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For Immediate Release

Grants will Support Program Development in Arts Education for At-Risk Youth

Washington, D.C. - February 25, 2002 - Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, and the MetLife Foundation announced today the recipients of their Youth Arts Resource Initiative Program Development Grants for 2002. These grants are designed to enable the recipient organizations to expand or create arts programs for youth—especially those at-risk. Through funding provided by the MetLife Foundation, each organization will receive $10,000.

The recipient organizations were chosen from applications submitted by affiliates of the YMCA of the USA, the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and America's Promise. The grantees were selected by a national panel of arts education professionals, based on the capacity of their arts programs to meaningfully and creatively serve youth and the effectiveness of their partnerships with artists, arts organizations, and other community organizations. This year's grantees are:

• West Family YMCA & Boise City Aquatic Center
  Boise, ID
• Merit School of Music
  Chicago, IL
• Cleveland Public Theatre, Inc.
  Cleveland, OH
• YMCA of Greater Fall River
  Fall River, MA
• Artists Collective, Inc.
  Hartford, CT
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Kalamazoo
  Kalamazoo, MI
• Nevada Ballet Theatre
  Las Vegas, NV
• Boys and Girls Club of Missoula, Montana
  Missoula, MT
• Boys & Girls Club of Omaha
  Omaha, NE
• Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc.
  Providence, RI
• Center of Contemporary Arts
  St. Louis, MO
• Dance Institute of Washington
  Washington, DC
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware
  Wilmington, DE

"With these grants, made possible by the MetLife Foundation, we recognize, as well as support, these important organizations and their role in bringing arts education to our nation's youth," said Robert L. Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts.

About the Grantees