“Why Women Went West” is a multi-media chamber opera that tells the unfolding narrative of a sole woman protagonist, Mary Hunter Austin, and her journey west. The performance is free and will be presented at RAFFMA on March 9 at 5 p.m.
The NEA grant has allowed the CSUSB Opera Theatre to create two full-length works this spring semester, with one that premiered last month and the next, “The New Frontier: An Atomic Age Jazz Opera,” to premiere on March 24.
CSUSB has been approved for a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts to support the music department’s “New Frontiers: Multimedia Monodramas,” a project that focuses on aspects of new frontiers, California, diversity, women and the idea of the West.
The contract’s funding of more than $1.6 million will allow CBA to significantly increase its programming inside California state prisons, expanding its partnerships with other CSU campuses and growing jobs in the region.