In the Arts: Rockefeller Foundation Names Innovation-Fund Winners

The Rockefeller Foundation has announced $2.7-million in grants to support 18 New York arts organizations, says Crain’s New York Business.

The recipients, chosen from among more than 500 entrants, will each get two-year grants of up to $250,000. The winning proposals focused largely on innovative strategies for surviving tough economic times.

In other arts news, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History announced plans for a new addition dedicated to the 6-million-year story of evolution. The Hall of Human Origins is set to open on March 17, 2010, the museum’s 100th anniversary.

And Bill Theisen, the Skylight Opera Theatre’s artistic director whose ouster in June kicked off a summer of discontent at the Milwaukee company, has returned to his old post, notes the Journal Sentinel. Mr. Theisen will serve at least through mid-2011.

(Free registration is required to view the Post article.)