It’s not secret that I am sometimes put out with the choices funders and residencies make when doling out awards. So it’s only fair that I praise the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for announcing their awards to what sound like some promising projects:

Awards include $5,000 to Jennifer Zeyl [of Washington Ensemble Theatre] to direct Hedda: Blah, Blah, Bang, a reconstruction of Hedda Gabler, a classic Henrik Ibsen play;

$8,500 to William Smith to compose, record and present Jazzopera, a lecture-performance combining elements of classical music and jazz;

$2,600 to Elspeth Savani Macdonald to present a concert of original boleros, sambas and folkloric music;

$1,500 to Raymond Houle to present Against the Grain/Men in Dance, a series of performances highlighting the evolution of male dance in contemporary society;

$10,000 to Lucia Neare to present Lullaby Carriage, an outdoor, interdisciplinary “dream-theater” piece;

$9,500 to Haruko Nishimura [of Degenerate Art Ensemble] to create a series of solo dance performances in partnership with dance, theater and music artists.

(I’m a little suspicious of that outdoor “‘dream-theater’ piece,” but I’ll hold my horses until I’ve seen it.)