In Tuesday’s (12/4) Le Center Leader (Minnesota), Debbie Zimmerman writes, “The Mankato Symphony Orchestra is one of 153 not-for-profit organizations nationwide to receive a National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Fast-Track grant. The MSO is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support its March Symphonic Series performance titled Deconstructing Don Quixote, which will take the mystery out of Richard Strauss’s composition, Don Quixote, through examples and conversations between the stage and audience with host Sam Bergman. … The NEA will award 153 Challenge America Fast-Track grants totaling $1.53 million awarded to organizations in 41 states, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These include 49 first-time Arts Endowment grantees. The Challenge America Fast-Track category offers support primarily to small and mid-sized organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to populations whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. ‘The NEA typically awards grants to institutions with national status. Being recognized as artistically significant, on this level, is a huge honor for the Mankato Symphony,’ says MSO Executive Director Sara Buechmann. ‘It is hard to support a symphony orchestra in Southern Minnesota. We don’t have million-dollar corporate sponsorships here, and we are committed to keeping tickets prices affordable. This grant goes a long way towards allowing us to fulfill our mission.’ ” Click here for a complete list of Fast-Track awardees.
Posted December 5, 2012
