WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Endowment for the Arts announced its second round of funding for fiscal year 2009 in the categories of Access to Artistic Excellence, Learning in the Arts, Arts on Radio and Television, American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, and Partnership Agreements (State and Regional). In this round of funding, the Arts Endowment will distribute $83,472,100 to support 1,075 projects by nonprofit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide.

Acting NEA Chairman Patrice Walker Powell said, "I am happy to announce the more than 1,000 arts projects that will receive NEA support through this round of funding. These grants are a direct--and catalytic--investment in our nation's nonprofit cultural industry and will benefit Americans in all 50 states and 6 jurisdictional areas."

Access to Artistic Excellence grants support the creation and presentation of work in the disciplines of dance, design, folk and traditional arts, literature, media arts, museums, music, musical theater, opera, presenting, theater, and visual arts. Projects include commissions, residencies, workshops, performances, exhibitions, publications, festivals, and professional development programs. This round of funding also supports grants to local arts agencies for multidisciplinary projects, such as community-wide festivals, public art commissions, and artist residencies. Through the Access to Artistic Excellence category, the NEA will fund 642 projects out of 1,197 eligible applications, for a total of $14,659,500.

Examples of projects supported by Access to Artistic Excellence grants include:

• Support to the Chicago Architecture Foundation for a community docent training program.

• Support to True Colors Theatre Company for the expansion of the August Wilson Monologue Competition, which allows high school students nationwide to compete in the presentation of works from the late playwright’s 10-play Century Cycle.

• Support to Scribe Video Center, a community-based media arts center that provides students and artists with the tools and skills to produce video artworks through workshop programs and related activities.

• Support to the Churchill Arts Council for NXT/NOW: Evolving Musical Traditions, a series of interrelated performances, workshops, and lectures featuring artists who are revitalizing traditional musical genres.

Learning in the Arts grants support projects that provide in-depth knowledge, skills, and understanding of the arts to children and youth in schools and communities. Projects engage students with skilled artists and teachers. Through the Learning in the Arts category, the NEA will fund 210 projects out of 506 eligible applications, for a total of $7,795,000.

Examples of projects supported by Learning in the Arts grants include:

• Support for Each One Reach One’s Playwriting Workshops, a playwriting and educational tutoring program for incarcerated San Francisco and San Mateo County teenagers that pairs professional theater artists one-one-one with youth to create original one-act plays.

• Support for the ASCAP Foundation Summer Music Camp, which provides free-of-charge classical music training, with an emphasis on increased performance skills, to public school students living in New York City’s five boroughs.

• Support for the Massachusetts College of Art’s Summer Studios, an intensive summer visual arts program for high school students.

Arts on Radio and Television grants support the development, production, and national distribution of radio and television programs that highlight the spectrum of arts disciplines. Through the Arts on Radio and Television category, the NEA will fund 46 projects out of 102 eligible applications, for a total of $3,700,000.

Examples of projects supported by Arts on Radio and Television grants include:

• Support for the Public Radio International program Studio 360, a series of weekly arts and culture radio programs designed to illuminate the role of the arts in society.

• Support for the production and distribution of WGBH Educational Foundation’s Poetry Everywhere, a series of television interstitials designed to make poetry available to the public on a regular basis during hourly station breaks between PBS programs.

American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius is designed to acquaint Americans with the best of the nation’s cultural and artistic heritage. American Masterpieces grants support performances, exhibitions, tours, and educational programs across different art forms that reach large and small communities in all 50 states. For fiscal year 2009, American Masterpieces grants were awarded in the disciplines of dance, chamber music, presenting, and visual arts. Through this category, the NEA will fund 113 projects out of 205 eligible applications, for a total of $4,075,000.

Examples of projects supported by American Masterpieces grants include:

• Support for the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art’s touring exhibition American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White, which will demonstrate how American photographers in the 1930s reinvented the documentary genre.

• Support for the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival for a series of chamber music concerts, a residency with composer William Bolcom, and outreach performances for festival student musicians.