FY 2011 Grant Awards: Arts on Radio and Television

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

Adminstrators of the Tulane Educational Fund (aka Tulane University)
New Orleans, LA
$60,000
To support the production and national distribution of American Routes, a weekly radio series devoted to the roots of popular music and popular roots music. Folklorist Nick Spitzer hosts the two-hour, weekend-oriented program, in which he combines recordings with in-studio performances, field recordings, and interviews.

American Documentary, Inc. (aka P.O.V.)
Brooklyn, NY
$250,000
To support the selection, acquisition, packaging, and promotion of films for broadcast on the public television series P.O.V. (Point of View). As the longest running PBS series devoted exclusively to the art of independent, non-fiction film, P.O.V. brings documentary artworks to national audiences.

API Arts and Outreach, Inc
New York, NY
$50,000
To support the production of a film about the music at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Directed by Daniel Anker, The Greatest Jubilee will be a one-hour documentary intended for public television broadcast.

API Arts and Outreach, Inc.
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the development phase of a documentary film by Daniel Anker about the relationship between opera and Hollywood films. Intended for public television, the program will explore how filmmakers -- from Cecil B. Demille, through the Marx Brothers, to Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese -- have consistently borrowed and repackaged operatic themes and stories to great effect: artistic, dramatic, comedic and satiric.

Art 21, Inc. (aka Art21)
New York, NY
$150,000
To support the sixth season of the public television series Art: 21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century. Through four, one-hour programs, the series will introduce a broad audience to a diverse group of contemporary visual art and artists.

Artemis Media Project
Foley, AL
$10,000
To support the production of a public radio program and companion website. Heavenly Sight: Black Gospel's Blind Singers will tell the story of the blind musicians who, despite poverty, isolation, disability, and prejudice, influenced not only the course of American sacred music, but also the blues, bluegrass, and rock.

Association of Independents in Radio, Inc. (aka AIR)
Boston, MA
$50,000
To support the second phase of Makers Quest 2.0 (MQ2), a national collaboration among independent producers, public radio and television stations, and communities. There will be 10 separate media production teams "assigned" to invent new approaches to storytelling and distribution that blends traditional broadcast with digital platforms and tools.

Atlantic Public Media, Inc.
Woods Hole, MA
$25,000
To support the production of new Transom Radio Specials for public broadcasting and the web. The website Transom.org is dedicated to helping people tell their own audio stories.

Beale Street Caravan, Inc.
Memphis, TN
$10,000
To support the production and national broadcast of the public radio series Beale Street Caravan. Weekly, one-hour programs featuring performances by blues artists will be broadcast on more than 280 public, community, and college radio stations nationwide.

Capital Concerts, Inc.
Washington, DC
$25,000
To support staging and related costs for The National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth, two patriotic concerts at the United States Capitol to be broadcast nationally live on PBS in 2011. A national television audience of as many as 12 million watches these 90-minute programs each year.

Catticus Corporation
Berkeley, CA
$15,000
To support the completion of a documentary film about Charles Eames (1907-78) and Ray Eames (1912-88). The Architect and the Painter: The Creative Lives of Charles and Ray Eames will be a feature-length public television biography of the husband-and-wife team who are widely regarded as among the most influential American industrial designers of the 20th century.

Center for Asian American Media
San Francisco, CA
$20,000
To support the production and post-production of a public television program about ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro. The one-hour film portrait will capture the artist's performances before sold-out crowds, as well as intimate moments of life on the road and visits home to his native Hawaii, where he has risen from local hero to international star.

Center for Independent Documentary, Inc.
Sharon, MA
$20,000
To support the post-production and completion of a television documentary directed by Jack Walsh about the artist Yvonne Rainer. Dancer, choreographer, performer, filmmaker, and MacArthur Fellow, Yvonne Rainer has been a key figure in the American avant-garde for five decades.

Center for Independent Documentary, Inc.
Sharon, MA
$20,000
To support completion costs of a documentary film on cinéma vérité filmmaker Richard Leacock. A feature-length film by Jane Weiner, On Being There with Richard Leacock, will explore Leacock's 70-year career and his role in the evolution of observational documentary filmmaking.

Center for Independent Documentary, Inc.
Sharon, MA
$50,000
To support post-production costs for a documentary by Nancy Kates. Regarding Susan Sontag will be a portrait of the late writer and critic (1933-2004). In the midst of her work as a critic, Sontag wrote 17 books, authored a play and several screenplays, and directed four films. She was referred to as "America's foremost female intellectual."

