2025-2026 Regional Grants and
Touring Artist Engagements Announced
Over $625,000 Awarded to Mid Atlantic Region Organizations
in Support of 141 Engagements and Projects
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Baltimore – October 8, 2025 – Mid Atlantic region organizations are bringing an extraordinary mix of artists and projects to the region in 2025-2026 through the ArtsCONNECT, Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects, Jazz Touring Network, Mid Atlantic Tours, and Special Presenter Initiatives programs. Grants totaling $627, 884 will support 141 artist engagements and projects from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. All ten states and jurisdictions served by Mid Atlantic Arts – Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia – are represented in the grantee pool.
Funding for all five programs is made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Regional Engagement Program.
Find out more about the grantees in your state here.
More information on the five programs, grantees, and engagements can be found at the links below.
ArtsCONNECT supports performing arts touring projects collaboratively developed by presenters working together in the mid-Atlantic region. The tours include performances as well as complementary engagement activities designed to create greater understanding or connections between artists, audiences, and communities. The 2025-2026 ArtsCONNECT program will support six tours visiting 20 communities across the region. Artists include:
- Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, multidisciplinary dance works
- Los Pleneros de la 21, Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena music
- Natural Information Society, musical long-form psychedelic environments
- Manual Cinema, immersive shadow puppetry performances
- Soles of Duende, all-female trio exploring Tap, Flamenco, and Kathak dance
- Tambacum, traditional music group from Colombia
See a full list of grantees, engagement venues, and artist information at this link.
Folk and Traditional Arts Community Project Grants fund projects that support the vitality of traditional arts and cultures in the mid-Atlantic region. Eligible project activities include exhibits, arts education series for youth, performances, festivals, and more. Some of the cultural communities and traditions represented in the 2026 grantee pool include circus arts, West African dance, Gullah Geechee spirituals, quilting, Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena music, natural dyeing, papercraft, Mohawk basketry, and traditions related to life along Virginia waterways.
Learn more about the grantees and their projects at this link.
The Jazz Touring Network (JTN) is a presenter-based membership program that supports professional development, building partnerships, and working together to curate tours that reflect the richness of the field of jazz. Performance fee subsidies are provided to JTN members for engagements that are part of network block-booked tours. JTN members are required to book a community engagement activity with all JTN supported engagements. In 2025-2026, JTN members will host 28 engagements through nine tours including:
- El Laberinto del Coco, Puerto Rican percussion
- Endea Owens and the Cookout, bassist and composer
- Gabrielle Cavassa, vocalist
- Jonathan Barber & Vision Ahead, drummer, composer, and bandleader
- Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllus, guitarist and composer
- Omar Sosa Quarteto Americanos, pianist and composer
- Ravi Coltrane, saxophonist
- Tuba Skinny, traditional New Orleans jazz, blues, and ragtime
- Walter Smith III, saxophonist and composer
To learn more about the JTN and see a full list of engagements, click here.
Mid Atlantic Tours brings the best in performing arts ensembles to communities across the mid-Atlantic region. Presenters select from a curated roster of artists that changes annually but maintains a programmatic commitment to a diversity of performance genres, regional artist representation, and engaging with communities underserved by the arts. The 2025-2026 tours will include 52 engagements throughout the mid-Atlantic and include:
- Bindlestiff Family Cirkus – circus
- Brent Birckhead – jazz saxophonist
- The Experience Band & Show – jazz fusion band
- LauraB – singer/songwriter from Spain
- The Missing Element featuring the Beatbox House – street dance & beatboxing
- Nidia Góngora – Latin folk music from Colombia
- Orchestra of Indigenous Instruments and New Technologies – traditional, prehispanic, and contemporary music from Argentina
- The Paza Experience – Native American cultural performance
- Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca – Flamenco dance
To find out where MAT will be in your state, visit this link.
The Special Presenter Initiatives provide additional opportunities for the support of small to mid-sized performing arts presenters in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Native nations that share this geography. Engagements include performances as well as community activities that offer meaningful exchanges between touring artists and a presenter’s community. Twenty-eight engagements will be supported through the 2025-2026 program. Supported engagements include vocal performances, bomba and plena, jazz ensemble, chamber music, and more.
Click here for more information on the grantees and their engagements.
Header Image (l-r): Mid Atlantic Tours roster artist Brent Birckhead. Credit: Kirby Griffin; ArtsCONNECT touring ensemble Soles of Duende. Credit: Daryl Padilla; Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grantee, Society of the Educational Arts, Inc. Credit: George Riveron; Jazz Touring Network artist Jonathan Barber. Credit: Courtesy of the Artist; Special Presenter Initiatives funded engagement with Melanie Charles. Credit: Meredith Truax.
About Mid Atlantic Arts
Mid Atlantic Arts supports artists, presenters, and organizations through unique programming, grant support, partnerships, and information sharing. Created in 1979, Mid Atlantic Arts is aligned with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. We combine state and federal funding with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to nurture diverse artistic expression while connecting people to meaningful arts experiences within our region and beyond. To learn more about Mid Atlantic Arts visit www.midatlanticarts.org.
Contact:
Mackenzie Kwok
Communications and Social Media Manager
Mid Atlantic Arts
mkwok@midatlanticarts.org
410.539.6656 x123