$11.5 million in US grants for arts

The challenge grant program, one of the most successful grant programs of the National Endowment for the Arts, announced a new series of matching grants to American arts organizations totaling $11.5 million, Monitor TV critic Arthur Unger reports.

According to the grant agreement, each dollar of these federal grants must be matched by at least $3 in money from private sources.

Top recipient this year is the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York City, awarded a grant of $800,000. Others receiving $500,000 or more are the American Film Institute; the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; the Cleveland Institute of Art; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the San Antonio Museum Association.

The outside income generated by challenge grants thus far (the program is in its fifth year) reportedly has averaged more than $7 for each federal dollar granted. This year 53 organizations share in the new grant program. Over the past five years, 476 arts organizations throughout the country have shared grants totaling close to $100 million.