The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Downtown LA’s REDCAT $45,000 for adventurous programming at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), CalArts downtown center for contemporary arts. The grant is among the largest awards announced by the NEA’s “Presenting and Multidisciplinary Program” in this round of Federal funding for culture, prompting REDCAT Executive Director Mark Murphy to say, “This large grant for REDCAT’s influential, contemporary performing arts programs is a significant endorsement of our vital focus on innovation and experimentation across artistic disciplines and international boundaries.”
Murphy stressed that the funding would support the creation and presentation of work by Los Angeles-based artists as well as leading national and international artists: “This grant supports our vital programs for local artists, such as the 2016 New Original Works Festival, as well as important projects by such distinguished visiting artists as award-winning Brazilian director Christiane Jatahy and New York’s renowned ensemble The Wooster Group. Both of these companies, which are led by very influential women in the history of contemporary theater, will present their work at REDCAT in February 2016.” The Wooster Group’s presentation of The Room, February 4 to 14, will be the world premiere.
The grant to REDCAT was among $27.6 Million in new grants announced for the first round of the Federal Agency’s Fiftieth Anniversary year. In its first 50 years, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded more than $5 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction, the only arts funder in the nation to do so. Today, the NEA announced awards totaling more than $27.6 million in its first funding round of fiscal year 2016, including an Art Works award of $45,000 to REDCAT.
The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.
NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “The arts are part of our everyday lives – no matter who you are or where you live – they have the power to transform individuals, spark economic vibrancy in communities, and transcend the boundaries across diverse sectors of society. Supporting projects like the one from REDCAT offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”
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