LMDA Receives NEA Art Works Grant

The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Receives NEA Art Works Grant to Support Annual Conference

Grant part of NEA announcement of 788 Art Works grants and

$24.81 million in funding nationwide

[New York, NY]— National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman announced April 25, 2012 that the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) is one of 788 not-for-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. LMDA is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support their annual conference, held this year in Atlanta, GA. The 788 Art Works grants total $24.81 million and support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.

 LMDA will hold its 2012 conference in Atlanta,GA, from June 28–July 1. The theme for the conference, which is in partnership with the Alliance Theatre Company in central Atlanta and Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia is Going Local: Imagining Atlanta Through Dramaturgy.Conference attendees will use the city of Atlanta as a case study for how dramaturgs and other artists can serve the community in truly public and innovative ways. Attendees will immerse themselves in the local ecology of Atlanta, traveling to sites around the city to speak to the community’s artist-leaders.

 LMDA president Danielle Mages Amato notes, "Our annual conference is a major part of what LMDA does, and it offers not only collegial support for dramaturgs and literary managers

across North  but also a forum for developing new ideas and furthering the profession.”

 The NEA received 1,624 eligible applications under the Art Works category for this round of funding, requesting more than $78 million in funding. For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.

Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas was founded in 1985 as the volunteer membership organization for the professions of literary management and dramaturgy. LMDA is a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization with members throughout North America and abroad.

 LMDA holds the belief that theater is a vital art form that has the power to nourish, educate, and transform individuals and their communities and that dramaturgy is central to the process of theater-making.

 LMDA is committed to the following objectives:

• to affirm, support, and broaden the roles that literary managers and dramaturgs play in the theater
• to promote the exchange of information about the function, practice, and value of literary management and dramaturgy
• to encourage cooperation among the practitioners and theoreticians of dramaturgy
• to expand the boundaries of the field and enrich our conversation about the making of live performance by welcoming colleagues from disciplines such as dance, opera, and performance art
• to put emphasis on international exchange, as well as a commitment to diversity of form, culture, and content
• to encourage regional activity across North America

Image: 25th Annual LMDA Conference in Banff, Canada (2010)