $50,000
To support RenArts Conservatory. The project is a tuition-free after-school and summer program of daily professional arts instruction in a diverse Title I charter public school in northeast Los Angeles. Experienced teaching artists from local universities will teach dance, instrumental and vocal music, music theory and analysis, sight singing, percussion, principles of music, and choreographic composition. Parents will sign contracts agreeing to support their children in practicing at home, attending rehearsals, and responsible treatment of their musical instruments. The curricula will build sequentially on student in-school arts coursework. RenArts’ elementary, middle, and high school students are diverse, including English language learners, and more than half come from economically disadvantaged families. RenArts has a 100 percent graduation rate and 97 percent of graduates attend universities.
 

San Francisco Performances, $20,000
To support Contemporary Composers and Composer/Performers, a presentation of musical works by 20th- and 21st-century composers. The project will include new works commissioned from American composers Caroline Shaw and Lera Auerbach. Programming will include performances by musicians such as mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard with San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas; soprano Dawn Upshaw, pianist Gilbert Kalish and So Percussion; violinist Leila Josefowicz and pianist John Novacek; composer and clarinetist Jorg Widmann and pianist Gilles Vonsattel; as well as composer and pianist Lera Auerbach.
 

Settlement Music School, $30,000
To support Kaleidoscope, a pre-kindergarten arts enrichment program. Teachers and childcare professionals will receive professional development classes in implementing an arts-integrated curriculum. Teaching artists will prepare detailed weekly plans identifying objectives and organizing concepts, challenges, and projects related to the weekly activities. Students are grouped in classrooms by age and spend half the instructional day in a traditional early learning classroom, and the other half in visual arts, dance/creative movement, and music classes. The program is offered tuition-free to pre-schoolers and kindergarteners from low-income families. Kaleidoscope takes place during the school year at two Settlement branches in Philadelphia.

Sphinx Organization, $60,000
To support a national tour and community engagement project featuring the Sphinx Virtuosi and the Catalyst Quartet. In partnership with the National Guild for Community Arts Education of New York, a group of approximately 25 emerging young string players, laureates, and alumni of the national Sphinx Competition will tour and perform diverse repertoire by composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, Ludwig van Beethoven, Michael Abels, Ralph Vaughn-Williams, and Jimmy Lopez. The concerts and community activities with children and youth will be presented across the United States.
 

Thurnauer School of Music, $20,000
To support Music Discovery Partnership (MDP). The Thurnauer School of Music will provide music instruction to public school students in Englewood, New Jersey. Program components will include MDP I, in which students participate in year-long, after-school music instruction through musicianship classes, small group instrumental music instruction, and a Young People’s Chorus. MDP II will enable selected MDP I students to continue their musical studies at the Thurnauer School of Music, participating in a conservatory-style music education through private lessons and performance opportunities. The program will also feature MDP EXPLORE, in which professional musicians will perform in school assemblies, giving students the opportunity to see and hear live orchestral music.