The Capitol Ballet: 1980s Funding
1980
March
- The Capitol Ballet was in financial trouble and facing possible closure. To prevent this, the company was awarded a $5000 [$17,549 in 2022] emergency grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The commission had awarded the company $6000 [$22,225 in 2022] in the fall of 1979 and in February 1980 a grant of $10,000 [$35,633 in 2022].
December
- The Capitol Ballet was awarded a $150,000 [$488,669 in 2022] advancement grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant, however, needed to be matched with three times the amount in private funds, a total of $450,000 [$1,466,009 in 2022]. It does not appear that the company was able to raise this.
More about The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities
The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) is an agency of the District of Columbia government. CAH was created as an outgrowth of the U.S. Congress act that created the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities. In 1965 the foundation provided for two operating federal agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. As of October 2019, the Interim Director is Heran Sereke-Brhan. CAH has its office is located in the Navy Yard neighborhood of southeast Washington, D.C. The Chairperson of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities is Reggie Van Lee and the Vice Chairperson is Maggie FitzPatrick. The current Commissioners appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser and confirmed by the D.C. Council are: Stacie Lee Banks, Cora Masters Barry, Maggie FitzPatrick (Chair, Public Arts Committee), Quanice Floyd (Chair, IDEA Committee), Rhona Wolfe Friedman (Chair, Bylaws/Governance Committee), Natalie Hopkinson, Kymber Menkiti (Treasurer and Chair, Finance Committee), Maryann Miller, Maria Hall Rooney, Cicie Sattarnilasskorn, Carla Sims, Hector Torres (Secretary and Chair, Arts Education Committee), Jose Alberto Ucles, Gretchen Wharton (Chair, Grants Committee), and Derek Younger.
More about the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government by an act of the U.S. Congress, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 29, 1965 (20 U.S.C. 951). The foundation consists of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The NEA has its offices in Washington, D.C. It was awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1995, as well as the Special Tony Award in 2016. In 1985, the NEA won an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its work with the American Film Institute in the identification, acquisition, restoration and preservation of historic films. In 2016 and again in 2017, the National Endowment for the Arts received Emmy nominations from the Television Academy in the Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series category.
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