FY12 NEA Grants to Orchestras

April 26, 2012, Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts awarded 95 grants to orchestras through the Grants for Arts Projects categories in FY2012, totaling $2,447,500.  Awards to all arts disciplines through the NEA’s largest grant categories – Challenge America: Reaching Every Community Fast-Track Review Grants and Art Works – numbered 1,773 and totaled $47.973 million.

Congress allotted $146 million in total funding for the NEA in FY2012.  In addition to the grants awarded through the Grants for Arts Projects categories, FY2012 funding supports the following:

  • Congress requires that 40% of NEA grant funds be made available directly to the states; $48,805,200 million has been awarded through Partnership Grants to state and regional arts agencies.  Orchestras, in turn, benefit from grants at the state and local level.
  • Support for Arts in Media included grants to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic totaling $50,000.
  • The NEA provided $1 million for Literature Fellowships in Creative Writing in FY2012 and $200,000 in FY2012 support for Literature Fellowships in Translation.
  • Additional FY2012 grants include awards for National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards and the NEA also allocates funds to national initiatives, such as Our Town, Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, and other programs. Complete information about NEA national initiatives is available on the NEA website.

Below is a list of grants to orchestras and parent organizations of orchestras. Grants for programs related
to the orchestra field are also included. Complete lists of grant amounts and project descriptions for awards in all disciplines and categories may be found on the NEA website, arts.gov.