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the production and distribution of a radio series of chamber music performances. Artists and repertoire under consideration for the 2011-12 Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center series include violinists Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, a program of traditional and contemporary Russian music, pianist Stephen Prutsman performing Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and works by composer Bright Sheng.

Chicago Architecture Foundation
Chicago, IL
$65,000
To support a series of web and radio broadcast programs that will tell the stories behind the building of America's places, spaces, and structures. Intended as a weekly one-hour program, One Nation, Under Construction is a series of 75 episodes exploring architecture, infrastructure, urban history, planning and landscape, and highlighting the work of architects, engineers, planners, and community builders.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago, IL
$20,000
To support the BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series. Performances will include Berlioz's Lelio, featuring French movie star Gerard Depardieu narrating a vivid tale of horror; the world premiere of Bernard Rands' Danza Petrificada, a work inspired by the words of Mexican poet Octavio Paz; and Verdi's Otello, which will showcase the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

Craft in America, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA
$100,000
To support the public television series Craft in America. Intended for broadcast in fall 2011, two new one-hour prime-time documentary programs will feature craft artists from various regions of the country, working in materials such as wood, glass, and fiber.

Davidson College
Davidson, NC
$75,000
To support the production and distribution of Concierto, a bilingual (Spanish and English) classical music service. In September 2011, WDAV Classical Public Radio will launch Concierto, the first bilingual classical radio service that includes a 24 hour, seven-day-a-week combination of "fresh" and repeated hours on a full-featured website.

Davidson College
Davidson, NC
$90,000
To support the recording and production of classical-music and opera concerts. The Listen Live Initiative will capture performances at Carolinas festivals, concert halls, churches, and opera houses, and make them available nationally via traditional radio programming and innovative online technologies, including smartphones and tablet applications.

ETV Endowment of South Carolina, Inc.
Spartanburg, SC
$20,000
To support the production of new programs for the weekly radio program Piano Jazz. Developed and hosted by NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland, at 92 years old she has turned over the reins to her frequent guest host, pianist Jon Weber.

Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc.
Waltham, MA
$50,000
To support completion, distribution, and outreach costs for a documentary film about musician Johnny Cash (1932-2003). Directed by Sue Williams, the 90-minute film will weave together a wide selection of Cash's songs, film clips of his performances, home movies, and interviews with family, friends, and fellow musicians as it traces the story of his life and career.

Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc.
Waltham, MA
$30,000
To support the production of a documentary film on the playwright Lorraine Hansberry (1930-65). Directed by Tracy Heather Strain, the feature-length film will explore the life and work of the playwright best known for writing the groundbreaking play A Raisin in the Sun.

Friends of WWOZ, Inc. (aka WWOZ 90.7 FM)
New Orleans, LA
$50,000
To support the production of the weekly radio and website program New Orleans All the Way Live. Each one-hour episode highlights live musical performances recorded regularly by station WWOZ 90.7 FM, and includes interviews with musicians and feature segments on the food, traditions, and culture of New Orleans.

From the Top, Inc.
Boston, MA
$60,000
To support the production of the public radio series From the Top. The weekly, hour-long radio program features performances by young classical musicians ages eight to 18.

Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc. (aka WETA)
Arlington, VA
$100,000
To support WETA's production of a series of arts news reports. A dedicated Arts Unit will produce as many as 15 in-depth arts segments as part of the public television program PBS NewsHour.

Independent Television Service, Inc. (aka ITVS)
San Francisco, CA
$170,000
To support the selection, acquisition, and packaging of films for the public television series Independent Lens. This weekly PBS series provides the public with access to innovative, dramatic, animated, and documentary works by independent filmmakers.

Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
$10,000
To support the production of a radio series featuring the pianist Alexander Toradze. A collaboration between Indiana University at South Bend and WFMT Radio Network in Chicago, Russian Piano: Exploring Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev with Alexander Toradze and Friends will feature live performances by Alexander Toradze and senior members of the Toradze Piano Studio, enhanced by historic recordings of the three featured composer/pianists, and interviews with Toradze, Valery Gergiev, and writer/producer Joseph Horowitz.

Jazz Forum Arts, Inc.
Dobbs Ferry, NY
$20,000
To support a series of radio programs based on the Piano Summit performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The programs will feature an intriguing survey of jazz masters in instrumental aural combinations: solo piano, duo piano, piano trio, and two-piano quartet.

