First NEA grants for 2003 - Artworld - National Endowment for the Arts

Art in America, March, 2003 by Stephanie Cash, David Ebony

Though its budget for fiscal year 2003 is still pending in Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts has announced its first round of grants; the agency has continued to operate at 2002 funding levels since the new fiscal year began in October. The Bush administration has requested $117 million in funding, a nearly $2-million increase over the previous year. The House passed the budget increase but, as we go to press, it awaits approval in the Senate, which often votes to maintain previous levels. The initial round of grants, worth nearly $26 million, allocates about 27 percent of expected grant-making funds for 2003.

Close to $20 million has been awarded to support 794 projects in the Creativity category. Six million dollars was awarded to various organizations for Leadership Initiative and Organizational Capacity grants, and $760,000 in Literature Fellowships was evenly divided among 38 individuals. Among the recipients are the Philadelphia Museum of Art ($100,000 for "The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890-1973"), the Oakland Museum of California ($80,000 for a traveling David Ireland retrospective), the UCLA Hammer Museum ($85,000 for a Lee Bontecou survey), the Cleveland Museum of Art ($70,000 for "Gaudi to Dali: Barcelona and Modernity, 1868-1939"), L.A. MOCA ($55,000 for "A Minimal Future: Art as Object 1958-68"), New York's Asia Society ($45,000 for a Montien Boonma exhibition), the Williams College Museum of Art ($40,000 for a Kara Walker exhibition), California College of Arts and Crafts ($35,000 to support Capp Street Project residencies and programs), the Philadelphia ICA ($30,000 for a Barry Le Va show), the Bronx Museum of the Arts ($25,000 for a Valeska Soares exhibition), the Berkeley Art Museum ($25,000 for a touring Paul Kos survey), the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston ($25,000 for a Matthew Ritchie show), Printed Matter ($20,000 for a Web-based catalogue raisonne of artists' books), the Whitney Museum of American Art ($25,000 for an Elie Nadelman show), and the nonprofit magazines Sculpture ($20,000), Art Papers in Atlanta ($22,000), and ArtLies in Houston ($13,000).