Heifetz International Music Institute announces $30,000 in grant awards

The Heifetz International Music Institute is pleased to announce two major competitive grant awards given this month in support of the Institute’s training program for exceptional young musicians, held every summer on the campus of Mary Baldwin University.

The grants, totaling $30,000 will directly support the Institute’s unique, cross-disciplinary Heifetz Performance & Communication Training curriculum innovated by Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus Daniel Heifetz. The unique Communication Training initiative is a hallmark of the Heifetz Institute’s summer program and Festival of Concerts.

National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $25,000 to Heifetz International Music Institute to support performance and communication training for emerging musicians. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program.

The agency received 1,592 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking, and will award 977 grants in this category. “These awards, reaching every corner of the United States, are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Organizations such as the Heifetz Institute are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired.”

The second grant is a $5,000 award given by the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge through their Community Grants program. Since its founding in 1992, the CFCBR has partnered with hundreds of local donors to invest over ten million dollars in charitable giving into the cities of Staunton, Waynesboro, and the counties of Augusta, Nelson and Highland.

Of the 134 applications, requesting over $1 million in support, submitted to the Community Foundation for its consideration this year, the Foundation will present a total of $375,000 to 107 organizations. The Foundation experienced a 25% increase in applications, and a 33% increase in the total amount of those requests, which made the process particularly competitive for 2019.

Heifetz Institute President & CEO Benjamin K. Roe noted, “We are honored that the artistic excellence that we strive for has been recognized both on the national level by the Endowment, and here in our home region by the Community Foundation. Beyond their vital monetary value, such awards also serve as an invaluable validation of the Institute’s reach, reputation, and impact in the challenging non-profit funding environment. More than ever, we believe that for a young artist to fully realize their creative potential, they will need to go beyond technical agility and beautiful playing into creating pathways for communicating the emotive power of the music.”