CCM awarded $10,000 National Endowment for the Arts Challenge Grant to Encourage Children’s Natural Musical Abilities

Children’s Chorus of Maryland & School of Music has been awarded a $10,000 Challenge Grant to support arts engagement in American communities from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant, titled “Awakening the Natural Musician in Your Child,” will support the distribution of educational articles and fund music demonstration events for families and music teachers in the Baltimore region. Aimed at nurturing a young child’s musical interest, the articles will provide useful guidelines and specific tips on how families can encourage their child’s natural musical abilities. Free interactive musical events will be held for children and teachers throughout the year.

In its first 50 years, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded more than $5 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction, the only arts funder in the nation to do so. The NEA announced awards totaling more than $27.6 million in its third funding round for fiscal year 2016, including a Challenge America award of $10,000 to Children’s Chorus of Maryland. The Challenge America category supports projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. Challenge America grants are comparatively small investments that have a big impact in their communities.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “The arts are part of our everyday lives – no matter who you are or where you live – they have the power to transform individuals, spark economic vibrancy in communities, and transcend the boundaries across diverse sectors of society. Supporting projects like the one from Children’s Chorus of Maryland offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.” Children’s Chorus of Maryland Executive Director Andrea Burgoyne expressed her excitement, stating, “We’re so grateful to have the NEA’s support in reaching out to the community.  The early years are so important in developing a child’s musical interest and aptitude.  With this initiative we hope to spark parents’ excitement about discovering music with their children, and to give them concrete and inspiring ideas for bringing music into their children’s everyday lives.”

For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to www.arts.gov.