State grants millions to arts organizations

In all, the state awarded $6.6 million, or 86 percent of the funds requested on 272 grant applications, the governor’s office announced this morning.

The Springfield entities on the list and the amounts each will receive are:

• Springfield Regional Arts Council, $30,590;

• Springfield Symphony Association, $26,940;

• Missouri State University, $26,790;

• Springfield Little Theatre, $25,050;

• Springfield Ballet, $24,000;

• Springfield Regional Opera, $20,709;

• Messiah Project, $12,732;

• Springfield Mid-America Singers, $10,245; and

• Young Men’s Christian Association-Ozark Region, $5,532.

Other southwest Missouri arts organizations to receive funding include Ozark Main Street Program ($3,087), Branson Arts Council ($15,360), and Missouri Southern International Piano Competition ($28,440) and George A. Spiva Center for the Arts ($27,840) in Joplin. Click here to view the entire list.

The grants will support programs in arts education, arts services, community arts, dance, electronic media, festivals, literature, multidiscipline, music, theater, visual arts, folk arts and minority arts, according to the governor’s news release. They range in size from $2,000 for the Raintree Arts Council’s fifth annual Home Grown Traditional Folk Festival in Clarksville to $267,900 for Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City for general operating support.

Missouri Arts Council – a division of the Missouri Department of Economic Development – is funded by the Missouri General Assembly through the state’s annual budget bill approved by Gov. Matt Blunt, Missouri Cultural Trust and the National Endowment for the Arts, the release said. Grant application information is available here or by calling (866) 407-4752.