Crescendo awarded two major grants

For immediate release. Contact: Kathy Drake katharinedrake@gmail.com (518) 577-8734

Crescendo, the Lakeville, Connecticut-based music organization founded in 2003, is honored to have received two Connecticut Cultural Fund Operating Support grants, for a total amount of $24,500.

The first grant in the amount of $12,500 is the CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant. This support has been provided to Crescendo from CT Humanities (CTH), with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature. A total of $16 million of grants were awarded to over 624 non-profit organizations including Connecticut museums and historical societies as well as cultural, humanities and arts organizations.

The second grant in the amount of $12,000 is the General Operating Support for Theaters and Performing Groups by the Connecticut Office of the Arts, with the support of the CT Department of Economic and Community Development. The Connecticut Office of the Arts provided up to $3M in general operating support grants to support Connecticut’s non-profit, Connecticut arts organizations (theaters and performing groups) as they pursue their mission of programs and performances for the public.

The grants are designed to assist these organizations as they recover from the pandemic, and to provide support for them to continue to grow in their ability to serve their communities.

These grants will enable Crescendo to maintain the momentum it has started with Crescendo At Home, its new online series. It will also enable the organization to hire more performers for its upcoming live performances. Videos of both filmed new live performances and archival materials are being produced to reach new audiences. Crescendo’s Founder and Artistic Director Christine Gevert notes: “The support we are receiving with these two grants is invaluable, and it comes at a perfect moment for us, helping us to bring our online presence to the next level. These videos of our recent and past concerts and lectures will amplify our presence on the web, serving our audiences now when many are not comfortable returning indoors for live concerts. It will also help us present our unique American, Latin American, European and Chinese music to a new audience of viewers here and around the world.”

Artistic Director Christine Gevert founded Crescendo nineteen years ago in Lakeville CT. Its mission is: “To bring an innovative approach to rarely heard choral and instrumental music, sacred and secular, performed by amateurs and professionals, and to provide educational outreach to our audiences in the communities of northwestern Connecticut, nearby New York and Massachusetts.” For more information about Crescendo, go to its website at crescendomusic.org.