FY20 NEA Grants to Orchestras

Grants to Orchestras

Application Deadline of February 14, 2019
Award Announced January 15, 2020

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

Albany Symphony (NY), $25,000
To support the American Music Festival including commissions.

Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, $40,000
To support performances of an early music program on period instruments with related educational activities.

Boston Symphony Orchestra, $75,000
To support a series of performances featuring contemporary works composed by women with related educational activities.

Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, $50,000
To support the Intensive Community Program, a string instrument training program.

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, $15,000
To support the West Side Connection, a community engagement program and concert.

Charlotte Symphony, $15,000
To support performances of composer William Brittelle’s Si Otsedoha (We’re Still Here) with related educational activities.

Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, $10,000
To support concerts of works by female composers and female guest artists with related educational activities.

Chicago Sinfonietta, $20,000
To support the commission and world premiere of a work by composer Courtney Bryan with related community engagement activities.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, $60,000
To support artist’s fees for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, $40,000
To support Classical Roots, a concert in celebration of African-American musical heritage.

Civic Orchestra of Chicago, $45,000
To support stipends for pre-professional musicians of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

The Cleveland Orchestra, $45,000
To support The Cleveland Orchestra’s concert performance of Alan Berg’s opera Lulu.

Colorado Springs Philharmonic, $10,000
To support a series of concerts.

Des Moines Symphony, $10,000
To support youth concerts.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra, $50,000
To support performances with related community engagement activities.

El Paso Symphony Orchestra, $20,000
To support a youth orchestra festival.

Gateway Chamber Orchestra, $15,000
To support a recording of composer Jeffrey Wood’s Different Bodies.

Grand Rapids Symphony, $15,000
To support the Neighborhood Concert Series.

The Handel and Haydn Society, $40,000
To support performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with related community engagement Programming.

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, $20,000
To support the Beethoven 2020 series performed by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Kansas City Symphony, $15,000
To support concerts featuring pianist Emanuel Ax as part of the Isaac Stern centennial celebration.

Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, $20,000
To support Violins of Hope – Los Angeles County, a communitywide residency and performance program.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, $25,000
To support an artist residency with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Los Angeles Philharmonic, $85,000
To support artist fees for the Power to the People Festival.

Louisville Orchestra, $15,000
To support musician’s fees for the Festival of American Music.

Minnesota Orchestra, $40,000
To support the Minnesota Orchestra’s professional development project for composers.

National Symphony Orchestra, $35,000
To support musicians’ fees for a performance project.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra, $15,000
To support a performance project of concert programs that will explore what it means to be an insider versus an outsider.

New World Symphony, $60,000
To support the professional musician development program.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s, $15,000 
To support the Orchestra of St. Luke’s performances of free chamber music concerts throughout New York City.

Oregon Symphony, $20,000
To support guest artist fees for SoundSights, a series of multimedia concerts in collaboration with visual artists.

Oregon Symphony in Salem, $10,000
To support orchestral music performances for youth.

Pacific Symphony, $25,000 
To support artist and composer fees for a commissioning and performance project featuring a new work by Frank Ticheli celebrating the 30th anniversary of Music Director Carl St. Clair.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, $15,000
To support performances of Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo by George Frideric Handel, with reimagined recitatives by composer and sound designer Mark Grey.

Quad City Symphony Orchestra, $15,000
To support Karkinos, a commissioning and performance project featuring a new oratorio by composer Jacob Bancks.

Riverside Symphony, $10,000
To support a performance project at El Museo del Barrio.

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, $20,000 
To support a performance and community engagement project titled The Birthplace of Equality: A Communitywide Music Celebration of Susan B. Anthony and the 19th Amendment.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, $40,000
To support the Women Composers Project.

San Diego Symphony, $20,000 
To support a co-commissioning and performance project of a new trumpet concerto by saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and NEA Jazz Master Paquito D’Rivera.

