2010 Grant Awards: Access to Artistic Excellence

[ August 13, 2009 deadline ]

Dance | Design | Folk & Traditional Arts | Literature | Local Arts Agencies
Media Arts | Museums | Music | Musical Theater | Presenting | Theater
Visual Arts

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Literature

Academy of American Poets, Inc. (Consortium)
New York, NY
$70,000
To support National Poetry Month in 2011. In partnership with the National Council of Teachers of English, the Academy will sponsor outreach programs designed to encourage Americans to make poetry a larger part of their lives. 

Art Sanctuary
Philadelphia, PA
$10,000
To support the 27th annual Black Literary Festival. Events will include readings, performances, workshops, discussions, and a book fair.  The 2011 festival will focus on the theme of Word Play and will feature more than 50 authors. 

Asian American Writers' Workshop, Inc.
New York, NY
$25,000
To support programs that nurture Asian American writers and build audiences for Asian American literature.  Activities include Neighborhood Words, a reading series in the outer boroughs of New York, and the Asian American Literary Festival. 

Association of Writers & Writing Programs (aka AWP)
Fairfax, VA
$75,000
To support the 2011 AWP conference; the production, printing, and distribution of The Writer's Chronicle; and the continued development of the AWP website, including the web-based AWP Job List. 

Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn, NY
$15,000
To support the Brooklyn Independents literary series and the Russian Literary Series. The latter will feature Russian fiction writers, poets, journalists, critics, and filmmakers reading and presenting in Russian to Brooklyn's large population of Russian speakers.

Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.
New York, NY
$35,000
To support an annual week-long writing retreat for emerging African American poets.

Centrum Foundation
Port Townsend, WA
$5,000
To support the 37th annual Port Townsend Writers' Conference, located in rural Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Led by Artistic Director Cristina Garcia, the week-long conference will include workshops, free readings, and lectures. 

CityLit Project
Baltimore, MD
$10,000
To support the 2011 CityLit Festival in downtown Baltimore. CityLit Project will videotape events and broadcast them on its website, as well as YouTube and Facebook.

Clarion Foundation
Eugene, OR
$5,000
To support artist instructor fees for the 2010 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop. Scheduled instructors include Delia Sherman, George R. R. Martin, Dale Bailey, Kathleen Alcala, Jeff VanderMeer, and Ann Kennedy.

Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (aka CLMP)
New York, NY
$60,000
To support technical assistance and capacity-building programs for large, mid-size, and small independent magazines and presses. Services and resources will include an interactive website offering access to media databases and virtual roundtable discussions, as well as workshops, one-on-one mentoring, and networking opportunities.

East Carolina University (Consortium)
Greenville, NC
$10,000
To support the seventh annual Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming. The year-long program of events will feature artists who are from, live in, and/or write about the region.

Fishtrap, Inc.
Enterprise, OR
$15,000
To support Serving Writers in the Northwest, a series of programs that brings Western authors in contact with audiences in Wallowa County, Oregon, and the greater Northwest region. The series will include multi-genre writing workshops, residencies, lectures, themed readings and discussions, and classroom activities.

Grub Street, Inc.
Boston, MA
$7,500
To support half-priced writing workshops for aspiring writers in reduced financial circumstances. The workshops will be publicized on subways and buses throughout the city of Boston and on job search websites such as monster.com and idealist.com.

Haleakala, Inc. (aka The Kitchen) (Consortium)
New York, NY
$15,000
To support a series of multimedia literary events showcasing small, alternative literary publications and the writers they publish. The Kitchen will partner with the journal n + 1 to promote and present the monthly series.

Hudson Review, Inc. (Consortium)
New York, NY
$5,000
To support College Now, a free summer program for New York City high school students. In partnership with the City University of New York, the journal will distribute the anthology Writes of Passage: Coming-of-Age Stories and Memoirs from The Hudson Review to participating students for use in the classroom.

Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Inc.
Sleepy Hollow, NY
$10,000
To support the Literary Reading Series, featuring emerging and established writers of poetry and prose. The goals of the project are to develop new audiences, inspire writers and readers of all levels, and encourage the work of independent literary journals and presses.