Kitchen Sisters Productions (aka The Kitchen Sisters)
San Francisco, CA
$50,000
To support the production and national distribution of a series of audio documentaries to be produced by Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva. New programs from the public radio series and website The Secret Life of Girls Around the World will focus on women and girls in the arts.

KQED
San Francisco, CA
$200,000
To support the production of a television series exploring music from around the world. SOUND TRACKS: Music Without Borders will be a prime-time, six-hour public television mini-series that will present musical performances in the context of well-reported and well-crafted stories.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
New York, NY
$100,000
To support the production and broadcast of the television series Live From Lincoln Center. Since 1976, Live From Lincoln Center has made accessible more than 200 live performances.

Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc. (aka The Met)
New York, NY
$150,000
To support production and post-production costs associated with the national telecasts of Great Performances at the Met. Captured in high-definition video, the productions will be broadcast on PBS stations and live performance transmissions in high definition to more than 1,000 movie theaters in 44 countries.

Minnesota Public Radio, Inc. (aka Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media)
St. Paul, MN
$150,000
To support the production, acquisition, and national radio broadcast of classical music programming. In 2011-12, programs such as Performance Today, SymphonyCast, and Pipedreams will reach a cumulative audience of as many as two million listeners each week.

National Black Programming Consortium
New York, NY
$50,000
To support the acquisition, packaging, and distribution of a curated film series about the arts and culture in the African Diaspora. In its fourth year on public television, AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange will reach national audiences through American Public Television.

National Public Radio, Inc. (aka NPR)
Washington, DC
$40,000
To support the production and expansion of a multimedia arts project that explores Latin alternative music and culture. National Public Radio's Alt.Latino is a weekly, 15-minute multi-lingual podcast program, a website, and blog about Latino Alternative Music, a combination of genres (alternative rock, electronic, metal, funk, new wave, reggae, heavy metal, and others) with traditional Latin American songs.

National Public Radio, Inc. (aka NPR)
Washington, DC
$125,000
To support a music website. The NPR Music site offers all genres of music (jazz, classical, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, rock, pop, folk, world) and provides content from NPR and 12 NPR public radio member stations, including live performances, studio sessions, first listens to new albums, interviews, reviews, and blogs.

Newark Public Radio, Inc. (aka WBGO)
Newark, NJ
$60,000
To support the production of JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, a weekly radio series of jazz concerts. The series is produced by WBGO/Newark and distributed by NPR and reaches approximately 140,000 listeners throughout the United States each week.

Pennsylvania Public Radio Associates, Inc. (aka Echoes)
Chester Springs, PA
$10,000
To support the production of concerts and special features for Echoes, a daily radio series of contemporary music. This daily series features programs of ambient music, world fusion, classical cross-over, new acoustic, and contemporary chamber music, interviews, and "Living Room Concerts."

Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc. (aka The New York Philharmonic)
New York, NY
$35,000
To support the production of national radio broadcasts of performances by the New York Philharmonic during its 2011-12 season. Approximately 2.5 million listeners will hear each two-hour program in the 52-week series.

Public Radio International, Inc. (aka PRI)
Minneapolis, MN
$30,000
To support the production of The Global Hit segments on the weekday news and information radio program The World. The daily feature showcases world music for American audiences, offering listeners a unique perspective on other cultures through the medium of music.

Public Radio International, Inc. (aka PRI)
Minneapolis, MN
$60,000
To support the production and distribution of Studio 360. The series of weekly arts and culture radio programs designed to illuminate the role of the arts in society is a co-production of Public Radio International and WNYC-FM.

Radio Foundation, Inc. (aka RadioArt®)
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the production for radio and audio media of James Joyce's Ulysses. Produced by Larry Josephson, The Complete Ulysses will be a reading of the entire novel by a company of actors including Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, John Goodman, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Kate Valk, Bob Dishy, and Judy Graubart, plus many other veteran New York and Hollywood actors.

Riverwalk Jazz
San Antonio, TX
$25,000
To support the weekly public radio jazz series Riverwalk Jazz. Distributed by Public Radio International to 167 stations nationwide, each hour-long program features the Jim Cullum Jazz Band along with guest performances with interviews, oral histories, and historical recordings to celebrate important artists and eras in jazz history.

San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco, CA
$25,000
To support the production of a television program featuring the San Francisco Symphony with Director Michael Tilson Thomas. The two-hour special, SFS@100, will capture the San Francisco Symphony's Centennial Season Opening Gala concert that will take place September 2011.

