Many North Texans have probably never heard of the Arga Nova Dance Company,  Over the Bridge Arts or Teatro Flor Candela, but each of these groups has received a grant from the Moody Fund for the Arts – alongside more established arts organizations that have certainly made a name for themselves, including Undermain Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance and Sammons Center for the Arts. All the grant-winners have annual budgets of less than $1 million, but eleven of them have never received support from the Moody Fund before. The 47 represent a wide range of organizations across culturally under-served communities

The current total for the grants – $175,000 – represents $25,000 more than last year, and the maximum award was $5,000. The grants will be used to fund commissioned works, diversity projects and world premieres

MOODY FUND FOR THE ARTS AWARDS GRANTS TO 47 SMALL DALLAS ARTS GROUPS
Award Amount Boosted To $175K

(DALLAS) The Moody Fund for the Arts (MFA) today announced that it is awarding $175,000 in grants to 47 small Dallas arts organizations in its second year. This is $25,000 more than last year, and includes 11 first-time recipients. The maximum amount awarded for grants this year was $5,000. The projects represent theatre, music, visual art, dance, film, the written word and more. The grants support a strong cross section of the many small and emerging organizations in the vibrant cultural ecosystem of the nation’s ninth-largest city.

“Dallas has become a vibrant, creative hub for culture across a wide range of art forms,” said Francie Moody-Dahlberg, executive director and chairman of the Moody Foundation, which in 2017, endowed the Moody Fund for the Arts with a $10 million gift. “We are thrilled that the fund is able to support so many diverse and exciting projects in the Arts District, and across Dallas.”

MFA was created to provide grants to small and emerging Dallas arts groups that are supported by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and have annual budgets of less than $1 million.

This year’s grants will include funding assistance for world premieres, commissions and diversity projects, and some will provide general operating support. The selected projects comprise a wide range of genres, as well as ethnic and culturally specific groups, many targeting culturally under-served communities. Performance venues include Moody Performance Hall, the City’s cultural centers, community spaces and neighborhoods across Dallas.

2019 Moody Fund for the Arts Award Recipients

• Academy of Bangla Arts and Culture
• American Baroque Opera Company
• Arga Nova Dance Co.
• Avant Chamber Ballet
• Bandan Koro African Drum & Dance Ensemble
• Bruce Wood Dance
• Cara Mía Theatre Co.
• Chamber Music International
• Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas
• Color Me Empowered
• Creative Arts Center of Dallas
• Cry Havoc Theater Company
• Dallas Chamber Symphony
• Dallas Film Society
• Dallas Metroplex Musicians Association
• Dallas SPARK
• Dance Council of North Texas
• Deep Vellum Publishing
• Fine Arts Chamber Players
• Flamenco Fever
• Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra
• Indian Cultural Heritage Foundation
• Junior Players Guild
• Kitchen Dog Theater Company
• Make Art with Purpose
• Metropolitan Winds
• New Texas Symphony Orchestra
• Orchestra of New Spain
• Orpheus Chamber Singers
• Over the Bridge Arts
• Sammons Center for the Arts
• Shakespeare Dallas
• Soul Rep Theatre Company
• South Dallas Concert Choir
• Teatro Dallas
• Teatro Flor Candela
• Terrance M. Johnson Dance Project
• Texas Winds Musical Outreach
• The Artist Outreach
• The Women’s Chorus of Dallas
• The Writer’s Garret
• Turtle Creek Chorale
• Undermain Theatre
• Uptown Players
• USA Film Festival
• Video Association of Dallas
• WordSpace

The award decisions were made after an extensive peer review of all the applications,budgets and materials by the 2019 MFA Advisory Review Panel:

• Ian Derrer, The Dallas Opera
• Ella Goode-Johnson, Arts and Culture Advisory Commission
•  Diana Marquis, Catapult Fundraising
•  Jeffrey Schmidt, Theatre Three
•  Justin Urso, Texas Ballet Theater

The panel’s recommendations were then reviewed by the MFA Executive Committee:

• Tracy Preston, The Neiman Marcus Group
• Gail Sachson, Community Arts Leader
• Jennifer Scripps, City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs

Last year, the Moody Fund for the Arts awarded $150,000 to 36 small arts groups. The Moody Fund for the Arts is a $10 million endowment that is part of a $22 million gift from the Moody Foundation to the arts in Dallas, including a $12 million gift to the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s capital campaign. In recognition of the generosity of the Galveston-based Moody Foundation, the City of Dallas renamed Dallas City Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District to Moody Performance Hall. The Center’s staff provides administrative support for the fund. More information can be found on the MFA website, moodyartsfund.org