The National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Mary Anne Carter has awarded $25,000 to Nashville Opera to support an enhanced partnership between Nashville Opera and Tennessee State University that provides access, promotes inclusion, and expands career pathways for African-American artists.

The collaboration will include digital masterclasses, digital and/or live community-engagement panel discussions, and virtual outreach at HBCUs around the country.

“These awards demonstrate the resilience of the arts in America, showcasing not only the creativity of their arts projects but the organizations’ agility in the face of a national health crisis,” Carter said in a press release. “We celebrate organizations like Nashville Opera for providing opportunities for learning and engagement through the arts in these times.”

Nashville Opera CEO and Artistic Director John Hoomes added, “We are deeply grateful for this support from the National Endowment for the Arts, which helps us do the important work of creating more equity in our art form.”

Nashville Opera has a relationship with the prominent HBCU Tennessee State University for more than a decade and has worked with the University on masterclasses and given free student tickets to performances.

The Nashville Opera recently announced that it was rescheduling its canceled production of “Rigoletto” for 2020-21.