Songbook Foundation Receives NEA Grant to Support Upcoming Gallery Exhibit

The National Endowment for the Arts has approved a $10,000 grant to support the Great American Songbook Foundation's next installation at the Songbook Exhibit Gallery at the Palladium.

Opening this fall, The Roaring '20s: Then and Now will incorporate recordings, sheet music, photos, lyrics, arrangements and instruments from the Foundation's vast Songbook Library & Archives. The interactive, multimedia exhibit will compare and contrast the 1920s, when postwar prosperity sparked a Golden Age in American popular music, and the 2020s, a decade so far shaded by a pandemic and social divisiveness.

"A guiding principle of our preservation work is that the past can tell us a lot about the present, which makes this exhibit the perfect choice to welcome the public back into our gallery after a long hiatus," Executive Director Christopher Lewis said. "We're proud and grateful to have the NEA recognize the importance of the Foundation's mission."

The Songbook Foundation project is among more than 1,100 across the nation selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding.

"As the country and the arts sector begin to imagine returning to a post-pandemic world, the National Endowment for the Arts is proud to announce funding that will help arts organizations such as the Great American Songbook Foundation to re-engage fully with partners and audiences," said NEA Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. "Although the arts have sustained many during the pandemic, the chance to gather with one another and share arts experiences is its own necessity and pleasure."