Arkansas Symphony Orchestra To Receive $40,000 Grant From The National Endowment For The Arts

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has announced that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) approved a Grants for Arts Projects award of $40,000.

This grant will support the one-year anniversary of the ASO's Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in Little Rock. In total, the NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants.

“Projects like the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra's exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities — all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph.D. “So many aspects of our communities, such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy, are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

In the fall of 2025, ASO will open its 60th season with a co-commissioned work by composer and bassist Xavier Foley, featuring cellist Zuill Bailey with the orchestra. In celebration of the one-year anniversary of the ASO's new Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in Little Rock, this project will bring the community together through live performances of new work, educational activities with guest artists, and other performance opportunities featuring local Arkansas talent. By making these events accessible to our community, ASO is fulfilling the new music center's mission of being a radically welcoming hub of musical activity for all Arkansans.

“Arkansas Symphony Orchestra is grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts for this generous grant. We cannot wait to open the new ASO Stella Boyle Smith Music Center this fall with a weekend of community activities for Arkansans of all ages,” said ASO Chief Executive Officer Christina Littlejohn. “This grant will enable us to celebrate a year of community building and partnerships with world-class musicians and composers. Xavier Foley and Zuill Bailey exude joy and delight when they perform and engage community members of all ages with their enthusiasm. I could not think of a better commission and musicians to celebrate the community music that will be built in the new Stella Boyle Smith Music Center. We are so thankful for this grant to make it happen.”

Grants for Arts Projects provide expansive funding opportunities to strengthen the nation's arts and cultural ecosystem. It is the National Endowment for the Arts' largest grants program for organizations.

For more information on other projects included in the NEA's grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

About The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 58th season in 2023–2024. The ASO is the resident orchestra at Robinson Center, and performs more than 60 concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, First Orion Pops Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas. In addition, the ASO offers numerous community outreach programs and brings live symphonic music education to over 26,000 schoolchildren and over 200 schools throughout Central Arkansas. The ASO employs 13 full-time musicians, more than 70 part-time musicians and 18 administrative staff members with an annual operating budget of $4 million. The ASO is a member of the League of American Orchestras and a partner orchestra of the National Alliance for Audition Support, an unprecedented national initiative to increase diversity in American orchestras.   

For more information about the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, call 501-666-1761 or visit www.ArkansasSymphony.org.

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