Phoenix Symphony Violist Karen Bea to Represent America's Orchestras in Congressional Testimony to Restore Nea Funding

PHOENIX SYMPHONY VIOLIST KAREN BEA TO REPRESENT AMERICA'S ORCHESTRAS IN CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY TO RESTORE NEA FUNDING

New York, NY—The American Symphony Orchestra League today announced that Karen Bea, a violist and board member for The Phoenix Symphony, will represent America's orchestras this Thursday, April 19, 2007, testifying to Congress in support of the restoration of funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to the level it had been at its peak in 1992.

The NEA is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts throughout the United States. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts. Though the NEA has received modest-yet-significant increases for the past several years, it has never fully recovered from a 40% budget cut in FY96.  The current FY07 level of funding for the NEA, $124.4 million, is well below the 1992 appropriation of $176 million.

“As President & CEO of the League, I am pleased that The Phoenix Symphony has been chosen to represent America's orchestras in testimony to the Interior Appropriations Committee, advocating for the restoration of NEA funding,” said Henry Fogel. “The Phoenix Symphony's One Nation project beautifully demonstrates the public benefit derived from this crucial federal investment, and is a vivid example of the NEA's unique ability to help support and sustain the arts in communities large and small across the United States.”

The Testimony:
Thursday, April 19 at 9:30am—The Rayburn House Office Building, Room B308
Ms. Bea's testimony represents a rare opportunity for an NEA grant recipient to appear before the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the NEA's funding level.  Last year, the NEA awarded more than 1,700 grants to nonprofit arts organizations for projects that encourage artistic creativity and that bring the arts to millions of Americans.   The NEA's FY06 Grants to Organizations included 111 grants to orchestras and the communities they serve, supporting arts education for children and adults, expanding public access to performances, preserving great classical works, and fostering the creative endeavors of contemporary classical musicians, composers, and conductors.  The restoration of funding to $176 million would help expand the NEA's ability to further serve the American public through the NEA's core grant programs, state partnerships, and important national initiatives. 

The American Symphony Orchestra League, The American Federation of Musicians, and more than 90 national organizations representing the full range of the American artistic community—including the performing arts disciplines of Dance, Opera, Theatre and Presenting—are unanimous in their request for a significant increase in federal funding for the NEA. 

The Phoenix Symphony: One Nation
In her testimony, Ms. Bea will describe the impact of an NEA-supported project in her community.  A $20,000 NEA grant to The Phoenix Symphony currently supports One Nation, a partnership between the Symphony and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, designed to promote cross-cultural awareness and increased access to music education.  The grant was awarded through the NEA's “Access to Artistic Excellence” category, and the project exemplifies how NEA funding can help local arts organizations respond to the emerging needs and priorities of their communities. Now in its seventh year, the One Nation program has been built, over time, to increase the capacity of the Symphony to address an important local community of learners.  Throughout the development of the program, the Symphony has partnered with school administrators and the Tribal Council to plan and promote beneficial and appropriate music-learning experiences.   This school year, 60 students have received private and group lessons with Phoenix Symphony musicians.  Learning and musical accomplishment are key goals of the One Nation program, but are not the only outcome for participants.  In addition to weekly private lessons, students also receive mentorship and guidance from Phoenix Symphony musicians.  Salt River High School music teacher Chris Wakely has said, “One Nation has had a huge impact on our students, not just musically, but also socially and behaviorally.” 

The One Nation project is just one of many community-based programs supported by the NEA's competitive grant-making process.  Orchestras across the country are essential and active partners in increasing access to music, improving the quality of life in their communities by collaborating with school systems and other local partners in a wide array of performances and programs.  Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts has been a key source of support for the One Nation program, as it has been for hundreds of other community-based arts programs across the country.

American Symphony Orchestra League
Founded in 1942, and chartered by Congress in 1962, the American Symphony Orchestra League leads, encourages, and supports America's orchestras while communicating to the public the essential value and cultural importance of orchestras in their communities and the vitality of the music they perform. The League provides a wealth of services, meaningful information, learning and leadership opportunities, and grass-roots advocacy to its diverse membership, which encompasses nearly 1,000 member symphony, chamber, youth, and collegiate orchestras of all sizes, and links a national network of thousands of instrumentalists, conductors, managers, board members, volunteers, staff members, and business partners. Visit www.symphony.org to learn more. The League is a member of the American Arts Alliance, a coalition of national performing arts service organizations dedicated to advocating for national policies that recognize, enhance, and foster the contributions the performing arts make to America.

The Phoenix Symphony
Founded in 1947, The Phoenix Symphony proudly serves the citizens of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, central Arizona, and the southwestern United States to evoke a passion for classical music within the entire community.  What began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year (in a city of fewer than 100,000 people) today serves more than 300,000 people annually, with 275 concerts and presentations throughout the Valley of the Sun and beyond.  The 75-member orchestra presents an annual season from September through May, featuring classical and pops concerts in downtown Phoenix, along with a variety of symphonic and community presentations in Scottsdale, in Prescott, and throughout central Arizona.  Each season, the Symphony also performs for more than 50,000 students and children (representing more than 260 different schools), helping to introduce music to new generations through a variety of education, community, and youth-engagement programs.

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The Phoenix Symphony's 2007-08 Media Sponsors are The Arizona Republic and KAET.