Federal art grants are designed to honor artistic achievements.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a federal grant awarding body available to qualifying art disciplines. Many NEA grants are designed specifically for arts organizations and institutions. But grants awarded to individuals are made only through the following programs: NEA Opera Honors, NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, Literature Fellowship and the Folk and Traditional Arts programs offered by the NEA National Heritage Fellowships.
NEA Jazz Masters
NEA Jazz Masters awards are given yearly by the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship program. Grants from this program cannot be applied for. Instead, recipients are nominated by the public in the following categories: vocalist, rhythm instrumentalist, pianist, solo instrumentalist and an arranger or composer. An additional federal arts grant is awarded for jazz advocacy. Each award given is in the amount of $25,000 and awarded only once in the lifetime of the recipient. Contact the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship program for a nomination application. Nominees cannot nominate themselves. Nominations are due the year prior to the award.
NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 703
Washington, DC 20506-0001
202-682-5711
http://arts.endow.gov/national/jazz/index.html
NEA National Heritage Grants
Folk and Traditional Arts grants awarded through the NEA National Heritage Fellowship program recognize artistic excellence, lifetime achievement and note the contribution to the nation's arts heritage. Awards are given by nomination and not by application. Grants are awarded in the amount of $25,000 to qualifying individuals and to groups of individuals. The nomination process requires a biography and samples of the artist's work as well as statements noting the nominee's contributions and qualifications, and five letters of nomination. Nominees should be working in the folk and traditional arts including dance, crafts, storytelling, music and more. These areas qualify for NEA grants because they support the culture and community of a shared ethnicity, heritage, occupation, geographic region or language.
NEA National Heritage Fellowships
Folk & Traditional Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 720
Washington, DC 20506-0001
202-682-5587
http://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/index.html
NEA Opera Honors
Grants awarded through the NEA Opera Honors program may be awarded for lifetime achievement or for a single accomplishment. The program does not allow individuals or groups to apply but instead grant winners are nominated by the public. Artists considered for nomination include singers, designers, directors, librettists, composers, conductors and collaborative teams. Grants are awarded in the amount of $25,000 and are given only once in the lifetime of the artist. 2009 recipients of the NEA Opera Honors were Frank Corsaro, Lotfi Mansouri, Julius Rudel, John Adams and Marilyn Horne.
NEA Opera Honors
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-682-5600
http://arts.endow.gov/honors/opera/index.html
NEA Literature Fellowship
Unlike many of the federal art grants, literature grants are awarded by the NEA through application and not by nomination. Only published writers of poetry and prose (creative nonfiction and fiction) are eligible for the grants. The program alters requests for prose and poetry every two years, writers can only apply once each year. Poetry writers may apply for 2011 awards, 2010 awards will go to writers of prose. Grants are awarded in the amount of $20,000 to each recipient and are meant to allow writers time to travel, research and write to advance their careers. Writers must submit their grant applications electronically via the grants.gov application system.
NEA Literature Fellowship Program
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-682-5034
http://www.arts.gov/grants/apply/Lit/index.html
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