Gloria Chien
The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera has been approved for a $10,000 Art Works grant to support concerts of works by female composers and female guest artists, as well as related educational activities.
The award will provide funding for the organization’s March 5 performance, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2, featuring guest pianist Gloria Chien and contemporary female composer Jelena Dabic's Beethaphase. A special Women in Classical Music panel will be held in conjunction with the concert on Wednesday, March 4 at 1 p.m.
at the Chattanooga Library Auditorium and will include a panel discussion with Chien, who also serves as artistic director of the Hunter Museum of American Art’s String Theory chamber music series, as well as CSO Music Director Kayoko Dan and Dr. Lynn Worcester Jones, assistant professor and Keyboard Area coordinator at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The panel will be moderated by CSO Executive Director Samantha Teter and is free of charge and open to the public.
Funding will also be provided for the CSO’s April 30 season finale, Pictures at an Exhibition, which will feature Chinese-American composer Wang Jie’s America the Beautiful. Area middle and high school students will be invited to attend Girls of Note, a special meet-and-greet with Ms. Jie, on April 28 at 6 p.m. at the Tivoli Theatre, and students will also have the chance to hear the CSO rehearse for their upcoming concert at 8 p.m. The event is free of charge, but availability will be limited. Ms. Jie will also take part in the CSO’s Meet the Composer luncheon at Walden Club on April 29 at 11:30 a.m. Tickets for the luncheon will go on sale in late March.
These special programs are part of the CSO’s commitment to introducing audiences to a diverse group of composers and guest artists. “This season, I have made a conscious effort to prominently feature underrepresented composers, particularly female composers, throughout our Masterworks and Chamber Series,” says Ms. Dan. “Composer Rob Deemer's Institute for Composer Diversity has inspired me to be more mindful about programming, and we are proud to be recognized by that organization as one of the U.S. orchestras making huge strides in inclusivity. I am excited for our community to continue embracing the programming and this celebration of diversity.”
The Art Works funding category supports projects that focus on public engagement with, and access to, various forms of excellent art across the nation; the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence; learning in the arts at all stages of life; and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life. “The arts are at the heart of our communities, connecting people through shared experiences and artistic expression,” said Arts Endowment Chairman Mary Anne Carter. “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support projects such as this one.”
Overall, the National Endowment for the Arts has approved 1,187 grants totaling $27.3 million in the first round of fiscal year 2020 funding to support arts projects in every state in the nation, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Kayoko Dan