For its third year of grant giving, the Moody Fund for the Arts awarded a total of $350,000 to 48 different Dallas arts organizations – doubling last year’s amount. The AT&T Performing Arts Center administers the fund, and it accelerated the review process in order to get funds to recipients who are already being battered by the financial affects of COVID-19.

The individual grants vary in size from $4,000 to $10,000, and the arts groups are designated as “small” if they have annual budgets of less than $1 million. This year, 15 of the arts groups are new recipients.

The full release:

MOODY FUND FOR THE ARTS AWARDS RECORD AMOUNT IN GRANTS TO SMALL DALLAS ARTS GROUPS

Award Amount Doubled to $350K

AT&T PAC Accelerated Review Process Due to COVID-19

(DALLAS) The Moody Fund for the Arts (MFA) today announced that it is awarding a record $350,000 in grants to 48 small Dallas arts organizations in its third year. This is double what was distributed last year, and more than both previous years combined ($175,000 in 2019 and $150,000 in 2018). In response to the devastating financial impact COVID-19 is having on the city’s arts community, the AT&T Performing Arts Center, which administers the MFA, accelerated this year’s review process to get the funds to the recipients well ahead of the late July timeline.

“During this pandemic, all of our arts institutions, especially these diverse, small arts organizations are struggling for survival,” said Francie Moody-Dahlberg, executive director and chairman of The Moody Foundation which in 2017 endowed the MFA with a $10M grant. “We are very encouraged that the Moody Fund for the Arts is able to respond so quickly during this crisis, and with a record amount of support.”

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

This year’s 48 organizations include 15 first-time recipients; in total, 67 Dallas arts organizations have benefitted from the MFA since its inception in 2018. 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.

Applications for this year’s MFA grants were submitted before the COVID-19 crisis shut down Dallas theatres, museums and other cultural venues. This could affect the recipients’ ability to fulfill the grant program commitments on schedule. MFA administrators say that this year, recipients will be provided wide flexibility in grant compliance reporting.

This year’s MFA grants will include funding assistance for world premieres, commissions, 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.

2020 Moody Fund for the Arts Award Recipients

Academy of Bangla Arts and Culture
American Baroque Opera Company
Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico
Arga Nova Dance
Arttitude
Avant Chamber Ballet
Ballet North Texas
Bruce Wood Dance
Cara Mia Theatre Co.
Chamber Music International
Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas
Creative Arts Center of Dallas
Cry Havoc Theater Company
Dallas Arts District
Dallas Bach Society
Dallas Chamber Symphony
Dallas Metroplex Musicians’ Association
Dance Council of North Texas
Deep Vellum Publishing
Echo Theatre
Fine Arts Chamber Players
Flamenco Fever
Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra
Junior Players
Kitchen Dog Theater Company
Laughter League
Lone Star Wind Orchestra
Museum of Geometric and MADI Art
New Texas Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra of New Spain
Prism Movement Theater
Sammons Center for the Arts
Soul Rep Theatre Company
South Dallas Concert Choir
Sunset Art Studios
Swan Strings
Teatro Dallas
Teatro Flor Candela
Texas Winds Musical Outreach
The Artist Outreach
The Cedars Union
The Women’s Chorus of Dallas
The Writer’s Garret
Theatre Three
Undermain Theatre
Uptown Players
USA Film Festival
Verdigris Ensemble

The award decisions were made after an extensive peer review of all the applications, budgets and materials by the 2020 MFA Advisory Review Panel:

Maria May, arts advocate and arts PR specialist
Kevin Moriarty, artistic director, Dallas Theater Center
Quincy Roberts, singer, businessman, board member for The Dallas Opera Board of Trustees and the Dallas Symphony Association Board of Governors
Christie Sullivan, dancer, The Hockaday School dance faculty
Jayne Suhler, Southern Methodist University, City of Dallas Arts and Culture Advisory Commission

The panel’s recommendations were then reviewed by the MFA Executive Committee:
• Gwen Echols, nonprofit board member and community volunteer
• Tracy Preston, The Neiman Marcus Group
• Jennifer Scripps, director, City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture