The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman has announced that the agency will award 863 grants to organizations and individual writers across the country. Project X, co-founded by Art Professor Stephen Berens, is one of the grantees and will receive funding to publish four issues of the art journal X-TRA in 2012. The 863 grant awards total $22.543 million, encompass 15 artistic disciplines and fields, and support projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.


X-TRA is the longest running art journal in Southern California and the grant will enable the commissioning of new articles, artist projects and reviews of contemporary art. X-TRA was one of only four journals nationwide and one of only 2 organizations in Southern California to receive support in the “Access to Artistic Excellence: Visual Arts” category for 2011.


“Art Works is the guiding principle at the NEA,” said agency Chairman Rocco Landesman. “And I’m pleased to see that principle represented through the 823 Art Works-funded projects included in this announcement. These projects demonstrate the imaginative and innovative capacities of artists and arts organizations to enhance the quality of life in their communities.”


“The NEA’s support is crucial to X-TRA because the grant not only provides direct funding but helps us attract other funders since the NEA has such a long history of supporting quality organizations,” remarked Stephen Berens in regards to the significance of receiving the grant.


In March 2011, the NEA received 1,686 eligible applications for Art Works requesting more than $84 million in funding. The resulting funding rate of 49 percent of eligible applications reflects both the significant demand for support and the ongoing vitality of the not-for-profit arts community despite current financial challenges. Art Works grants are awarded based on the applications received by the NEA and how those applications are assessed by the review panels.