FY22 NEA Grants to Orchestras

May 20, 2022, Washington, D.C.

NEA FY22 Grants Support Orchestral Concerts and Community Programming

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded 101 grants to orchestras through the Grants for Arts Projects and Challenge America categories in FY2022, totaling $2,270,000. In FY22 orchestras directly received NEA grant support through Grants for Arts Projects primarily in the discipline categories of music and arts education, with a few in the opera discipline as well. Awards to all arts disciplines through the NEA’s Grants for Arts Projects and Challenge America categories numbered 2,541 and totaled $57,197,410.

In addition to these grants categories, FY2022 funding supports the following:

• Each year, 40 percent of the agency’s grantmaking funds are designated for state arts agencies, regional arts organizations, and national service organizations that support the work of the states and regions. Orchestras, in turn, benefit from grants at the state and local level.
• The Endowment has awarded $815,000 in research grants, plus $648,784 in Research Labs grants. Additional FY2022 grants include national initiatives including but not limited to the NEA/Walter Reed Healing Arts Partnership, the Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, literature fellowships, and Our Town.
• NEA American Rescue Plan support included $57.75 million in direct grants to 567 recipients, which included 24 orchestras totaling $2,550,000 with the intention to support employment, operations and facilities costs, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional expenses. Additional grant support was made available through funds administered by the NEA to states, regions, and localities.

The League has compiled the grants to orchestras and grants related to the orchestra field, listed below. The latest information about projects can be obtained directly via the agency’s grant search tool.