Sarasota Opera Receives NEA Grant

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman announced today that Sarasota Opera is one of 832 non-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Sarasota Opera is recommended for a $30,000 grant to support to support performances of Carlisle Floyd's opera Of Mice and Men, as part of the third year of the "American Classics Series," accompanied by significant educational programming.

Sarasota Opera, in its third year of the American Classics Series, will stage six performances of Carlisle Floyd’s opera “Of Mice and Men”, based on John Steinbeck’s famous novel and play, as part of its 2013 Winter Festival. In addition, Sarasota Opera has committed to providing a series of educational events in conjunction with the American Classics productions and in partnership with other local arts organizations. The goal of these events is to increase our current audience’s knowledge of these great works and to attract new faces to the opera. By presenting an opera with name recognition, Sarasota Opera believes this production of “Of Mice and Men” will continue to cement the popularity of the critically acclaimed
American Classics Series, while drawing new audiences, perhaps not familiar with opera.

In 2011, the NEA awarded Sarasota Opera a $20,000 grant towards their 2011 production of Robert Ward’s The Crucible and the education events surrounding the production.