Press Clippings
ART, Dance Umbrella among NEA recipients
From The Boston Globe, Dec. 16, 1998
By M. R. Montgomery, Globe Staff, 12/16/98
The National Endowment for the Arts announced today its latest round of
grants, totaling $19.5 million. Grants to recipients in Massachusetts
include 14 for performances, several for literature, and one to partially
fund a new public radio station for Cape Cod and the Islands. An additional
$61 million will be granted later, bringing the nationwide total for fiscal
1999 to $80.5 million.
Among the local recipients are the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge
($31,500 for a production of ``The Master Builder,'' by Henrik Ibsen) and
the Handel and Hayden Society of Boston (for performances of Haydn's ``Mass
in Time of War'' and a Handel opera, ``Semele''). As always, Washington,
D.C., institutions thrived. Of $1,702,650 for ``Leadership Initiatives''
all but $67,000 went to organizations inside the Beltway.
While most NEA grants go to support existing institutions, this year's
$40,000 to the Cape and Islands Community Public Radio comes before the
station (WCAI-FM 90.1 for Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, WNAN-FM 91.1 for
Nantucket) goes on the air. Jay Allison, founder of the nonprofit Cape and
Islands Corp., explained that the funding was intended to create a model
for public radio stations nationally. ``We noticed, starting several years
ago, that all public radio broadcasts have this sort of homogeneous
identity, whether you were in Nebraska or New England.
``What we're going to try to do is create a distinct sonic presence, a
signature sound that reflects the people and the places here, sonic
artifacts that artfully portray the community,'' Allison said. The grant
will bring artists, composers, musicians, and writers together. Cape and
Islands is a partner with WGBH-FM in Boston, but Allison said it would
generate its own local programming, supplemented only by taking National
and American Public Radio feeds from Boston.
The Dance Umbrella of Boston received $25,000 to support some costs of a
June 16-21 show at the Emerson Majestic Theater devoted to what they call
``dance in the air,'' that is, dancing in harness. Several troupes that
specialize in this elevated art, including Axis of San Francisco, will
perform together for the first time. Anne-Marie Fitzgerald, director of
development at Dance Umbrella, said one form of this off-the-floor movement
is an illusion, using stroboscopic lighting to illuminate the dancers only
at the moments they are airborne. ``And a wheelchair dance company will
perform,'' Fitzgerald noted, ``whether or not in their chairs is up in the
air.''
The Berkshire Opera Company, with its 510-seat theater on the campus of
Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, will premiere a new opera by
Stephen Paulus, a Minneapolis composer whose best-known opera is ``The
Postman Always Rings Twice.'' The new opera is based on Edith Wharton's
novel ``Summer.'' Berkshire general director Sanford Fisher said `` `Summer'
is a coming-of-age, awaking-to-sensuality work'' and that Wharton was fond
of describing as ``my hot Ethan [Frome].'' The $25,000 grant completes the
expense of the commission and supports the premiere productions Aug. 28,
30, Sept. 2, 4, and 6.
Opera led the musical grants, including $35,000 to the Boston Early Music
Festival for a modern premiere of Francesco Cavalli's 17th-century ``Ercole
Amante'' (``Hercules in Love''). Boston Lyric Opera has $60,000 to support
a production of Philip Glass's ``Ankhnaten,'' part of the company's ``All
Egypt, All the Time'' theme for the 1999-2000 season.
Four local poets received $20,000 grants: Lucie Brock-Broido of Cambridge,
Sarah Messer of Marshfield, Wendy M. Mnookin of Chestnut Hill, and John J.
Ronan of Gloucester.
Grants for art exhibits, tours, and shows included $42,500 to the McMullen
Gallery at Boston College for a show on the use and abuse of medieval
religious images and objects; $28,000 to the Institute of Contemporary Art
for a traveling exhibit of the work of Shimon Attie; and $18,000 to the
Photographic Resource Center to create a new program, ``Photography in
Human Experience,'' with accompanying educational activities and a Web
site.
Other recipients of the first-quarter grants included Boston Ballet,
$40,000; Boston Musica Viva, $6,000; the Composers Conference of Wellesley
College, $6,000; the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, $15,000 for
material support of visiting artists; the Fund for Women Artists,
Northampton, $6,000; and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, $70,000.
This story ran on page E03 of The Boston Globe on 12/16/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
Back to Press Clippings >>
|
