DECEMBER 21, 1999 - Michigan Department of Consumer & Industry Services (CIS) Director Kathy Wilbur today announced that nine Michigan arts organizations/programs will receive a total of $261,000 in federal arts funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.  These grants are awarded to programs and organizations that have national or multi-state impact.

"The arts and humanities are thriving in Michigan,: said Wilbur.  "These grants are further proof that Michigan has become a nationally recognized leader in arts and cultural programming.  Few states can rival Michigan when it comes to the level of commitment shown the arts and humanities from state funding levels to community-based offerings."

The NEA grants awarded range in size from $5,000 to the Lansing Symphony Orchestra to $75,000 to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

"NEA grants are important.  However, nothing rivals the $21.5 Million in state grants that are competitively awarded each year by Governor Engler and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs within Consumer & Industry Services," said Wilbur.

Following is a list of the NEA grants awarded:

Ann Arbor Film Festival

Ann Arbor, MI

$12,000

Category:  Creation & Presentation

Field/Discipline:  Media Arts

To support the 38th Ann Arbor Film Festival and its national tour.  Over 100 films will be presented to an audience of over 21,000 people in Michigan and in the various states the festival travels to.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Inc.

Detroit, MI

$75,000

Category:  Creation & Presentation

Field/Discipline:  Music

To support a residency with composer Michael Daugherty.  Activities will include the creation of two symphonic works, performances and educational activities in Detroit and on a national tour, and performances for national radio broadcasts. -more-

Oakland Community College

Farmington Hills, MI

$9,000

Category:  Creation and Presentation

Field/Discipline:  Literature

To support the production and promotion of a special issue of Witness magazine on crime in America.  The issue will feature work of writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, John Edgar Wideman, Kim Wozencraft, James Ellroy, Sandra Steingraber, Mikal Gilmore, and Stuart Dybek.

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (Museum of Art)

Ann Arbor, MI

$65,000

To support the traveling exhibition Judith/Salome:  Female Power and Its Limitations in Renaissance and Baroque Art, with accompanying education programs.  The exhibition will examine representations of these two biblical women from the vantage point of the historical roles of women both in art and society.

Lansing Symphony Association, Inc.

Lansing, MI

Category:  Creation & Presentation

Field/Discipline:  Music

$5,000

To support a residency by the Chester String Quartet with the Grater Lansing Symphony Orchestra.  the ensemble musicians will serve as principals or associate principals for specific concerts to enhance the string sections in the orchestra, participate in outreach services, and perform a chamber series in downtown Lansing.

Michigan Association of Community Arts Agencies

Ann Arbor, MI

$30,000

Category:  Planning and Stabilization

Field/Discipline:  Local Arts Agency

To support an expansion of this statewide assembly's education training sessions and technical assistance services.

Pine Mountain Music Festival, Inc.

Hancock, MI

$5,000

Category:  Creation & Presentation

Field/Discipline:  Opera

To support a production of the opera Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi.  In the year 2000, three performances of the opera will take place in Michigan's Upper Peninsula:  Calumet (Calumet Theatre), Kingsford (Kingsford Auditorium), and Marquette (Kaufman Auditorium).

Sellers, Heather Laurie

Holland, MI

$20,000

Category:  Literature Fellowships

Field/Discipline:   Literature

University Musical Society

Ann Arbor, MI

$40,000

Category: Creation & Presentation

Field/Discipline:  Dance

To support performances and residencies of four women dance artists and their companies.  The project, entitled Today's women of Dance, Dance Theater, and Music Theater, will involve Bebe Miller, Meredith Monk, Martha Clarke, and Trisha Brown.

Total Dollars Awarded:  $261,000

Total Grants Awarded:  9

Read more Michigan Department of Consumer & Industry Services press releases.