Joan Shigekawa

President Joseph R. Biden presented the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) with the National Medal of Arts, along with eleven other renowned artists and arts organizations.

Today the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University announced the launch of Blue Star Museums, a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2014. Leadership support has been provided by MetLife Foundation through Blue Star Families. The program provides families an opportunity to enjoy the nation's cultural heritage and learn more about their new communities after a military move. The complete list of participating museums is available at arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums.

Today, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts announced the launch of Blue Star Museums, a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to offer free admission to the nation's active duty military personnel including National Guard and Reserve and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2014. Leadership support has been provided by MetLife Foundation through Blue Star Families. The program provides families an opportunity to enjoy the nation's cultural heritage and learn more about their new communities after a military move. The complete list of participating museums is available at www.arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. SFAI is recommended for a $60,000 grant to support the Mobile Engagement Project, a mobile phone application that will engage users in an immersive experience of the historic SFAI campus and enhance their participation in the public programs offered by the institute. Each year, more than 30,000 people visit SFAI's historic Russian Hill campus to attend free public exhibitions and lectures, enroll in public education courses, and admire its famous 1931 Diego Rivera fresco, architecture and 360-degree views of the San Francisco Bay. The grant provides SFAI the funds to move forward with the creation of the app, virtually transforming its campus into a living exhibit and guide, contributing to student, faculty and prospective student experience. SFAI will commission artists to create the application's features and interpretive tools, and will begin accepting bids from Bay Area technology firms to develop and build the app for iPhone/iPad and Android platforms.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that TheaterWorks is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. TheaterWorks is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support its 2015 production of Good People by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. A story of class, luck and life choices, Good People speaks provocatively, intelligently and artistically about the human condition. Good People will open at TheaterWorks in March and run through April of 2015. Thirty-seven performances of the play will be scheduled with the possibility of a one-week extension reaching an audience of nearly 7,000 patrons from the greater Hartford area and southern New England.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa has announced that Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. MYSO is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support MYSO's Progressions program, a high-impact/high intensity string training and orchestral program for minority populations under-represented within MYSO and orchestral music in general.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that Phamaly Theatre Company is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Phamaly is recommended for a $20,000 grant to support the company's production of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to be held in the Space Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex from July 10-August 10, 2014.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21) is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. CAP21 is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support CAP21's New Artist and New Works Development Program.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that ZviDance is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. ZviDance is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support Artistic Director, Zvi Gotheiner's newest work: Surveillance - a contemporary dance and multimedia piece which explores the realities behind the surveillance camera.

Westport Country Playhouse is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant announced by Joan Shigekawa, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) acting chairman. The Playhouse is recommended for a $30,000 grant to support its community engagement initiative, "Threads of Time, Fabric of History: 'Intimate Apparel' in Context," which will run concurrently with the Playhouse production of Lynn Nottage's play, "Intimate Apparel," in October.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that the Utah Shakespeare Festival is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Festival is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support the world premiere adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced yesterday that Dallas Theater Center is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. DTC is recommended for a $15,000 grant to support The Neighborhood Initiative.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids program has received a $100,000 National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grant. The grant will support and sustain all initiatives of the OrchKids program including a full symphonic orchestra, choir classes, chamber music coaching, musicianship instruction and academic tutoring. This is the second consecutive year in which OrchKids has achieved the highest NEA Art Works grant in the category of Arts Education.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids program has received a $100,000 National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grant. The grant will support and sustain all initiatives of the OrchKids program including a full symphonic orchestra, choir classes, chamber music coaching, musicianship instruction and academic tutoring. This is the second consecutive year in which OrchKids has achieved the highest NEA Art Works grant in the category of Arts Education.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa has announced that University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Department of Dance is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. UWM Department of Dance at the Peck School of the Arts is recommended for a $15,000 grant to support the restaging of Trisha Brown's signature work Set and Reset (1983) as the focal point of Brown: Lineage and Process, a year-long exploration of Brown's creative ideas during the 2014-2015 academic year. UWM is one of only four colleges and universities in the United States that received a grant this year in the dance artistic field.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that Sarasota Opera is one of 886 non-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Sarasota Opera is recommended for a $25,000 grant to support Sarasota Youth Opera programs.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that PlayMakers Repertory Company will receive a $50,000 NEA Art Works grant for its fall 2014 repertory productions. PlayMakers is the professional theater company based in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that Sarasota Opera is one of 886 non-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Sarasota Opera is recommended for a $25,000 grantto support Sarasota Youth Opera programs.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that the NEA plans to award $74.85 million in 971 grants to nonprofit organizations nationwide as part of the second half of its fiscal year 2014 funding. In addition to direct grants through the Art Works category, this round of funding also supports the state arts agencies and regional arts organizations - the NEA's partners in bringing the arts to all parts of the nation - as well as grants for research projects that build evidence on the value and impact of the arts.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa today announced Hubbard Street Dance Chicago among 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive NEA Art Works grants. Hubbard Street is recommended for a $100,000 grant - the maximum single amount provided to Art Works grantees - in support of its Movement as Partnership (MAP) Program.