Today was a good day for St. Louis arts organizations. PNC Bank’s Arts Alive funding initiative announced it will distribute $250,000 to nine local groups. The National Endowment for the Arts also announced it would split $120,000 among three other groups.
The PNC funding will support innovative programming and improved accessibility to the arts. One recipient, the St. Louis Symphony, will use its $40,000 to create an app that teaches kids about classical instruments.
The project, which is under development, aims to create a program that allows kids to focus on a specific instrument and learn how that instrument fits into the context of the greater symphony.
“It’ll just allow them to engage in a new way that is education based and hopefully will inspire learning beyond the digital form,” said Sarah Rouland, a PNC vice president who manages the grant program.
The National Endowment for the Arts will donate $120,000 to three St. Louis organizations over the next year. Circus Harmony joins Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Shakespeare Festival as a grant recipient.
Opera Theatre will receive $90,000 to create a performance based on John Steinbeck’s "The Grapes of Wrath," with composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie. Circus Harmony will use its funds to support its “Peace Through Pyramids” program. Shakespeare Festival will apply the funding to its regular programs.
The NEA has pledged a total $2 million to Missouri arts organizations.
