National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $82 million to fund local arts projects and partnerships in the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016. Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $15,000 to SAY Sí to support student-projects made for the organization’s 10th annual Muertitos Fest, a three-day Día de los Muertos Festival. The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields. “The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like the one from SAY Sí offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.” The $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts supports SAY Sí’s Muertitos Fest student-created projects. Middle and high school students [a majority Latino and from low-income households] in SAY Sí’s tuition-free multidisciplinary program will create work at SAY Sí’s state-of-the-art facility in San Antonio, TX that is related to Día de los Muertos. Through these projects students will be educated about Día de los Muertos as an important cultural tradition that ties San Antonio to Mexico and commemorates the rich Mexican-American culture of south Texas. Works will include visual art, media art, design and theatre. All student work will be exhibited and performed at the 10th annual Muertitos Fest community event on November 6-9, 2016 to celebrate, embrace and educate the community on Día de los Muertos. Jon Hinojosa, SAY Sí Artistic | Executive Director, said, “At SAY Si we work to inspire and educate the next generation of our nation’s creative leaders. With our three-day public Muertitos Fest, we are able to do that on a grander scale. We are grateful for the support from the National Endowment for the Arts – it sustains our commitment to San Antonio’s creative young people.” To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEASpring16. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to arts.gov Follow