Inprint, Inc.
Houston, TX
$30,000
To support the Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series. Now in its 29th year, the project has brought more than 300 distinguished writers to Houston.

Just Buffalo Literary Center, Inc.
Buffalo, NY
$35,000
To support Babel, a literary arts initiative that brings renowned international writers to western New York for readings and related outreach activities.

Kundiman, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the 2010 Asian American Poetry Retreat, offering artistic and professional development for emerging Asian American poets. The retreat includes workshops, readings, lectures, mentorship opportunities, and a public reading.

Library Foundation of Hennepin County
Minneapolis, MN
$20,000
To support two author lecture series: Pen Pals and Talk of the Stacks. The former features acclaimed national and international authors; the latter features up-and-coming literary figures, established authors with new works, and regionally prominent writers.

Library Foundation of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
$30,000
To support ALOUD at Central Library, a literary outreach program in downtown Los Angeles targeting young and ethnically diverse audiences. Events will be promoted through blogs, online chats, and video podcasts available through the Los Angeles Public Library website, iTunes, and a local television station.

Literary Arts, Inc.
Portland, OR
$10,000
To support the Oregon Book Awards & Author Tour. Winners and finalists will be presented during readings at libraries, bookstores, and community organizations throughout the state.

Loft, Inc. (aka The Loft Literary Center)
Minneapolis, MN
$60,000
To support the Minnesota Program for Writers, which offers classes, mentorship opportunities, and workshops for writers of all levels. Additional events include readings, book clubs, and other opportunities for community members to engage in a dialogue with a range of prose, poetry, young adult, and children's writers.

Marygrove College
Detroit, MI
$5,000
To support a day of readings and workshops with a critically renowned African American writer as part of the college's Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series. The program will be promoted to more than 200,000 students and community members.

National Book Critics Circle
New York, NY
$7,500
To support the expansion of the National Book Critics Circle website and the Critical Mass literary blog. These online resources feature daily original content on book culture, industry news, previews, reviews, interviews, and multimedia coverage of awards events, readings, and panel discussions.

National Book Foundation, Inc.
New York, NY
$30,000
To support The Best of the National Book Awards Poetry campaign in honor of the foundation's 60th anniversary. The campaign, designed to highlight the work of the 50 poets who have won the award since 1950, will feature a daily blog/web page, posters, flyers, a printed timeline of winners, and public events in different regions of the country.

National Book Foundation, Inc. (Consortium)
New York, NY
$15,000
To support BookUpNYC, a 12-week program encouraging middle school students to read for pleasure. Presented in partnership with the Children's Aid Society, the after-school program is led by published writers who model good reading behavior and help students explore new ideas of literature.

New York Botanical Garden
Bronx, NY
$15,000
To support a literary audio tour throughout the garden. Recordings will feature New York City-based writers reading their nature-inspired short stories, essays, or poems and commenting on what inspired them.

New York Writers Coalition Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$5,000
To support the sixth annual Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival. The project will consist of a six-week series of free creative workshops for young people and a public reading.

Nicholas Roerich Museum, The
New York, NY
$5,000
To support a poetry in translation reading series. Proposed events include Charles Martin reading from his translation of the Bhagavad Gita and contemporary Greek poet Katerina Angelaki-Rooke reading her poetry in Greek alongside Karen Van Dyke reading her English translations.

PEN American Center, Inc.
New York, NY
$50,000
To support the 2011 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. The project will feature readings, performances, discussions, conversations, screenings, and music in both large-scale and intimate public venues.

PEN Center USA West (aka PEN USA)
Beverly Hills, CA
$40,000
To support Freedom to Write, a series of programs reaching writers in underserved communities. The project includes PEN in the Classroom, providing creative writing residencies for at-risk youth; Emerging Voices, a fellowship program for aspiring writers; and Writers' Toolbox, a series of discussions about the craft and business of writing.

PEN/Faulkner Foundation
Washington, DC
$25,000
To support the annual PEN/Faulkner Reading Series and the Writers in Schools Program. The foundation will bring writers to local high school classrooms, work with teachers to prepare them for the visit, and distribute resource materials and books to participants.

