NEA grants '97: and the winners are....

WASHINGTON--For thirty years, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded grants based solely on artistic merit according to each organization's specific discipline. That has all changed. The April announcement of the final round of grants marks the completion of the first full year under a funding structure in which applicants are required to apply in one of four categories: Heritage and Preservation, Education and Access, Planning and Stabilization, and Creation and Presentation--and in which the NEA is mandated to consider an organization's community impact.

Necessitated by a 40 percent budget cut from fiscal year 1995--from $162 million to $99.5 million, a level that has been sustained for the past two years--and new legislation reflecting a conservative policy toward arts funding, the new grant structure fostered intense competition among applicants as dance organizations were forced to compete directly with those in the other disciplines for NEA funds. Virtually all individual grants were eliminated.

NEA officials would not release the names of rejected applicants for fear it would affect their ability to attract private funds. New York City Ballet took a major hit; its grant was slashed from $350,000 in 1996 to $125,000.

At the top of the winners list are the Joyce Theater in New York City, Mark Morris Dance Group, Miami City Ballet, Limon Dance Company, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, all of which received bigger awards this year than last. Others got increases that were less evident: While Paul Taylor's $150,000 award mirrored that of 1996, the company will indirectly benefit from other grants.

In this round, 736 grants totaling $67 million were given, comprising 79 percent of the NEA's 1997 grantmaking funds. Under Creation and Presentation, 494 grants totaling $23.5 million were allotted, and 125 Planning and Stabilization grants (ten to dance organizations) amounting to $10.5 million were awarded. Additional grants of $33 million were given out.

The grant list is a coming attractions preview of the next year in dance. To wit:

* $80,000 of the Joyce's $200,000 grant--which ties the Cunningham Foundation for the largest grant in the area of Creation and Presentation--will help cover the cost of the theater's Altogether Different Festival. The grant will also help pay for engagements next season by the German company Soap and by Sydney Dance Company. "We were surprised" at the grant, said Joyce executive director Linda Shelton. "We, like many organizations, were feeling not so optimistic because of the cuts in general at the NEA." Why was the Joyce's application successful, when two thirds of the applicants were rejected? "We were able to be very specific," said Shelton. "And not every presenter or company can plan that far in advance. These applications were due at least eighteen months before the events were supposed to take place."

* Miami City Ballet received $100,000 to be used in part to acquire Taylor's Funny Papers, making it the first company outside Taylor to perform dance's cartoon classic. MCB received $12,500 last year.

* Mark Morris Dance Group, which received $55,000 last year, got $150,000 to support Morris's choreographing and direction of Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1745 opera Platee, a coproduction with Britain's Royal Opera which premieres August 11 in Edinburgh. "We are one of those groups who managed to benefit from this restructuring," said development director Michael Osso. "The money is going specifically for projects, so if you're an organization like ours that has a $2.7 million budget, you have a lot of projects."

* Taylor's $150,000 will be used in support of the company's patented in tandem touring, in which the main company and Taylor 2 fan out across a state. with the second company often taking the smaller sites and conducting community outreach. This year's grant will pay for programs in Texas, San Francisco, and Alaska. In Alaska next fall, the company will perform in Anchorage and smaller towns. Part of a $50,000 grant to the Anchorage Opera Center will also support the Taylor tour.

* NYCB's grant of $125,000 goes toward bringing back revivals of Frederick Ashton's Illuminations and Antony Tudor's Dim Lustre. Illuminations was last performed in 1974, and NYCB was unable to determine when Dim Lustre last played.

If the list of Creation and Presentation grantees provides a look at the immediate artistic vistas of several companies, the Planning and Stabilization grantees roster illuminates the financial side of the business. Considering how many dance companies have battled financial problems in recent years, the number who sought assistance in this category is surprisingly low. Twenty-one dance companies applied for Planning and Stabilization grants, while 137 organizations applied for money under Creation and Presentation, twenty-two in Heritage and Preservation, and thirty-seven in Education and Access.

The biggest winner in this category was Jacob's Pillow, which got $125,000 for its cash reserve. The Pillow, which owes $1.25 million to the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation [See Presstime News, September 1996], will use some of this money toward its next loan payment, said J.R. Glover, the Pillow's development manager. "Historically, we have had to borrow money each fall from the bank when we were short of cash reserves," Glover said. "Now, we can borrow money directly [from this fund] to save on the interest." The organization made a $75,000 interest payment in December 1996 on the loan, and owes another $75,000 this December plus a payment of $312,500 on the principal, according to Glover.

The new guidelines specify that applicants may submit one application per year in only one category, unless applying with a consortium. Jacob's Pillow took advantage of this allowance and received an $85,000 Creation and Presentation grant as part of a consortium. Likewise, Donald Byrd/The Group is receiving a grant of $40,000 to develop a five-year financial plan, and will also receive support under the umbrella of the New Orleans Ballet Association.

Of the more than 3,000 applications made in all four categories, 216 were from dance organizations, with 88 being funded. This amounts to slightly over $10 million, or 10 percent of the NEA's annual grant funds going to dance for fiscal year 1997. Fourteen percent of the funds went to theater, music, and museums respectively, and media arts received 12 percent of the money. The remainder goes to other disciplines.