15 McLean And Herndon-Area Arts Groups Win ArtsFairfax Grants

DRANESVILLE, VA — Fifteen arts organizations in the Dranesville District are among 65 groups receiving a combined $601,900 in fiscal year 2027 Operating Support Grants from ArtsFairfax.

ArtsFairfax did not release the amount awarded to each organization, but the Dranesville recipients were grouped by award level.

McLean Project for the Arts and NextStop Theatre Company were placed in the $25,000-to-$55,000 award range, while Alchemy Ballet and Good Beats were in the $10,000-to-$25,000 range. McLean Community Players, Reston Community Players and We Rock Cancer were in the $5,000-to-$10,000 range. The Amadeus Concerts, The Capital Wind Symphony, Conservatory Ballet Foundation, Great Falls Philharmonic, The McLean Symphony, New Dominion Chorale, Shakespeare Opera Theatre and the Vietnamese Literary and Artistic Club were in the $1,000-to-$5,000 range.

ArtsFairfax said the countywide allocation is $10,000 more than the amount awarded through the Operating Support Grant program in fiscal year 2026. Nine more organizations are receiving grants this year.

Operating Support Grants help nonprofit arts organizations pay for their basic operations. Recipients are based in all nine Fairfax County magisterial districts, as well as the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.

The grants are going to 31 small organizations with budgets below $100,000 and 34 medium or large organizations with budgets exceeding $100,000. Four organizations are first-time ArtsFairfax grant recipients.

“Successful ArtsFairfax fundraising has enabled us to increase grants funding to local arts nonprofits,” ArtsFairfax President and CEO Stuart Holt said in the announcement. “We are committed to raising funds that can be redistributed to arts organizations throughout the County, even while operating on an extremely lean budget.”

Demand exceeded the available Operating Support funding. ArtsFairfax said organizations requested more than $1.4 million, an increase of more than $215,000 compared with fiscal year 2026.

ArtsFairfax plans to award $816,900 through all of its grant programs during fiscal year 2027. In addition to the Operating Support Grants, $170,000 will be awarded through Project Support Grants in the fall. Another $40,000 will be available through Ticket and Participation Subsidy Grants on a rolling basis through June 30, 2027, or until the money is depleted.

A full list of the grant recipients can be found here.