For the first time in two decades, the Long Beach Symphony will receive an awards grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the NEA announced today.
One of four organizations recommended to receive funding in Long Beach, the symphony joins Long Beach Opera, Able ARTS Work and Arts Council for Long Beach as an NEA Art Works grant recipient. An Art Works grant supports “artistically excellent projects that celebrate our creativity and cultural heritage, invite mutual respect for differing beliefs and values, and enrich humanity.”
The $20,000 the symphony will receive will support its participation in the countywide Violins of Hope initiative when the Violins of Hope collection of 60 restored instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust will be transported from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles to be played by symphony orchestras.
“These instruments have survived concentration camps and long journeys to tell remarkable stories of injustice, suffering, resilience and survival,” said Symphony President Kelly Lucera. “We are profoundly honored and humbled to share these stories through music and educational visits with our Southern California audiences.”
In three concerts during Violins of Hope Week, April 21-26, the collection will be played by Long Beach Symphony musicians on the final stop of its West Coast tour. With educational presentations planned for Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach Unified School District students.
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LBO received $25,000 to support its performances of composer Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse, an atmospheric, haunting opera coming to the Aquarium of the Pacific’s 180-degree arc projection wall inside its new theater in March.
The Arts Council will use its $15,000 from the NEA to commission public artworks and support community conversations. Able ARTS Work will put on an exhibition series for artists with intellectual and physical disabilities, as well as art workshops with their $20,000 grant.
For more information on the NEA’s 2020 funding, click here.