National Endowment for the Arts acting chair Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the arts endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019.
Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $30,000 to Miami Music Project to support staff salaries and teaching artist fees for the Children’s Orchestras, a free after-school instrumental music program for students in Miami-Dade County. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program. The agency received 1,592 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking, and will award 977 grants in this category.
“These awards, reaching every corner of the United States, are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country,” Carter said. “Organizations such as Miami Music Project are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired.”
This year, Miami Music Project celebrates a decade of providing socially transformative programing in Miami-Dade. In the past 10 years its programs have reached more than 30,000 children and youth through a variety of program offerings, including over 3,700 who have participated in the NEA-funded Children’s Orchestras program, which started with only 15 students in 2010.
“Receiving this grant from the National Endowment for the Arts truly validates our programs, proving that the work we do matters and makes a difference in our community,” said Anna Klimala, executive director of the Miami Music Project. “While many talk about how important access to the arts is, not enough people put emphasis on how crucial music education is to the development of young minds and hearts. Our programs help increase this awareness by showing the direct impact our work has on young people and their futures.”
A study performed by FIU’s Community-Based Research Institute (CBRI) at Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work has found that Miami Music Project’s rigorous orchestral model of musical instruction positively affects the behavior and development of school-aged children. Youth seem to acquire not only cognitive benefits but also a host of social and emotional enhancements.
This proves that programs such as Miami Music Project not only provide quality arts education, but contribute to creating citizens and future leaders of our communities through the enhancement of the complex skills used while practicing an instrument and performing in orchestra-based ensembles.
For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
Miami Music Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that uses music as an instrument for social transformation, empowering children to acquire values and achieve their full potential, positively affecting their society through the study and performance of music. Miami Music Project’s vision is to create opportunity and access through music for those most in need, improve the quality of life for children today and ultimately transform their lives, the lives of their families, and their communities.
Emerging as a model for music education programs nationally, Miami Music Project offers free of charge, after-school programming to all students with no barriers to entry, regardless of race or economic status. As of today, Miami Music Project has reached thousands of children and youth across Miami-Dade County, becoming one of the largest socially transformative music initiatives in the US. Miami Music Project’s programming is inspired by the El Sistema phenomenon — a new model for social change and a visionary global movement that transforms the lives of children through music.
