UofM professor earns 2022 NEA Grant

By Casey Hilder

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has to announced the first round of recommended awards for fiscal year 2022, with 1,498 awards totaling nearly $33.2 million.

Among these is a $15,000 award for Dr. Josef Hanson, assistant professor of music education (instrumental) with the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, who is poised to support a set of qualitative case studies on the motivations and experiences of artist-entrepreneurs of color in Memphis and the Mississippi Delta.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project at the University of Memphis, one of only 18 Research Grants in the Arts projects funded in this fiscal year,” said NEA Director of Research & Analysis Sunil Iyengar. “As demonstrated by Josef's project and those developed by the other 17 awardees, the arts can be a source of resilience, well-being, social connectedness, and experiential learning. These skills and attributes have become increasingly sought-after in our challenging times.”

Hanson will use this award to develop a series of case studies profiling BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) arts entrepreneurs in Memphis and the Mississippi Delta region.

“These National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants underscore the resilience of our nation’s artists and arts organizations, will support efforts to provide access to the arts, and rebuild the creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. “The supported projects demonstrate how the arts are a source of strength and well-being for communities and individuals, and can open doors to conversations that address complex issues of our time.”