Dana Gioia, chairman of the NEA, said in a statement, "The arts simply don't have enough presence today on radio and television. The NEA is committed to making the best of the arts as widely available in America as possible. Our new grants for Arts on Radio and Television will bring jazz, opera, symphonic music, literature, and theater into millions of homes."

Lincoln Center organizations received a total of $300,000, with $25,000 going to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for a 26-part radio series; $200,000 going toward the production and broadcast of Live From Lincoln Center, which airs on approximately 300 PBS stations; and $75,000 going to the Metropolitan Opera to support post-production costs for a broadcast of Strauss's Salome.

Other organizations receiving performing-arts grants include the Wolf Trap Foundation, which will receive $25,000 for the chamber-music radio series Center Stage From Wolf Trap; Newark Public Radio in Newark, New Jersey, which will receive $65,000 toward the production of JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, a series of jazz-concert radio broadcasts; and ETV Endowment of South Carolina, which will receive $65,000 toward production of new programs for Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz series.

Today's announcement follows the arts agency's recent announcement of $61 million to national, local, and regional arts organizations.