The organization is finding ways to adjust after a federal grant is being taken away. The Virginia Stage Company planned on using it for a traveling play.
NORFOLK, Va. — The Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk is looking at new ways to raise money for a program that teaches mental health awareness to teens after they learned they won’t be getting $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The federal grant helped to fund their play, ‘Every Brilliant Thing,' a traveling show meant to visit different high schools and teach kids about the importance of mental health awareness.
Virginia Stage Company managing director, Jeff Ryder, told 13News Now the grant directly affects students.
“We got this grant for next year to bring the play to high schools and provide support services for the high school students to have these very needed conversations," Ryder said.
In a recent release, Virginia Stage Company said they were told the NEA grant would be withdrawn because it doesn’t meet “new funding priorities” by the Trump administration.
Ryder said they’re worried these cuts could lead to the NEA going away permanently.
"For the last five years, we’ve had a very cautious way of planning for the upcoming seasons," said Ryder. "So, I think we’re prepared to pivot and change.”
Ryder added that they were at the beginning of their grant process, so the funds haven't yet been spent, but other local organizations weren’t as lucky.
"We were at the beginning of our National Endowment of the Arts grant. The opera, very unfortunately, was at the end," said Ryder. "The way these grants work is you spend the money first and then get reimbursed at the end of the project. So, Virginia Opera had already spent funds that they now will not receive.”
13News Now was told the Virginia Opera’s National Endowment for the Arts grant totals $25,000 dollars, and as the Virginia Stage Company mentioned, that’s money the opera won’t be able to get reimbursed for.