From the Top Selected by National Endowment of the Arts for Award

Boston, MA – Through its grantmaking to thousands of nonprofits each year, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity. From the Top is pleased to announce that they will receive a $90,000 award to support the national tour and radio show, as well as a $45,000 award to support their educational outreach activities. These awards are part of an NEA grant cycle that includes 1,023 awards, totaling $74.3 million nationwide.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “The NEA is committed to advancing learning, fueling creativity, and celebrating the arts in cities and towns across the United States. Funding these projects like the ones at From the Top represents an investment in both local communities and our nation’s creative vitality.”

“We are honored to receive the NEA’s recognition for our work with young musicians,” said From the Top Co-CEO Jennifer Hurley-Wales. “Through our NPR radio show and empowering our young musicians to develop their leadership skills and take music beyond the concert hall to new audiences, we are able to fulfill our mission.”

From the Top’s national tour and hit radio show is recorded in 17 communities across the country each year. NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley provides young musicians a platform to share their musical talents and personal stories with 700,000 loyal listeners on over 220 stations nationwide. Selected by audition, young musicians who appear on the classical radio program also take part in arts leadership workshops and educational outreach activities, which help prepare them to connect with new audiences, and to serve as positive peer role models. The musicians will perform outreach concerts in school classrooms and community venues in each of their national tour locations.

To join the twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEASpring2015. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to www.arts.gov.

About From the Top
From the Top is America’s largest national platform celebrating the stories, talents, and character of classically-trained young musicians. Operating from Boston’s vibrant cultural district, From the Top produces nationwide media programs (like NPR’s From the Top Live with Christopher O’Riley), presents inspiring live performances in Boston and around the country, offers scholarships, and helps America’s talented, hard-working, and dedicated young musicians inspire music lovers of all ages.

Broadcast on nearly 230 stations nationwide to an audience of nearly half a million, From the Top has been described by The Boston Globe as, “an entertaining, accessible, and inspirational mix of outstanding musical performances, informal interviews, skits, and games, the show is a celebration of extraordinary musicians who happen to be teenagers leading fairly normal lives.”

From the Top’s PBS television series From the Top at Carnegie Hall (2007–2009) won two daytime Emmy awards, and From the Top’s YouTube channel offers videos and behind-the-scenes insights.

Now celebrating its 15th anniversary, From the Top’s live recordings reach more than 20,000 live audience members of all ages across the United States each year. In conjunction with its national tour, From the Top’s Education & Outreach department offers leadership training to young artists and conducts classroom and community programs leveraging the power of its performers as role models for younger students.

From the Top’s radio program is made possible through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and corporate underwriting from U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. It is also supported through the generous contributions of individuals and institutions as well as public radio stations. From the Top’s founding partners are New England Conservatory and WGBH.