Opera Memphis Awarded NEA Grant for Civic Action

Opera Memphis to Receive $25,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Memphis, TN—National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $25,000 to Opera Memphis for their 30 Days of Opera program and the McCleave Project, a multi-pronged effort to build a more equitable future for the art. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grant making program. The agency received 1,592 Art Works applications for this round of grant making, and will award 977 grants in this category.

“These awards, reaching every corner of the United States, are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Organizations such as Opera Memphis are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired.”

“The NEA has been a supporter of 30 Days of Opera since the early days, joining ArtsMemphis, AutoZone and Evolve Bank & Trust to ensure the program happens each and every year”, said OM General Director Ned Canty.  “Their support allows us to keep adding to the hundreds of thousands of Memphians we’ve reached since launch.”

Opera Memphis’s annual 30 Days Of Opera is entering its ninth year and features over fifty free opera performances across Memphis and the Mid-South. 30 Days Of Opera turns the opera house inside out as professional opera singers take their music to communities, events, and audiences across the city and the Mid-South. Begun in fall 2017, The McCleave Project seeks to deepen Opera Memphis’s engagement with issues of diversity and equity in opera–onstage, backstage, and in the audience. For more information about these two civic programs, visit www.operamemphis.orgFor more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

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ABOUT OPERA MEMPHIS
Opera Memphis was founded in 1956 and has grown into a world-class opera company. Widely respected for its innovative approach to outreach and audience development, Opera Memphis has become a nationally recognized thought leader on the process of evolving to meet the needs of 21st century audiences. For more information on upcoming Opera Memphis performances, call 901-257-3100 or visit www.operamemphis.org. To keep up with the latest news and happenings, follow Opera Memphis on facebook.com/operamemphis or on Twitter as @operamemphis.