San Francisco Symphony, $75,000
To support staff salaries and artist fees for an artist-in-residence program.

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, $10,000
To support the Artist Development Program of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Santa Rosa Symphony, $15,000
To support commissioning and artist fees for a new work by Mexican composer Enrico Chapela Barba premiering at Green Music Center at Sonoma State University.

Seattle Symphony, $45,000
To support a performance project featuring new orchestral and chamber works, as well as a composition workshop for young composers.

The Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra, $20,000
To support a performance project with the Spartanburg Philharmonic featuring Bela Fleck and Abigail Washington.

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, $40,000 
To support the performance of Maurice Ravel: A Musical Journey, a symphonic play by playwright and stage director Didi Balle.

Symphony Tacoma, $10,000
To support an artist residency project with composer David Ludwig.

Related Art Works, Part 1 Grants

Boston University (on behalf of Tanglewood Institute), $20,000
To support the Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artists Orchestra and Young Artists Wind Ensemble.

Bravo! Vail, $10,000
To support artist fees for Bravo! Vail, an annual music festival. The summer festival will include orchestral concerts by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Dallas Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as chamber music performances.

Carnegie Hall, $85,000
To support artist fees for concerts in celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday. Programming may include performances of two complete symphony cycles, the complete piano sonatas and string quartets, as well as other chamber music, recitals, choral works, and lectures.

Central Music Academy, $10,000
To support a free music education program for youth.

Chautauqua Institution, $15,000
To support Women’s Suffrage Centennial: Claiming a Voice, Claiming a Vote, a week-long opera festival featuring productions of The Mother of Us All by composer Virgil Thomson and librettist Gertrude Stein, Tosca by composer Giacomo Puccini, and Thumbprint by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Susan Yankowitz.

Cleveland Institute of Music, $10,000
To support a new music festival celebrating the school’s 100th anniversary. The festival will include past and present institute-related composers’ works in orchestra concerts, faculty recitals, new music ensemble concerts, alumni performances, and seminars and workshops for students and the general public.

Gateways Music Festival, $15,000
To support staff salaries for the Gateways Music Festival. Celebrating the participation and contributions of classically trained musicians of African descent, the festival will feature solo and chamber music performances.

The Gilmore, $20,000
To support the Gilmore Keyboard Festival.

Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival, $25,000
To support the Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP). Navajo, Hopi, and Salt River Reservation students will study one-on-one with a Native American composer-in-residence, learning orchestration and creating original compositions to be recorded and performed by a professional string quartet.

Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, $10,000
To support the Shouse Institute, a professional training program for chamber ensembles. The ensembles selected to participate in the institute will include one Sphinx Apprentice Ensemble selected in tandem with the Sphinx Organization.

Harlem Center for Strings, $15,000
To support the after-school music education program of the Harlem Center for Strings.

Harmony Project, $45,000
To support artist fees for free music instruction for students in underserved communities.

Heifetz International Music Institute, $25,000
To support performance and communication training for emerging musicians.

Ingenuity, $100,000
To support staff salaries and professional learning activities related to a collective impact project for the continued implementation and coordination of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Arts Education Plan.

Johns Hopkins University, $10,000
To support Tuned In, a free instrumental music education program for youth. Music faculty will help prepare students for acceptance into college music programs, and possibly a professional career in music.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, $20,000
To support the Future Stages Festival. The festival will include performances by local youth-oriented arts organizations, as well as performances by resident companies including the Kansas City Ballet, the Lyric Opera, and the Kansas City Symphony.

Lakes Area Music Festival, $10,000
To support the Lakes Area Music Festival. Plans include chamber music, orchestra, and opera performances.

League of American Orchestras, $90,000
To support the League of American Orchestras’ strategic services to orchestras.

Levine Music, $15,000
To support First Music, a free music instruction program for young children.

The New School, $15,000
To support the New School Concerts’ New York String Seminar, a pre-professional training program. professional training program. The seminar will be directed by violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo and will culminate in concerts at Carnegie Hall.

