Fiscal Year: 2025

CMA seeks to provide access to a music education series featuring our world renowned artists. Activities include; high-impact student enrichment concerts, professional performance collaborations, as well as workshops and clinics. Priority for these events is given to traditionally underserved communities and school districts throughout greater Des Moines and central Iowa.

Classical guitarist Jorge Caballero will present a concert and school outreach of music based on African American spirituals. The program includes a symphonic arrangement, a neglected masterwork, and a newly commissioned work.

In partnership with UW Odyssey Beyond Bars and Odyssey Junior programs, Vera Court Neighborhood Center, Madison Youth Arts Center and artist Tuwilê Roots, youth impacted by the criminal justice system explore identity through portraiture and storytelling. An exhibition and panel will be held at the UW Partnership Center and Madison City Building in Spring 2025.

Striving to provide outreach programs to our local schools and community, the Erickson Center for the Arts will host "The Spirit of Harriet Tubman" featuring Leslie McCurdy. Using words said to have been Harriet Tubman¹s own, Leslie McCurdy recreates both familiar stories and some rarely told in a passionate portrayal of Harriet Tubman's entire life, the famous Underground Railroad conductor.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of The Chicago International Film Festival, the Black chamber music collective D-Composed will join forces with the Festival to celebrate the works of Black film composers with a live performance and post-show panel discussion around the role of music in storytelling.

To complement The YES! House’s consistent work showcasing and supporting artists in the Southwest Minnesota region, The Exchange: Visiting Artist Series invites artists from across the Midwest to engage in a short-term residency at The YES! House, culminating in a public arts event showcasing their work. This series seeks to foster creativity, collaboration, and geographic cross-pollination.

The DuPage Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present a celebration of Mexican music and culture at our May 17, 2025 season finale concert, "Mexican Montage," featuring Mexican-American pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, in a performance of Carlos Chavez's seldom-played Piano Concerto (a 20th century Mexican masterpiece) and the music of Arturo Marquez, an influential living Mexican composer.

Early Music Now is seeking funding to present early music ensemble Magdalena to Milwaukee audiences, on both our main subscription series and for multiple free outreach performances.

People with disabilities will have the opportunity to attend multiple sessions of songwriting and recording workshops at TalkBack Studios, gaining studio experience alongside professional, performing artist Evan Stock. Also, participants will have the opportunity to perform their creative ballads for the community on stage, alongside the Evan Stock Band.

Exposed Brick Theatre will engage playwright Ehkhudah Zar and will tour her play Muyehpen to Worthington, Minnesota.