Attachments

Past Dream on the Farm plays.

Damascus, PA – Farm Arts Collective is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Challenge America award of $10,000. This grant will support the creation and presentation of the 2025 Dream on the Farm production of Paradise Lost: Scavenger Hunt, a new site-specific devised theatre performance set for presentation at the new Agri-Cultural Center located on Willow Wisp Organic Farm, July 24 to August 3, 2025.

The NEA will award 272 Challenge America awards nationwide totaling $2,720,000 as part of the recent announcement of fiscal year 2025 grants.

“The NEA is proud to continue our nearly 60 years of supporting the efforts of organizations and artists that help to shape our country’s vibrant arts sector and communities of all types across our nation,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “It is inspiring to see the wide range of creative projects taking place, including Farm Arts Collective.”

Farm Arts Collective artistic director, Tannis Kowalchuk says, “We are very pleased to receive an NEA award to support Dream on the Farm, a community-based performance project about climate change.  We are thrilled to be among the slate of national awardees again this year. We will honor our responsibility to bring professional, high quality agri-cultural art to our community, created by a cohort of incredible local artists, farmers, musicians, scientists, and makers.

Kowalchuk and the Farm Arts Collective launched Dream on the Farm in 2020 with the intention to build one new climate change-themed play every year until 2030. The project was initiated in response to scientists’ call to the world community to radically reduce carbon emissions in order to keep global average temperatures from rising above 1.5 Celsius. Paradise Lost: Scavenger Hunt will be the collective’s sixth play in the series.

For more information about Farm Arts Collective visit www.farmartscollective.org and to learn more about other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.