Oregon Bach Festival, $25,000
To support performance costs associated with the presentation of a new work by composer Paola Prestini. Oregon Bach Festival will feature the premiere performance of Hindsight for piano and orchestra, with pianist Lara Downes.

Pacific Chorale, $15,000
To support a performance project of concert programs featuring works by women composers. In addition, the chorus will present a concert program with the Pacific Symphony juxtaposing Mozart’s Coronation Mass with Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw’s Music in Common Time, re-orchestrated for full choir and orchestra, at Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.

Perlman Music Program, $30,000
To support the Summer Music School, a residential summer music program.

Project STEP, $45,000
To support an intensive string music training program for youth. Students will receive weekly, year-round instruction, participating in chamber music ensembles and orchestras.

Savannah Music Festival, $40,000
To support artist fees for the annual Savannah Music Festival. Artists including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with NEA Jazz Master Wynton Marsalis, and a number of ensembles and soloists will perform during the early spring festival in Savannah’s Historic District.

Stern Grove Festival Association, $10,000
To support artist fees for the Stern Grove Festival. The festival will feature a free outdoor performance by the San Francisco Symphony.

University Musical Society, $30,000
To support artist fees for a multidisciplinary performing arts series. Artists including Chineke! Orchestra, Dorrance Dance, and Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, as well as jazz musician Tarek Yamani and theater artist Geoff Sobelle, will perform.

Washington Performing Arts, $40,000
To support SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras. During the three week-long festival, Washington Performing Arts will host several orchestras in residence in the nation’s capital: the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with Marin Alsop, conductor (Maryland); the Jacksonville Symphony with Courtney Lewis, conductor (Florida); the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra with Aram Demirjian, conductor (Tennessee); and, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the conductor-less ensemble from New York.

Young Concert Artists, $15,000
To support Young Concert Artists Series. The project will include a professional artistic development program of recitals and concerto debuts in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Grants to Orchestras

Application Deadline of July 11, 2019
Award Announced June 10, 2020

**Applications for these recommended grants were submitted to the Arts Endowment last summer and reflected the wide range of performances, exhibitions, and activities that the agency has traditionally funded. At the end of March 2020, the listed projects were approved, followed by two months of extensive technical assistance in which agency staff worked one-on-one with hundreds of organizations to adjust their projects to meet the new reality created by the pandemic. Changes include postponing activities and taking activities virtual as the examples below illustrate. As a result of this plus additional work related to the CARES Act, project descriptions are not being included in the grant lists accompanying this announcement. The most current information for all projects is available on the agency’s grant search tool.

