Houston Receives $445,000 In NEA Grants

HOUSTON, TX — Arts organizations here can breathe a bit easier this season, because the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency that supports the arts across the nation, ponied up $84 million toward various groups in the Bayou City.

The Alley Theatre received the lion's share of the grants — $125,00 — which it will use to fund a Latino theater initiative. The Houston Symphony will receive $20,000, and the Houston Arts Alliance added $40,000 to its budget, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.

The awards come at a time of uncertainty for the arts in America and the way they are supported and funded.

"The President’s FY 2018 budget proposes the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, with a request for $29 million intended to be used for the orderly shutdown of the agency," the NEA's website states. "The budget request is a first step in a very long budget process. We continue to accept grant applications for FY 2018 at our usual deadlines and will continue to operate as usual until a new budget is enacted by Congress."

In addition, the National Endowment for the Humanities also is slated to end operations shortly.
"The White House has requested that Congress appropriate approximately $42 million to NEH for the orderly closure of the agency," deputy chairwoman Margaret Plympton said in a recent statement. "This amount includes funds to meet matching grant offers in effect as of October 1, 2017, as well as funds to cover administrative expenses and salaries associated with the closure."

Other NEA recipients in Houston include Writers in the Schools ($40,000), University of Houston /Blaffer Art Museum($25,000), and the Mercury Baroque Ensemble ($10,000).

For a complete list of Houston-area NEA grant recipients and more on the story, see the Houston Chronicle story.

— Image: flicker/Ron Kikuchi