Press Releases

USArtists International Announces 2010 Third Round Grants
Program Supports Sending U.S. Performing Artists to Festivals Abroad

Baltimore, MD - July 19, 2010 - Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation announces the third round of grantees awarded for the 2010 cycle of USArtists International (USAI). USAI ensures that the impressive range of expression of the performing arts in the United States is represented abroad, and that the creative and professional development of American artists is enhanced through participation at significant international festivals and engagements that represent extraordinary career opportunities.

Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation will grant awards totaling $156,793 to 27 theater, dance, and music ensembles and solo artists; combined, the grantees will attend a total of 28 different festivals in  17 countries over six continents, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Spain, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. 
 
The grantees span a wide variety of performing genres and styles, and range from the Minnesota Orchestra to the 101 Runners Band in New Orleans, LA, and the Kronos Quartet of San Francisco, CA, to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York, NY. The entire list of grantees can be found here. The grantees were recommended after a panel review consisting of the following arts professionals:

Music Panelists

> Robert Browning, New York, NY, Founder and Executive Director, World Music Institute
> Christopher Hunt, Bloomington, IN, Professor of Arts Administration, Indiana University, Bloomington
> Amy Knoles, Los Angeles, CA, Musician/Executive Director, California E.A.R. Unit
> Sumi Tonooka, Beacon, NY, Composer/Faculty Member, SUNY Dutchess and Bard College

Dance/Theater Panelists
> Erin Doughton, Portland, OR, Performing Arts Program Director, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art
> Christopher Hunt, Bloomington, IN, Professor of Arts Administration, Indiana University, Bloomington
> David Thomson, New York, NY, Performer
> Brenda Way, San Francisco, CA, Founder and Artistic Director of ODC Dance

USAI is made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

About Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation fosters and supports arts programming for the benefit of arts organizations, artists and audiences and encourages exchanges that link the arts resources of the mid-Atlantic region to the rest of the nation and the world.  The Foundation was created in 1979 and is a private non-profit organization that is closely allied with the region's state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. It combines funding from state and federal resources with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to address needs in the arts from a regional perspective.  The region includes nine states and jurisdictions:  The District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S.Virgin Islands, Virginia and West Virginia.

About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.
http://www.nea.gov