NORWOOD -- The Norwood Village Green Concert Series has been awarded a $5,280 New York State Council on the Arts Presenting Organization Program (POP) grant for its 39th season in 2012.

Series President Joseph Liotta said the award is the third of three in a three-year cycle.

Historically the Norwood Village Green Concert Series has received funding from the New York State Council on the Arts annually since 1978, first from the NYSCA Decentralization program and from 2001 through 2012 directly from the Presenting Organizations Program. The range of these grants has been from of $7,700 in 2007 to the present low of $5,280.

The grant is to assist with the artists’ fees of the performers. From 2001 through 2011 the Norwood Village Green Concert Series has employed more than 1,000 performers. The artists’ fees have totaled $307,651. During this time the NYSCA grants have totaled $65,789. The remainder raised for artists came from private donations. Some money from the Village of Norwood has helped with certain artists’ fees for youth programming.

All NYCSA grants have been reduced substantially over the past three years and the NYSCA budget has been slashed by 50 percent over the past two years.

Under the current financial terms and conditions the series will still be able to offer the full range of performances for 2012 that the audience has been accustomed to, and its programming efforts are now in full operational mode, according to Liotta.

The series is also proceeding with an upgrade to the band shell in a planned five-year program.

All financial goals for the 2011 season have been exceeded, Liotta said.