National Endowment For The Arts Grants $15,000 To Central City Opera

Central City Opera has been approved for a $15,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support its 2022 Summer Festival, which will feature a regional premiere performed by rising singers from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program. The grant is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category.

"The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from Central City Opera that help support the community's creative economy," said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. "Central City Opera is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts."

Founded in 1932, Central City Opera is the fifth oldest professional opera company in the country and is renowned for its exquisite world-class productions, competitive and robust young artist training program and creative educational and community engagement activities. Its summer festival, only 35 miles west of Denver, takes place at 8,500 feet above sea level in the Colorado mountain town of Central City, where the company owns and maintains 27 Victorian-era properties, including the intimate 550-seat jewel box opera house built in 1878.

"Public funding is essential for a small opera company like Central City Opera and we thank the NEA for including us in this round of grants," said Central City Opera's General/Artistic Director Pelham "Pat" Pearce. "This funding will allow our organization to bring a relatively new opera to a wider audience and provide young singers with the opportunity to perform a highly important and emotional piece."

For more information on other projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

Learn more at centralcityopera.org. For tickets and festival information, call (303) 292-6700 or email boxoffice@centralcityopera.org.