Poetry Project, Limited (aka Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church)
New York, NY
$15,000
To support the Monday Night and Wednesday Night Reading Series. These events allow poets to perform new work for a broad audience. Together, the two series will present 64 live programs featuring 130 poets and performers.

Poetry Society of America
New York, NY
$70,000
To support new and existing public programming that celebrates the organization's 100th anniversary. Launched in 1992, Poetry in Motion places poetry placards in public transportation systems throughout the country, reaching 12 million mass transit riders daily in cities nationwide.

Poets & Writers, Inc.
New York, NY
$70,000
To support the publication of Poets & Writers Magazine and the expansion of the Poets & Writers website.  The national literary service organization will make content from the magazine and the website available on a range of mobile and other digital devices.

Poets House, Inc.
New York, NY
$75,000
To support talks, panels, readings, and symposia in celebration of Poets House's 25th anniversary. Activities include The Poet in the World, a series of free lunchtime lectures, and Passwords Revisited, in which panels will discuss new topics as well as refresh conversations on previously held panel discussions.

RADAR Productions
San Francisco, CA
$5,000
To support RADAR Lab, a writer's retreat targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender writers. Scheduled faculty includes Michelle Tea, Eileen Myles, and Jewelle Gomez.

Rattapallax, Inc.
New York, NY
$7,500
To support a free poetry and literary film festival in New York City. The festival will feature short films, documentaries, and other collaborations between filmmakers, poets, and writers specifically focused on Hispanic, Asian American, and Arab American populations.

Richard Hugo House
Seattle, WA
$30,000
To support a series of programs to encourage the creation of new work and introduce new writing to broader audiences. Key activities include a literary cage match in which local writers are teamed up with artists working in other mediums to create and present new collaborative pieces.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Consortium)
New Brunswick, NJ
$30,000
To support Latina/o Literary Imagination, a biennial conference and website designed to foster community among Latina/o literary artists. Rutgers will partner with the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque to engage writers, critics, scholars, and other attendees in actual and virtual cross-country conversations.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-Camden Campus
Camden, NJ
$10,000
To support Writers at Camden, a series of free monthly workshops, readings, and discussions with visiting writers targeting residents of the city of Camden, one of the most poverty-stricken cities in the nation. Scheduled authors include Victor Lavalle, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Veronica Chambers, Juan Herrera, Elizabeth Strout, and Tom Bissell.

San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA
$25,000
To support free web access to selections from the Poetry Center Digital Archive. The archive includes more than 3,000 audio recordings of poets from 1954 to the present.

Seattle Arts and Lectures, Inc. (Consortium)
Seattle, WA
$25,000
To support readings and conversations with distinguished poets, as well as intensive writing classes for youth and adults. In partnership with Richard Hugo House, the organization will select poets from the series to conduct day-long poetry classes for both published and emerging writers.

Small Press Distribution, Inc. (aka SPD) (Consortium)
Berkeley, CA
$60,000
To support the expanded distribution of independently published books to booksellers and librarians. In partnership with the American Booksellers Association, SPD will extend its reach by attendance at book festivals and tradeshows in targeted regions, and through mailings to independent booksellers nationwide.

Society of the Muse of the Southwest
Taos, NM
$5,000
To support literary events that unite the Hispanic, American Indian, and Caucasian communities of Northern New Mexico. Activities include public readings, youth mentoring, and an annual storytelling festival.

Storyville Center for the Spoken Word (aka The Moth)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support a series of storytelling events in New York City and in other areas of the country featuring both established and emerging writers who will share original narratives based on their life experiences. Performances are developed, edited, and directed through a one-on-one process conducted by The Moth's directors.

Telling Room
Portland, ME
$5,000
To support free, intensive, school-day and after-school workshops ranging from four to six weeks targeting disadvantaged youth ages 8 to 18. The workshops will culminate in publication of an anthology of student work and a public reading.

Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, Inc.
New Orleans, LA
$15,000
To support the 25th annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival and the ninth annual Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. Both festivals include a series of readings, literary panels, and writing workshops.

