NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert and Ancillary Events, FY2020 | NEAPS1802

Opportunity Information: Apply for NEAPS1802

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant opportunity titled "NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert and Ancillary Events, FY2020" (Funding Opportunity Number NEAPS1802; CFDA 45.024) invites an eligible organization to serve as the NEA's cooperator under a Cooperative Agreement. The purpose is to produce and coordinate a free, public Tribute Concert along with related ancillary events that honor the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship awardees. The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship is described as the highest national honor given to a jazz musician or jazz advocate, and the program has recognized major figures in jazz since 1982, with 149 fellowships awarded up to that point. For 2020, the NEA anticipated honoring four individuals, typically three jazz musicians and one jazz advocate, and the concert programming is expected to meaningfully highlight each honoree's musical legacy, career impact, and/or advocacy contributions.

A central feature of the solicitation is flexibility in where the Tribute Concert can be staged, as long as it takes place in a U.S. city likely to draw a strong audience and support a high-quality jazz event. While proposals are welcomed from across U.S. cities, states, and territories, the NEA specifically signals interest in venues in a wide range of locations, with particular attention to the middle region of the country. The agency also notes an interest in potentially rotating the concert to different cities in future years, assuming additional Cooperative Agreements are awarded later, which suggests the NEA is looking not only for a one-time producer but also for an approach and organizational capacity that could support a traveling or rotating national platform over time.

Timing and public access are major requirements. The Tribute Concert must occur in the winter or spring of 2020, and it may be scheduled to align with Jazz Appreciation Month in April 2020 if that timing fits the proposed plan. The concert must be free and open to the public, reinforcing the NEA's emphasis on broad public engagement. In addition to the main concert, the selected cooperator can propose ancillary activities during the same timeframe, including events that connect with other jazz programming the organization already produces, such as an established jazz festival. This allows applicants to integrate the NEA Jazz Masters celebration into a wider set of community-facing activities, potentially expanding reach through lectures, conversations, educational components, receptions, media events, or other mission-aligned public programs, as long as they support the core goal of honoring the Jazz Masters.

Artistically and programmatically, the NEA encourages applicants to use innovative approaches to present the honorees and to strengthen visibility for the NEA Jazz Masters brand. The solicitation points to both event design and event-related marketing and public relations as areas where creativity and strategy matter, implying that applicants should be ready to demonstrate how they will attract audiences, generate attention, and frame the honorees' achievements in compelling ways. The concert may include performances by leading jazz artists that celebrate the 2020 honorees' bodies of work, history, or style, leaving room for tribute sets, collaborations, repertoire drawn from the honorees' catalogs, stylistic retrospectives, or other formats that connect audiences directly to what the honorees contributed to the art form.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity offered by the National Endowment for the Arts using a Cooperative Agreement, which typically means the NEA expects an active partnership role rather than a hands-off grant relationship. The maximum award amount (ceiling) is listed as $425,000. The opportunity was created on June 14, 2018, with an original application closing date of August 15, 2018. Eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and nonprofits with IRS 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in that specific nonprofit category). Overall, the opportunity targets organizations with the capacity to produce a nationally significant, high-visibility jazz event, manage complex production and coordination needs, and deliver a strong public-facing celebration of the NEA Jazz Masters honorees.

• The National Endowment for the Arts in the arts sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert and Ancillary Events, FY2020" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.024.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-06-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-08-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $425,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for NEAPS1802

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: