The Chinese Fine Arts Society has received an NEA grant to support it’s amibitious “Five Elements Project”.  The grant is one of 832 Art Works grants totaling $23.3 million in funding nationwide.

Chicago, IL – National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman announced today that Chicago’s Chinese Fine Arts Society(CFAS) is one of 832 non-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Chinese Fine Arts Society is recommended for a $17,500 grant to support the 2013-14 Five Elements Project.

The Five Elements Project, dedicated to the memory of Barbara Tiao, the late founder of the Chinese Fine Arts Society, is a multifaceted, two-year initiative seeking to create several important new pieces of music that will touch on the theme of the traditional Chinese elements, namely Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. 2013 is the five-year anniversary of Ms. Tiao’s passing, and 2014 is CFAS’s 30th anniversary, making this a momentous two-year period for the organization. This project engages two of the United States’ most lauded Chinese composers, Zhou Long (2011 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Music) and Huang Ruo, to create compelling works of music that explore the theme of the Chinese Five Elements, to be premiered in a concert series in 2014. Mr. Long’s composition will be comprised of five movements and scored for clarinet, pipa, piano, violin, viola and cello. Mr. Ruo’s will be a violin piece written for longtime CFAS collaborator and friend, Rachel Barton Pine.

“I’m proud to announce these 832 grants to the American public including The Chinese Fine Arts Society’s Five Elements Project,” said Chairman Landesman. “These projects offer extraordinary examples of creativity in our country, including the creation of new work, innovative ways of engaging audiences, and exemplary education programs.”

“My late mother, Barbara Tiao, would be so pleased” says CFAS Board President Julie Tiao Ma, “She strove for excellence and for creating a new canon of Contemporary Chinese music. To engage the best of today’s composers will be a thrill and an honor for CFAS.”

In March 2012, the NEA received 1,509 eligible applications for Art Works requesting more than $74 million in funding. The 832 recommended NEA grants total $22.3 million, span 13 artistic disciplines and fields, and focus primarily on the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing works for the benefit of American audiences. Applications were reviewed by panels of outside experts convened by NEA staff and each project was judged on its artistic excellence and artistic merit.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at www.arts.gov.