The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman has announced that the agency will award 863 grants to organizations and individual writers across the country. Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts is one of the grantees and will receive $10,000 to present an April 27 concert and three-day residency by The Rose Ensemble. The 863 grant awards total $22.543 million, encompass 15 artistic disciplines and fields, and support projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The Rose Ensemble’s April 25 to 27 residency with Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts will include outreach performances and lectures for the student bodies of Hesston College and Bethel College (North Newton) as well as for Goessel Elementary School and two Newton elementary schools. The Rose Ensemble will also lead a free public choral master class with the Hesston College and Bethel College choirs at noon on Wednesday, April 25, in the Bethel College Administration Building Chapel. The residency will culminate with a public concert entitled “Music from the Land of Three Faiths: Voices of ancient Mediterranean Christians, Jews and Muslims” at 7:30 p.m. April 27 at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus.
The Rose Ensemble reawakens the ancient through imaginative performances of vocal music with historical instruments and a vocal sound critics have called “supernatural.” Based in St. Paul, Minn., the ensemble was winner of the 2005 Chorus America Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. The group’s concerts and recordings have been called “first class” (Neuss-Grevenbroicher Zeitung), “impassioned and brightly alive” (Choral Journal) and “engaging… satisfying” (Gramophone).
“Art Works is the guiding principle at the NEA,” said agency Chairman Rocco Landesman. “I’m pleased to see that principle represented through the 823 Art Works-funded projects. These projects demonstrate the imaginative and innovative capacities of artists and arts organizations to enhance the quality of life in their communities.”
Matthew Schloneger, director of HBPA, is grateful that the NEA continues direct grant funding to Kansas organizations despite the organization’s cuts in 2011 for matching funds for the Kansas Arts Commission.
“We are grateful for the ongoing support of the National Endowment for the Arts,” said Schloneger. “HBPA is one of only five Kansas organizations to have received direct NEA funding for each of the last five years, and I think that speaks to the incredible artistic quality of our series.”
In March 2011, the NEA received 1,686 eligible applications for Art Works requesting more than $84 million in funding. The resulting funding rate of 49 percent of eligible applications reflects both the significant demand for support and the ongoing vitality of the not-for-profit arts community despite current financial challenges. Art Works grants are awarded based on the applications received by the NEA and how those applications are assessed by the review panels.
For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, visit the NEA website at arts.gov.
Single ticket prices for the Rose Ensemble’s Hesston concert range from $15 to $18, depending on seating section, with discounts available to students and senior citizens. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 620-327-8158 (Hesston College) or 316-284-5205 (Bethel College), email hbpa@hesston.edu or visit the HBPA website at www.hesston.edu/hbpa.
The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts Series, now in its 30th year, started in 1982 as the
Hesston Performing Arts Series (HPA) with funding and planning provided by Hesston College and the Hesston community. In 1998, HPA planners launched a partnership with Bethel College (North Newton) and the name changed to Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts. Hesston College and Bethel College host five performances by world-renowned or regionally acclaimed artists each year.