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Federal grant to support production of Loving v. Virginia withdrawn

Federal grant to support production of Loving v. Virginia withdrawn

Yahoo15-05-2025

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The Virginia Opera said a federal grant they were supposed to get for a recent project never came.
The grant, given by the National Endowment for the Arts, was meant to support the production of 'Loving v. Virginia.' 10 On Your Side previewed it in April.
World premiere of Loving v. Virginia opera to happen Friday night in Norfolk
The opera detailed the landmark Supreme Court case that helped overturned laws that prohibited interracial marriage in the United States.
John-Paul Schaefer, interim general director and CEO of the Virginia Opera, said they received news that the $25,000 grant from the NEA was being withdrawn May 8.
Schaefer explained that the funds were supposed to be dispersed towards the back end of the project.
'The reason given to us was that the funding priorities of the NEA had changed, although we felt as though we had complied with the original grant award all the way up until we produced the production of Loving v. Virginia,' Schaefer said.
Schaefer emphasized that it is highly unusual for a grant to be canceled this late in a project.
He said that the NEA grant is very prestigious and highly competitive, and the Virginia Opera was happy to be a recipient.
'It's certainly understandable if you get an award from an agency and you don't do the project or the project changes materially as you go through it,' Schaefer said. 'But that is not the case here. What we represented in our original application is what we put on the stages for all of Virginia to enjoy.'
This situation comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's proposed budget calling for the elimination of the NEA entirely.
As a result, the Associated Press reported that many organizations across the country have also had grants rejected or rescinded.
Schaefer added that there was no impact to the sold-out performances of Loving v Virginia across the state, but the loss of funding has still affected the organization.
'It has left us a hole in our funding that we are going to have to fill between now and the end of our fiscal year, at the end of June, to the tune of $25,000,' Schaefer said.
If you would like to support the Virginia Opera, .
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