Elm Shakespeare Company Awarded NEA Art Works Grant

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $82 million to fund local arts projects and partnerships in the NEA's second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016. Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $15,000 to Elm Shakespeare Company to support Free Shakespeare in the Park and accompanying educational and community engagement and outreach programs. The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.

"The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected," said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. "Supporting projects like the one from Elm Shakespeare Company offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day."

Elm Shakespeare Producing Director Rebecca Goodheart added "We are thrilled to once again be able to make world-class Shakespearean performance available to everyone in New Haven at historic Edgerton Park, and to touch the lives of so many students, both young and old. It can only happen with the tremendous support of such visionary institutions as the National Endowment for the Arts, which ensures that no one in our great country goes without the simple pleasure and deep cultural richness of classical theater".

Founded in 1995, Elm Shakespeare Company has given the gift of FREE Shakespeare to over half a million people! From Free Shakespeare in the Park, to education programs for students of all ages, both in and outside of school, Elm Shakespeare Company has been a preeminent arts organization, committed to serving all of the Greater New Haven Community! The Elm Shakespeare Company ignites a spark in our humanity, enriches the lives of people from widely diverse backgrounds, and strengthens the artistic and educational landscape of the Greater New Haven region. We are committed to offering accessible theater and innovative educational experiences in our parks, our classrooms, and our neighborhoods.

Elm Shakespeare Company is excited to announce the 21st Anniversary Season of FREE Shakespeare in the Park with the 2016 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Tina Packer in Edgerton Park at 75 Cliff Street in New Haven. The production runs August 18-21, 23-28, 30-31 and September 1-4 with all shows at 8pm.

To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEASpring16. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to arts.gov. For information on Elm Shakespeare Company's 2016 Summer Season and educational programs please go to http://www.elmshakespeare.org

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