Greetings!
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation has been supporting international initiatives for artists and presenting organizations for more than two decades. As we embark upon on our latest strategic planning process, we are excited to reflect upon where we have been, where we are, and where we would like to be. Looking ahead, I want to share some exciting developments for our international programs.
Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America has been a program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts since 2012. Southern Exposure sought to increase international presenting opportunities for presenters across the country, with an emphasis on supporting engagements in communities with reduced access to international performing arts due to geography or other features. We designed Southern Exposure to be nimble, recognizing that each presenter has different needs, capacity, and objectives and we are proud of what it has accomplished so far:
Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America to date:
- 139,000+ audience members attended performances
- 526 grant-supported performances
- 281 grants awarded to nonprofit presenters
- 169 U.S. communities benefited
- Performances in 38 U.S. states
- 24 tours from 11 Latin American countries
Following the conclusion of the 2019-2020 Southern Exposure grant-supported tours, the program will sunset. If you received a grant in 2019 for an engagement in 2019-2020, be assured it will not be impacted. When funder priorities shift, new opportunities arise. The need that Southern Exposure met has not gone away. We know the desire to connect U.S. audiences with exemplary international artists has never been greater. We also understand the presentation of international artists can be risky, as well as time and cost-intensive.
We are pleased to announce that we will be partnering on a new National Endowment for the Arts program, Performing Arts Global Exchange (PAGE). PAGE is a roster program that will venture beyond Latin America and feature lesser known performing artists from different regions of the world and like Southern Exposure, provide fee support to nonprofit presenters who join these tours. We are looking forward to sharing more details on the new program with you soon. Please keep an eye on your email in the coming months for more information.
All the best,
