Indiana Arts Commission Grant Supports Songbook Foundation Initiatives

For the fourth consecutive year, the Indiana Arts Commission has approved a grant to support the Great American Songbook Foundation's music preservation and education initiatives.

The $16,811 Arts Organization Support grant comes from state and federal funding aimed at arts organizations and cultural providers that prioritize community engagement throughout the state.

The Songbook Foundation, which maintains a vast archive of items and documents from the foundational era of American popular music, oversees a number of community engagement initiatives, including an exhibit gallery open to the public; traveling exhibits and other resources made available free to schools and community groups; Perfect Harmony, a program of group music activities for older adults; and the Songbook Academy, a national summer music intensive for high school singers.

"We're so grateful for this ongoing support from the Indiana Arts Commission," said Christopher Lewis, executive director of the Great American Songbook Foundation. "Every bit of funding is important as we expand our archives operations and ramp up our work on the national level."

Funding for the Indiana Arts Commission and its programs is provided by the Indiana General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

"Art and creativity strengthen the fabric of Indiana's communities. They promote connection and cohesion, foster the entrepreneurial spirit communities need to thrive, and create the kinds of communities where people want to live," said Miah Michaelsen, Executive Director of the Indiana Arts Commission. "In each of Indiana's 92 counties, public funding for arts and creativity continually proves to be a high-return investment that improves the quality of life of every Hoosier and drives economic development within our state."

The mission of the Great American Songbook Foundation, founded in 2007 by five-time Grammy Award nominee Michael Feinstein, is to inspire and educate by celebrating the timeless standards of pop, jazz, Broadway and Hollywood. Headquartered at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana, the Foundation advances this rich legacy by curating physical artifacts of its creators, performers and publishers; operating a multimedia exhibit gallery; overseeing the Songbook Hall of Fame; offering programs for the public and research opportunities for scholars and artists; and providing educational opportunities for student musicians, including the annual Songbook Academy summer intensive. The Foundation is a Cultural Affiliate of the Los Angeles-based Grammy Museum. More information is available at TheSongbook.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.