University of Arizona (on behalf of Poetry Center)
Tucson, AZ
$15,000
To support a series of events to celebrate the Poetry Center's 50th anniversary. Proposed presenters include Luis Rodriguez, Gary Snyder, Peggy Shumaker, Adrienne Rich, Mark Strand, and Tony Hoagland.

University of Mississippi Main Campus
University, MS
$5,000
To support the 2011 Oxford Conference for the Book. The program will pay tribute to Tennessee Williams to celebrate his 100th birthday. The free, three-day festival, held in William Faulkner's hometown, will feature panel sessions and workshops with authors, editors, agents, librarians, booksellers, and book technology experts.

University of North Dakota Main Campus
Grand Forks, ND
$15,000
To support the 42nd Annual University of North Dakota Writers Conference. The university also will make available online more than 60 hours of historical audio footage from past conferences dating back to 1970.

University of Rochester
Rochester, NY
$10,000
To support the Reading the World Conversation Series. Each event will feature a reading by an international author followed by a discussion between the author and his/her translator. The focus on the translator is one of the distinguishing characteristics of these readings targeting residents of Rochester and the surrounding areas.

University of Texas at Dallas (on behalf of The Center for Translation Studies/ALTA)
Dallas, TX
$25,000
To support professional development opportunities and publications for literary translators. Activities include the American Literary Translators Association conference, publication of Translation Review and other materials, and the continued development of the website.

Utah Humanities Council
Salt Lake City, UT
$10,000
To support the 13th annual Utah Humanities Book Festival. Events will take place at City Library in downtown Salt Lake City, as well as in rural communities across the state. The festival is estimated to reach 17,000 people in 12 communities around Utah.

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy (Consortium)
Charlottesville, VA
$25,000
To support the 2011 Virginia Festival of the Book, including free author readings, panel discussions, lectures, writing workshops, school visits, and youth conferences. In partnership with the Charlottesville City Schools, the festival will also offer adult education programs.

Voices UnBroken
Bronx, NY
$10,000
To support outreach programs for youth who are incarcerated, detained, or in the foster care system. Activities will include creative writing workshops, monthly open mics, and performances featuring professional writers reading alongside workshop participants.

Wolverine Farm Publishing
Fort Collins, CO
$5,000
To support Matter Daily, a free online arts and cultural magazine for the Fort Collins community. The magazine will provide an arts and cultures calendar, ticketing links, creative fiction and nonfiction pieces, arts reporting and discussions, and a spotlight on a Fort Collins artist/writer of the week.

Woodland Pattern, Inc. (aka Woodland Pattern Book Center)
Milwaukee, WI
$25,000
To support a series of programs in celebration of the Woodland Pattern Book Center's 30th anniversary. The center will offer readings, residencies, creative writing workshops, master classes, and book art exhibitions.

Writer's Garret (Consortium)
Dallas, TX
$30,000
To support new tapings and rebroadcasts of The Writer's Studio, a radio show on KERA Public Radio FM. In partnership with North Texas Public Broadcasting, the show is taped in front of a live audience and features interviews with established authors.

Writers and Books, Inc.
Rochester, NY
$15,000
To support Rochester Reads and Writes. The series will feature year-round, multi-genre writing workshops; If All of Rochester Read the Same Book, a community-wide reading program; and First Novels, a new program designed to introduce Rochester readers to newly published authors.

Writers Center
Bethesda, MD
$20,000
To support the Service to Writers and Readers Initiative. Activities include BookTalk, a free reading group for community members; the "Open Door Reading Series; and free writing workshops for local and visiting armed forces veterans and soldiers.

Writers' League of Texas
Austin, TX
$10,000
To support the Literary Lone Stars Touring Program, which will brings Texas authors and free literary programs to culturally underserved regions throughout the state. The league also will serve far west Texas through the Way Out West Texas Book Festival in Alpine and school visits by Hispanic children's book authors.

Young Men's & Young Women's Hebrew Association (aka 92nd Street Y)
New York, NY
$60,000
To support the Unterberg Poetry Center's Main Reading Series at the 92nd Street Y. The series features readings, literary tributes, and dialogues between writers and audiences about literary and related topics.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506

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