Princeton University Concerts (PUC) has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $20,000 — one of 1,127 Grants for Arts Project awards nationwide totaling more than $31.8 million as part of the recent announcement of fiscal year 2025 grants.
This grant, the first in PUC’s history, will support PUC’s Healing with Music series. This multi-year project, launched in 2022, invites audiences to hear from musicians who share their relationship to music during moments of upheaval in events that combine filmed interviews, live conversation, and live performance, shedding light on music’s profound impact.
The series also provides musicians a platform from which to openly discuss parts of their lives that are often overlooked or stigmatized within the demands of a concert career and aims to help audiences navigate their own relationship with music. (See U.S. 1, January 10, 2024)
The NEA funding will support the appearance of Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor on Wednesday, February 12, in Richardson Auditorium on the Princeton University campus for the conclusion of the 2024-25 Healing with Music Series. He will join international correspondent Deborah Amos for “Finding Home in the Music of Iran,” a conversation permeated by live performance centered on Kalhor’s dedication to Iranian music through profound loss, anti-Muslim sentiment, and political unrest. This event will be amplified by Kalhor’s performances as part of a free Live Music Meditation and in concert with the DoosTrio on Thursday, February 13.
“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. “It is inspiring to see the wide range of creative projects taking place, including Princeton University Concerts’ Healing with Music series.”
“This grant award is a historic moment for Princeton University Concerts,” adds PUC’s Artistic and Executive Director Marna Seltzer. “For 131 years, our programming has been mostly made possible by the generosity of our patrons. To have the support of the National Endowment for the Arts for the very first time is not just vital financial reinforcement but also important recognition for the work that we do to expand the impact and accessibility of classical chamber music.”
Returning to the concert hall in 2022 after the trauma of a global pandemic, PUC launched the Healing with Music series with a focus on artists exploring the role of music in their recovery from health crises. For the 2024-25 season, the focus of the events shifted to an exploration of music’s healing role in times of socioeconomic conflict through the lens of artist-activists, with all the events moderated by award-winning NPR correspondent Deborah Amos, whose career has been focused on covering the Middle East.
The overwhelmingly positive response to the series — including an online library of audience reflections on healing with music — has made clear that this series hits upon something very needed in today’s climate. The filmed interviews produced by PUC to introduce each event continue to collect thousands of views online.
“We are thrilled to have received this national recognition for our Healing with Music program,” says Dasha Koltunyuk, PUC’s outreach manager who conceived of the Healing with Music series. “These events, which delve into music’s deep power through a unique and collective concert experience, tap into something essential in today’s world. Kayhan Kalhor is a phenomenal artist and human, who has approached his life and art with such an inspiring depth of sensitivity and spirit of hope.”
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
For more information on Princeton University Concerts, visit concerts.princeton.edu.