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Ltd.
Santa Fe, NM
$10,000
To support the production and distribution of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival radio series. The series will include 13 one-hour programs created from festival recordings. Each program consists of commentary, interviews, and music performance.

South Carolina Educational Communications, Inc.
Spartanburg, SC
$20,000
To support the production of the radio series American Popular Song with Michael Feinstein. Feinstein, a leading contemporary interpreter and archivist of the Great American Songbook, will present new material along with archival conversations and performances from the Peabody award-winning 1977 radio series American Popular Song with Alec Wilder (American composer, 1907-80).

StoryCorps, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$50,000
To support the production of StoryCorps radio segments for weekly broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition. A collaboration with the Library of Congress and public radio stations, StoryCorps is a nationwide project aimed at inspiring Americans to record one another's stories in sound.

StoryCorps, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$20,000
To support the production of animated short films intended for national television broadcast. StoryCorps is a national project aimed at inspiring Americans to record one another's stories in sound.

Storyville Center for the Spoken Word (aka The Moth)
New York, NY
$30,000
To support the production and distribution of the radio series The Moth Radio Hour. The series showcases the art of storytelling by featuring first-person accounts recorded before live audiences.

Sweet Bird Classics, Inc.
Edmonds, WA
$20,000
To support the production and distribution of the radio series America's Music Festivals. Hosted by conductor Marin Alsop, the 26-week series will showcase live performances from some of the most dynamic music festivals in the country.

Symphony Space, Inc.
New York, NY
$25,000
To support the production and recording costs of public radio series Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story, and distribution of related CDs. Selected Shorts features leading stage and screen actors reading both classic and new short fiction by established and emerging authors of diverse cultures.

Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
$15,000
To support the production and distribution of Sound Beat, a daily public radio show and podcast available in 90-second or two-minute installments. The show uses historic sound recordings from the 1890s through the 1960s, along with entertaining back stories, to educate listeners about the role of arts and history in the American cultural experience.

Tundra Club
Bozeman, MT
$40,000
To support the production and national distribution of the public radio series Hearing Voices. This weekly, one-hour program showcases the expressive medium of radio including audio sound-portraits, slam poets, documentaries, radio dramas, long-form features, and found-sound.

Upper Cumberland Broadcast Council (aka WCTE-TV)
Cookeville, TN
$10,000
To support the post-production costs for the public television series Jammin at Hippie Jack's. The program presents music by original singer-songwriters, as well as blues, bluegrass, and folk music.

West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority
Charleston, WV
$15,000
To support the production and distribution of the public radio series Mountain Stage with Larry Groce. The weekly two-hour live performance program features a variety of contemporary, roots, and traditional music recorded before a theater audience.

WHYY, Inc.
Philadelphia, PA
$65,000
To support the production and national broadcast of the radio series Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The award-winning daily journal of contemporary arts and culture is broadcast on 528 National Public Radio stations and is heard by almost 4.5 million people each week.

Window to the World Communications, Inc. (aka The WFMT Radio Network)
Chicago, IL
$40,000
To support the production and national distribution of the radio series Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin. The series consists of one-hour programs aired each weekday focusing on classical music and presented in an informed, educational, and entertaining manner.

WNET.org (aka Thirteen)
New York, NY
$400,000
To support the development and production of the television series American Masters for PBS broadcast. Definitive documentary profiles of major cultural figures will be made available in 2012-13 to millions of viewers in all 50 states.

WNET.org (aka Thirteen)
New York, NY
$400,000
To support the development and production of performing arts specials for the television series Great Performances and Dance in America for broadcast on PBS. In 2011-12 several new American productions will be developed for Great Performances and its sub-series Dance in America.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
Vienna, VA
$10,000
To support the production and distribution of the radio series Center Stage from Wolf Trap. The series provides national audiences with chamber music performances recorded at the Barns of Wolf Trap near Washington, DC.

Women Make Movies, Inc.
New York, NY
$15,000
To support the development phase of a documentary film about the poet Sonia Sanchez. The winner of many major literary awards, including the American Book Award, 75-year-old Sanchez is best known for 16 books of poetry that explore a wide range of global and humanist themes, particularly the struggles and triumphs of women and people of color.

World Music Productions, Inc. (aka Afropop Worldwide)
Brooklyn, NY
$40,000
To support the production and distribution of the weekly public radio program Afropop Worldwide. The series showcases the contemporary musical cultures of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas, and is distributed by Public Radio International to more than 100 radio stations in the United States.

Number of Grants: 64          Total Amount: $4,000,000

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