Dallas Chamber Symphony Will Use $50,000 Grant to Take Classical Music to the Streets | Dallas Observer
EXPANDFor last season’s opener, Dallas Chamber Symphony collaborated with SMU’s dance department on a performance set to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

Since it was founded by artistic director and conductor Richard McKay in 2011, the Dallas Chamber Symphony has enlivened Dallas’ classical music scene with innovative programming. Now that work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which announced yesterday that the Dallas Chamber Symphony will receive a grant of $50,000 as part of the NEA’s “Our Town” initiative to fund performances in downtown spaces across the country.

For the Dallas Chamber Symphony this kind of community engagement is a continuation of what they’ve already been doing. “Seeds” events will take the symphony into facilities such as The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center and The Wayman Learning Center for children with autism and other developmental disabilities, which cater to groups that would not ordinarily visit traditional performance venues like the Dallas City Performance Hall, the symphony’s home. The program will continue through the spring of 2018.

“Projects such as the one led by the Dallas Chamber Symphony help residents engage the arts to spark vitality in their communities,” NEA Chairman Jane Chu said in the press release announcing the grant.