Teresa Coleman Wash, the executive artistic director and founder of Dallas’ Bishop Arts Theatre Center, reacted to Thursday’s news the only way she could.
“I almost jumped out of my skin,” Wash said with a laugh.
Wash’s Oak Cliff arts organization won honors as one of 567 groups nationwide designated for $57.75 million in pandemic-related “rescue” funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. It’s the latest round of support for area arts groups in what continues to be a challenging period.
As Wash said, “It is a done deal,” meaning no further government approval is required. The Bishop Arts Theatre Center and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra each will each receive $150,000, the highest amount designated to any Dallas-area company.
“We are incredibly appreciative of the NEA for [its] support and quick rollout of this funding opportunity,” Kim Noltemy, the president and CEO of the symphony, said Thursday in a statement. “We are grateful for all who advocated for this bill and prioritized funding for the arts, especially Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson for her advocacy and strong support for the arts. This funding makes a significant difference in our ability to continue reaching out to the students and families who need music now more than ever.”
The others receiving the NEA grants, which are part of the American Rescue Plan, are the Dallas Black Dance Theatre ($100,000) and the Cara Mía Theatre Co. ($50,000). The four groups are the only ones in the Dallas area receiving the funding, which goes to a total of 25 Texas companies that collectively will get $2.55 million.
The American Rescue Plan is a $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed in early 2021 that includes payments, unemployment insurance, child benefits, funding for education priorities and more.
Recipients of the NEA grants can use them only for specific expenses: to fund operations, facilities, and health and safety supplies and for marketing efforts — and to preserve jobs.
The amounts announced Thursday were the third installment of American Rescue Plan arts funding, following the April 2021 announcement of $52 million and the November 2021 announcement of $20.2 million.
The April 2021 announcement allocated $1,193,500 to the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the November announcement gave $250,000 to the City of Dallas, which increased overall arts funding from the Office of Arts and Culture.
“We were thrilled,” Jennifer Scripps, director of the city’s Office of Arts and Culture, said of the November allocation. “That was our largest NEA grant that we can find a record of. We will be using it to do another round” of city grants allocated to individual artists, which she said she expects to happen later this year.
The most surprising element of Thursday’s announcement may have been who was omitted from the latest round of NEA funding. Houston’s largest theatrical company, the Alley Theatre, received $150,000 in funding, whereas the Dallas Theater Center received nothing. No Fort Worth companies received any of the funding announced Thursday, nor did any museums in North Texas.
“We knew going in that it was going to be highly competitive,” said Jeffrey Woodward, managing director of the Dallas Theater Center, which won the Tony Award as the best regional theater in America in 2017. “And that’s how it played out. Fewer than 8% of the groups that applied got the funding. So, there were 7,500 applicants, and there were 567 grants” and a funding pool of $57.75 million, which was much lower than the $695 million that Woodward said cultural groups had requested from the government.
“What they hinted at in the initial process was that the bulk of the money and grants was going to go to smaller organizations. In general, that was my understanding.”
Austin and San Antonio matched Dallas, with four companies in each of those cities receiving funding, whereas a dozen Houston companies received the latest round of NEA rescue funding that Wash deemed invaluable.
“This funding,” she said, “will allow us to continue avant-garde programming. Last year, we were able to bring on a playwright-in-residence, Franky D. Gonzalez. The NEA funding in particular helps fund Franky’s salary, and we have rolled out a playwright lab program, in which we are offering a writing workshop for five local playwrights.
“We’re hoping to develop new plays and cultivate meaningful relationships with those playwrights long term.”
Thursday’s allocation is the largest amount Bishop Arts has ever received from the NEA, said Wash, who noted that the company is already in rehearsals for its “How to Be” project, which she said will present “10 plays for racial justice,” running from mid-February to early March.
“The NEA is one of our sponsors,” she said, noting that Thursday’s contribution “is the largest grant we’ve ever received.” — of any kind and from any source.
Private grants have also been a source of support for North Texas arts organizations. Earlier this month, Dallas performing arts group TITAS/Dance Unbound announced it was awarded $250,000 from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to back its efforts during the pandemic.
