The Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) has announced the recipients of its Artistic Innovations Grant, including organizations in Houston and Austin.
The Artistic Innovations Grant Program is supported through a partnership between M-AAA and the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant is available for individual artists and arts-based nonprofit organizations in the six-state region that M-AAA supports, including Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. This year 13 grantees were selected and each will receive an award of up to $15,000.
In a press release, Christine Bial, the Director of Arts and Humanities Grant Programs at M-AAA, remarked, “The Artistic Innovations grant program truly encourages the spirit of experimentation and artistic risk-taking in our region. Seeing the inventiveness from artists and organizations in our region is inspiring every year. Our entire region benefits from the results and achievements of these projects.”
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 1972, architect Gunnar Birkerts, 5216 Montrose Blvd., Museum District.
This year’s Texas awardees include Allison Orr Dance in Austin, the Houston Grand Opera Association, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Learn more about each organization’s proposed projects below, via descriptions provided by M-AAA. See the full list of grantees on the M-AAA website. Applications for the Artistic Innovations Grant Program will reopen in January 2025.
Allison Orr Dance/Forklift Danceworks, Grant: $15,000
Project: The Way of Water: El Paso
Featuring the movement and stories of frontline water stewards and local community members, The Way of Water: El Paso will deepen understanding of local water issues, translating the science into understandable stories and using the magic of live performance as a catalyst for change. The premiere performance will be presented in March 2025 in partnership with UTEP’s World Water Week.
Houston Grand Opera Association, Grant: $15,000
Project: Everyday Extraordinary
Everyday Extraordinary is a planned song cycle for two voices and piano by composer Joel Thompson and poet Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, based on interviews and oral histories from Houston’s historically Black communities. Events include public conversations with the artists, a public workshop of the work-in-progress, and the premiere at the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston’s Third Ward.
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Grant: $15,000
Project: Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream…
Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream… is the artist’s first major museum survey, spanning over two decades of his work from early career drawings to current allegorical portraits. This exhibition cements Mr. Valdez as one of the most important American painters working today — imaging his country and its people, politics, pride, and foibles.
