Four Bronx organizations and artists have won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts this month, despite fears that the federal government may be getting out of the business of funding the arts.
But local artists are worried they may not be spared as a new wave of cutbacks is debated in Washington.
The winners -- including an avant-garde choreographer and a group of Latino artists -- received $52,500 in the first of four rounds of awards.
Pepatian, an organization that supports the work of emerging Latino artists, was awarded $10,000 to stage a festival in San Juan.
"We're going against the grain," said Merian Sotos, a choreographer, who founded Pepatian with Pepon Osorio, a visual artist and Patty Bradshaw, a choreographer. "We've doubled our funding in the last three years."
Sotos also received an individual two-year fellowship, her third such award from the endowment. With the funds she will produce Familias, a dance and performance piece that will chronicle the lives of eight Latino families in the South Bronx.
The piece will be performed at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture as part of an artist-in-residence program.
Familias is the first dance performance to be created under this program. It will also be the largest, a $300,000 production to be created at Hostos, said Wally Edgecombe, director of the center. Hostos also received a $20,000 grant to cover production costs for performances throughout the year.
In addition, the Bronx Museum received $17,500 to publish a catalog of works from the permanent collection and Estelle Gillson received $10,000 to translate a novel and a collection of short stories by the Italian writer Massimo Bontempelli.
Although NEA grants may appear to be small, they often lead to additional financial support. According to a recent NEA survey, an additional $12 is raised for every NEA dollar.
"It's like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval," Edgecombe said. "It's the first thing a corporation like Con Edison or a foundation wants to see."
Last year, 23 borough arts organizations and individuals received $364,700 in endowment support. Five years ago, 20 arts groups received a total of $223,000.
"In the last four or five years, more NEA money has been coming to the Bronx," said Bill Aguado, executive director of the Bronx Council for the Arts. "This is representative of the quality of the organizations that are here."
Sotos said the NEA grants have been crucial to her work nurturing up-and-coming Latino artists.
"No one else in New York City is supporting the work of Latino dance and performing artists doing innovative work," she said. "Even the Latino art institutions aren't supporting it."
The grants, which are awarded quarterly, have recently come under attack. Republicans, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have made the endowment the target of proposed cutbacks, saying that it supports the pastimes of the elite.
Members of the borough arts community say current proposals may stymie the arts in the borough.
"I'm sure we're all going to be affected by these cutbacks," Aguado said.
Aguado said the grants awarded to Pepatian and Sotos are important because these artists express the Puerto Rican experience on the mainland in a way that reflects real-life issues."
It's important that Pepon Osorio and the Hostos Center continue to produce works about the Latino experience," he said.
"We're as American as apple pie and rice and beans," he added.