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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2006

Schumer Announces $30,000 For Glimmerglass Opera, Inc In Cooperstown

National Endowment for the Arts Grant will Support Organization’s Greek Myth Festival

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced a $30,000 federal grant was awarded to Glimmerglass Opera, Inc. of Cooperstown in Otsego County by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Federal funds will be used for the creation of a Greek myth festival. New York State received 28 NEA Grants, totaling $446,000 in federal dollars for arts programs.

"This is great news for Cooperstown,” Schumer said. AThe arts enrich the region’s quality of life and revitalize the local economy by boosting tourism. This new festival will foster creativity and give our entire community another opportunity to experience the arts a unique way.”

Glimmerglass Opera, Inc. will use federal funds to support “The Orpheus Project”. This summer-long festival will serve as an examination of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice through opera, film, music, literature and public discourse.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts and bringing the arts to all Americans. Established by Congress in 1965, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. The grants awarded this round will support arts education projects for children and youth, projects that present and/or preserve artistically excellent work, and grants that distribute 40 percent of the agency=s program funds to the 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies and six regional arts organizations. Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts require at least a one-to-one match and generate, on average, seven dollars for each dollar awarded.

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