Today, The National Endowment for the Arts announced that the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus was recommended for a $10,000 grant to make a recording of Tyler's Suite, the chorus' landmark collection of commissioned pieces that premiered in March. The 48-minute long song cycle by eight composers celebrates the life of Tyler Clementi, a gay New Jersey college student whose death in 2010 sparked a national debate about cyberbullying.

Tyler's Suite received its world premiere during this year's spring concert "LUSTER - An American Songbook." NEA Art Works grants are prestigious awards supporting the creation of art that "meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts." This is the first NEA award for SFGMC, and it affirms the Chorus's vision of creating extraordinary choral experiences. Says congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus "serves as a vital asset not only to San Francisco, but to our nation as a whole." The recording will be titled Illuminate: Live at 35. To fill out the full album, the chorus will also include 4-5 tracks of some of its most notable performances from the last three years. To help make this possible by underwriting the audio engineering, please contact SFGMC Managing Director Jon Carroll at 415-865-3650 x307