The University of Oregon receives two arts grants from the National Endowment for the Arts

EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 18, 2011) -- Two University of Oregon programs - the Oregon Folklife Network and the Oregon Bach Festival - have been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Folklife Network will receive $40,000 from the NEA to support research and public programming. The Bach Festival will receive $15,000 to support a performance tour of Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas" by the Portland Baroque Orchestra, chorus and soloists. The tour includes concerts in Portland's First United Methodist Church June 27; Bend, in the Tower Theatre June 28; Ashland, in the Southern Oregon University recital hall June 29; and Eugene, in Beall Concert Hall June 30.

This is the Oregon Bach Festival's second NEA grant for 2011. In November the Festival received $10,000 for Marin Alsop's Joan of Arc project, totaling $25,000 for this year's events.

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the U.S. government that has offered support and funding for arts projects since 1965. The new UO grants are part of a round of almost 800 awards totaling more than $25 million to programs in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The matching grants are intended to support the creation and presentation of artistically excellent work.

The Oregon Folklife Network - a coalition of folklife stakeholders that is administered by the UO - was formed in 2010 at the conclusion of the Oregon Folklife Program. Its mission is to provide wide access to folk arts by investing in traditional artists and cultures, and advancing learning opportunities for Oregonians. The network also receives funding from the Oregon Cultural Trust and the Oregon Arts Commission.

The Oregon Bach Festival, founded in 1970, is a donor-supported program of the UO. It is an annual celebration of the works of Johan Sebastian Bach, but also has developed several educational activities as well as a slate of non-Bach guest artists ranging from Garrison Keillor to Bobby McFerrin.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu

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