Located in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, the Fund for the Arts is the oldest united arts fund in the country and has raised over $148 million since its establishment. Mayor Charles R. Farnsley

Charles R. Farnsley

Charles Rowland Peaslee "Charlie" Farnsley , a Democrat, served as mayor of Louisville, Kentucky and as a member of the United States House of Representatives....

, served as Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of the City of Louisville from 1948 to 1953, and first conceived of the Fund for the Arts in 1949. He based its structure on that of the Community Chest

Community Chest

Community Chest may refer to any of the following:*The Community Chest of Hong Kong*The Community Chest of Singapore*Community Chest , a forerunner of the United Way of America...

, now known as United Way.

The Fund provides financing, facilities and administrative support for twenty-nine area arts groups and programs in the Louisville area. Over 200 community access grants are awarded annually to community groups and schools in Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 and Southern Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

.

Conceived of and directed by the Fund for the Arts, ArtSpace, the W.L. Lyons Brown Theatre

Brown Theatre

The Brown Theatre is a restored theatre dating back to 1925 that seats approximately 1,400 patrons in Louisville, Kentucky. The theatre still stands today and remains a testament to the glory days of Louisville’s theatre district.-History:...

 and the Fifth Third Conference Center are owned by the Fund for the Arts Properties Foundation, Inc., a Fund for the Arts partner corporation.

Local member groups supported by the Fund

• Actors Theatre of Louisville
  Actors Theatre of Louisville
  Actors Theatre of Louisville is a performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1964 by Louisville native Ewel Cornett, local producer Richard Block and actor Ken Jenkins of Scrubs fame, and was designated the "State Theater of Kentucky" in 1974. It is run as a...
  
  
• Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
  Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
  The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, located in Louisville, Kentucky's "Museum Row" in the West Main District of downtown, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to continue the art and craft heritage of Kentucky through the support and education of craft artists and education of the public...
  
  
• Kentucky Opera
  Kentucky Opera
  The Kentucky Opera is the state opera of Kentucky, located in Louisville. The operas are accompanied by the Louisville Orchestra. Founded in 1952 by Moritz von Bomhard, it is the twelfth oldest opera company in the United States and has a more than $2 million budget. The Kentucky Opera is an...
  
  
• Kentucky Shakespeare Festival
  Kentucky Shakespeare Festival
  'Kentucky Shakespeare', commonly called Shakespeare in the Park, is a cultural event which features free Shakespeare performances every summer in Central Park in Old Louisville . Begun as the Carriage House Players in 1949, it is the oldest free professional and independently-operating Shakespeare...
  
  
• Louisville Bach Society
  Louisville Bach Society
  The Louisville Bach Society is a regional chorus based in Louisville, Kentucky. The Bach Society specializes in performing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.-History:...
  
  
• Louisville Ballet
  Louisville Ballet
  The Louisville Ballet is a ballet school and company based in Louisville, Kentucky and is the official state ballet of The Commonwealth of Kentucky. More than 100,000 people attend the company's productions annually of which most are accompanied by the Louisville Orchestra...
  
  
• Louisville Orchestra
  Louisville Orchestra
  The Louisville Orchestra is the primary orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky and has been called the cornerstone of the Louisville arts scene. It was founded in 1937 by Robert Whitney and Charles Farnsley, Mayor of Louisville...
  
  
• Louisville Theatrical Association
• Louisville Visual Art Association
• Louisville Youth Choir
• Louisville Youth Orchestra
  Louisville Youth Orchestra
  The Louisville Youth Orchestra was founded in 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky. The orchestra provides an extraordinary musical experience for young people from grade school through age 21. The LYO is made up of four orchestras, two elementary string programs, and various ensembles in which students...
  
  
• Music Theatre Louisville
  Music Theatre Louisville
  Music Theatre Louisville is a non-profit organization in Louisville, Kentucky, dedicated to producing, presenting, and developing diverse and affordable entertainment. Up through 2008, the company staged several shows during the summer at Iroquois Amphitheater in Iroquois Park...
  
  
• Stage One
• Walden Theatre
• West Louisville Performing Arts Academy

External links

• Official site
• 2009 Annual Report