Moody Fund for the Arts Awards a Record $400,000 to Small Dallas Arts Groups

Total Giving Since 2018 Now Tops $1 Million
GRANTING PROCESS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE TO HELP GROUPS BATTERED BY COVID-19

The Moody Fund for the Arts (MFA) today announced it is awarding a record $400,000 in grants to 54 small Dallas arts organizations. The applications approved this year include funding for new works and commissions, general program and operating costs, capacity building, and community performances/artist in residency categories. The groups represent a broad cross section of small, emerging and ethnic arts organizations and numerous art forms including theatre, music, dance, visual arts, film, and literary arts.

“This has been a challenging time for our arts community, and it is so important these smaller arts organizations are not overlooked when it comes to support,” said Francie Moody-Dahlberg, executive director and chairman of The Moody Foundation which in 2017 endowed MFA with a $10M grant. “This fund was established specifically to support these diverse, small groups and the exciting work they are doing. We are so pleased the fund was able to provide such a significant amount of support.”

This is the fourth year of grants for the MFA, bringing the total amount to $1,080,000. MFA is one of the few endowments nationwide devoted solely to funding a city’s small arts organizations.

The first two years of MFA granting was $150,000 in 2018, and $175,000 in 2019. In response to the economic devastation caused to the arts by the pandemic, last year MFA stepped in with $355,000 in grants, more than double the previous two years combined. This year exceeds adds another $45,000 bring it to $400,000.

“When the Moody Fund was created, no one could have imagined how precious this support would become during a pandemic and all of the social unrest during 2020,” said Jennifer Scripps, director of the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture. “Now, as the arts community in Dallas works to recover, the Moody Fund is providing those critical dollars to support for capacity (re)building, general operating costs, as well as a host of creative and artistic projects.”

The AT&T Performing Arts Center administers the fund. This year, the Center again accelerated the review and granting process to get funds to the recipients well ahead of the usual late-July timeline.

“This is a critical time for the arts community, and we wanted to move quickly,” said Debbie Storey, president and CEO of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. “We’re on the cusp of reopening, and these funds are important to these small arts organizations to help bridge the time between now and fully reopening without restrictions.”

The maximum grant request is $10,000. The reviews awarded ten groups 100% of their requested amount. Fifteen groups of the grants were in the category of New Works, Commissions, Unique Presentations; 34 groups were for General Program and Operating Cost Support; three were in Capacity Building; and two were in Community Focus Performances/Artist in Residency Programs. Ten of the groups were awarded MFA grants for the first time.

2021 Moody Fund for the Arts Award Recipients
American Baroque Opera Company
Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico
ARGA NOVA DANCE
The Artist Outreach Artittude Artsillery*
Avant Chamber Ballet B. MOORE DANCE*
Ballet North Texas Bishop Arts Theatre Company*
Bruce Wood Dance Cara Mía Theatre Co.
The Cedars Union Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas
Creative Arts Center of Dallas
Cry Havoc Theater Company
Dallas Bach Society
Dallas Chamber Symphony
Dallas Historical Society*
Dance Council of North Texas
Deep Vellum Publishing
DFW Play*
Don’t Ask Why*
Echo Theatre
Fine Arts Chamber Players
The Flame Foundation*
Flamenco Fever
IMPRINT Theatreworks*
Indian Cultural HeritageFoundation
Junior Players
Kitchen Dog Theater Company
Laughter League
Lone Star Wind Orchestra
Museum of Geometric and MADI Art
New Texas Symphony Orchestra
Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts*
Over the Bridge Arts*
Prism Movement Theater
Sammons Center for the Arts
Shakespeare Dallas
Soul Rep Theatre Company
South Dallas Concert Choir
Swan Strings Teatro
Dallas Teatro Flor Candela
Texas Winds
Theatre Three
Turtle Creek Chorale
The Women’s Chorus of Dallas
The Writer’s Garret
Undermain Theatre
Uptown Players
USA Film Festival
Verdigris Ensemble

* First time MFA grant recipient.

The AT&T Performing Arts Center administers the fund and its application and review process. Award decisions are made through a two-level review process. The first level, the MFA Advisory Review Panel is a peer-review judging process. The second level of review is provided by the MFA Executive Committee.

2021 MFA Advisory Review Panel
• Jose Bowen – Musician, educator, former dean of the SMU Meadows School of the Arts
• Gail Cronauer – Actor, director, educator
• Mark Mullino – Director, conductor, music director, pianist, vocal teacher and painter
• Vicki Meek – Artist, educator, writer, City of Dallas Arts and Culture Advisory Commission member
• Amber Pickens – Dancer, choreographer, visual artist, Booker T. alum

Executive Committee
• Gwen Echols, nonprofit board member, arts advocate, and community volunteer
• Tracy Preston, General Counsel – Hanesbrands, AT&T Performing Arts Center Board member
• Jennifer Scripps, director, City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture

More information can be found on the Moody Fund for the Arts website at www.moodyartsfund.org.

### PRESS INQUIRIES: Chris Heinbaugh, Vice President of External Affairs AT&T Performing Arts Center 214-507-1460 Chris.Heinbaugh@attpac.org

ABOUT THE MOODY FUND FOR THE ARTS: The Moody Fund for the Arts (MFA) aspires to be a transformative fund that will raise the scope of engagement with the arts throughout the Dallas community. Through flexible grant making, MFA encourages enterprising and diverse cultural offerings and helps sustain the mission of Moody Performance Hall to provide a stage in the Dallas Arts District for small and mid-sized groups.

In 2017, the Galveston, Texas-based Moody Foundation created and endowed the $10 million Moody Fund for the Arts to provide support for small and emerging nonprofit arts organizations supported by the City of Dallas Office of Arts & Culture. In recognition of the generosity of the Moody Foundation, on May 24, 2017 the City of Dallas changed the name of its 750-seat Dallas City Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District to Moody Performance Hall.

To qualify, an organization’s budget must be less than $1 million. Through an annual competitive process, the $10 million endowment provides flexible grants supporting a range of opportunities, including new works and commissions, general operating and rent support, capacity building, projects taking art into under-served areas, cultural equity programs and more. Grant recipients are chosen through a multi-level process including a peer review panel.

MFA’s first grants were awarded in 2018.
• 2018 $150,000 36 organizations $7,500 max grant
• 2019 $175,000 47 organizations $7,500 max grant
• 2020 $355,000 49 organizations $10,000 max grant
• 2021 $400,000 54 organizations $10,000 max grant

The Moody Fund for the Arts is held within the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) Endowment, a Texas nonprofit corporation. Oversight is provided by the DCPA Endowment Board of Governors. The nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center provides staff support to administer the fund and granting process. Learn more at www.moodyartsfund.org.

ABOUT THE MOODY FOUNDATION: The Moody Foundation was established in 1942 by William L. Moody Jr. and his wife, Libbie Rice Shearn Moody to share their good fortune and make a difference in the lives of the people of Texas. Since then, the Moody Foundation has made more than $1.5 billion in grants throughout the state to organizations that have educated, healed, nurtured and inspired generations of Texans. Learn more at www.moodyf.org.