NEA grants total $21 million

The National Endowment for the Arts will give $3.4 million to 125 California arts organizations and five poets in the first round of federal grants for 2005.

In all, $21 million is being disbursed nationwide from the NEA’s $121-million budget.

San Francisco bested Los Angeles, four to one, when it came to reaping top grants of $100,000. The Los Angeles Philharmonic will receive $100,000 to help pay for performances of commissioned works; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the San Francisco Opera, Ballet and Symphony each will get $100,000 toward exhibitions and performances.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art ($75,000), Museum of Contemporary Art ($70,000), UCLA Hammer Museum ($70,000), Los Angeles Opera ($65,000), Cornerstone Theater Company ($60,000), Los Angeles County Arts Commission ($50,000), Skirball Cultural Center ($45,000), South Coast Repertory ($45,000) and the Orange County Museum of Art ($35,000) were other leading Southern California recipients.

Two Southern California poets, Karen An-hwei Lee of Santa Ana and B.H. Fairchild of Claremont, were recognized with $20,000 literature fellowships.