A Far Cry, $10,000 

American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras, $15,000 

Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, $15,000 

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, $30,000 

Austin Symphony, $25,000 

Berkeley Symphony, $15,000 

Boston Modern Orchestra Project, $25,000 

Boston Symphony Orchestra, $50,000 

Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, $10,000 

Chicago Philharmonic, $10,000 

Columbus Symphony Orchestra, $10,000 

DC Youth Orchestra Program, $20,000 

El Paso Symphony Orchestra, $20,000 

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, $20,000 

Grant Park Music Festival, $30,000 

Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, $25,000 

Houston Symphony, $25,000 

Houston Youth Symphony, $42,000 

Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, $10,000 

Las Vegas Philharmonic, $15,000 

Lima Symphony Orchestra, $10,000 

The Little Orchestra Society, $20,000 

Madison Symphony Orchestra, $15,000 

Nashville Symphony, $40,000 

New Orchestra of Washington, $15,000 

New York Philharmonic, $20,000 

New York Youth Symphony, $20,000 

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, $30,000 

The Philadelphia Orchestra, $80,000 

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, $35,000 

Redlands Symphony Orchestra, $10,000 

Richmond Symphony, $15,000 

Roswell Symphony Orchestra, $10,000 

San Antonio Symphony, $17,500 

Santa Fe Pro Musica, $10,000 

Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, $20,000 

Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, $20,000 

West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, $15,000 

Wheeling Symphony, $12,500 

The Young Artists Orchestra of Las Vegas, $15,000

Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, $15,000 

Related Art Works, Part 2 Grants

Aspen Music Festival and School, $25,000 

Association of California Symphony Orchestras, $20,000 

Austin Chamber Music Center, $45,000 

Bard College (on behalf of Longy School of Music), $25,000 

Cabrillo Music Festival, $35,000 

From the Top, $20,000 

Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival, $25,000 

Harmony Program, $10,000 

Heart of Los Angeles (YOLA at HOLA), $60,000 

Kids’ Orchestra, $15,000 

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, $50,000 

Lucy Moses School for Music and Dance, $40,000 

Mainly Mozart, $10,000 

Miami Music Project, $50,000 

Miami-Dade County Public Schools, $20,000 

Music Haven, $50,000 

Nashville Public Radio, $15,000 

Project STEP, $45,000 

Rainey Institute, $10,000 

Sphinx Organization, $70,000 

Stern Grove Festival Association, $10,000 

Villa Musica, $10,000

Grants to Orchestras

Application Deadline of April 11, 2019
Award Announced January 15, 2020

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

Adrian Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support music performances and educational opportunities featuring pianist Andrew Tyson.

Allentown Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support a concert performance featuring guest artist violinist Lindsey Deutsch, and related outreach activities.

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support concert performances and related outreach activities.

Billings Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, $10,000 
To support symphony performances and educational outreach in honor of Black History Month and the 60th anniversary of the founding of Motown Records.

Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, $10,000
To support music performances by the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and related outreach activities that highlight the contributions of African-American women in classical music.

Carson City Symphony, $10,000
To support a series of concert performances featuring the musical traditions of Central and South America.

Catskill Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support a concert performance serving a three-county region of rural upstate New York.

Central Ohio Symphony, $10,000
To support a concert performance including a multimedia theater work, and related outreach activities.

Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support music performances by Amit Peled and the Peabody Peled Cello Gang, with associated education programs.

Georgia Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support a sensory-friendly concert performance.

Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support a musical performance featuring Madcap Puppets and guest actor William Shomos.

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, $10,000
To support a series of free concerts tailored to low-income older adults.

Minnesota Sinfonia, $10,000
To support family-friendly concerts with associated outreach activities with guest artists Dmitry Kouzov and Ilya Kaler.

Mobile Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support artist and travel fees for music performances and educational outreach activities with guest cellist Sujari Britt.

Racine Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support a series of music concerts with cellist Joshua Zajac.

South Bend Symphony Orchestra, $10,000
To support the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Concert featuring cellist Nygel Witherspoon, including outreach activities.

Related Challenge America Grants

American Cello Institute, $10,000
To support a free music festival featuring concert performances by the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, and related outreach at venues in San Juan, Mayagüez, Culebra, San German, and Ponce, and throughout Puerto Rico.

Classics 4 Kids, $10,000
To support a series of concert performances, and related outreach activities.

Endless Mountain Music Festival, $10,000
To support a series of music performances and outreach activities intended to serve rural and economically disadvantaged communities in New York and Pennsylvania. Selected guest artist musicians will perform in a series of concert performances with the Endless Mountain Music Festival Orchestra.

Kim Robards Dance, $10,000
To support performances of “Unstruck Sound” danced to Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,”
in celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday. Kim Robards Dance will collaborate with the Aurora Symphony Orchestra, the Alpine Chorale, and several professional guest soloists to present the original choreography set to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125.

The Music Center (MI), $10,000
To support a symphonic concert performance of Guys and Dolls and related community engagement activities.

RUACH, $10,000
To support concerts and related community outreach activities featuring the Amernet String
Quartet. The quartet will be the guest artist for public concerts with clarinetist William Helmers, accompanied by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.