The Staunton Music Festival found out this week that the Trump administration has pulled a $10,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant for its free summer concert series, we have to assume because the series doesn’t have Kid Rock and Billy Ray Cyrus as headliners.
“According to the official notice sent by the NEA, our project to ‘deliver world-class music performances to all listeners regardless of means or mobility’ does not align with the administration’s new funding priorities,” Jason Stell, the executive director of the Staunton Music Festival, wrote to festival supporters in an email on Wednesday.
This, obviously, puts the Aug. 15-24 summer concert series, which will feature 80 music artists from around the world, in some jeopardy.
Specifically threatened are the free noontime concerts, featuring performances of the works of Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Thomas Tallis, Adolphus Hailstork, Johannes Brahms and Edward Elgar.
“We do not want to cancel any planned free programs,” Stell wrote in the email, noting that an SMF donor, Rosemary Eyler, has pledged $2,500 toward the effort to replace the lost grant money, leaving a $7,500 funding gap.
If you’re interested in helping out, and at the same time, sticking it to the Trump/Musk oligarchy, you can do so here.
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Chris Graham
