The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation announced a $ 1.5 million grant to support the arts in Detroit, as part of a A funding round of $ 5 million awarded in December.

Million dollar grant to Michigan Opera Theater will provide flexible support around Yuval Sharon’s vision and the works he brings to Detroit and develops for national stages, said Erb Family Foundation President Neil Hawkins, in an email.

The grant “will help the company to leverage its creativity and ideas about what opera can be to attract new audiences,” he said.

“Like the foundation’s other transformational grants, it also supports innovation around the organization’s business model which in this case will strengthen the MOT’s earned and contributed revenue streams.”

Another grant of $ 500,000 will accelerate the momentum that has been built around the cultural district development plan, Hawkins said.

“This will pave the way for the physical changes on the horizon by ensuring an excellent schedule of outdoor events and programs for years to come,” said Hawkins. “It will also promote closer collaboration between neighborhood cultural organizations so that they can showcase the incredible cultural assets that exist in the region.

This collaboration will help make the Cultural District a regional, national and even international destination, Hawkins said.

The latest grants follow $ 2 million in funding for the arts from the Erb Foundation in September, including $ 1.5 million in annual operating support to five dozen arts and culture groups in the region and annual operating grants of $ 250,000 each as part of a larger three-year commitment to the Arts League of Michigan and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

The Erb Foundation this week announced an additional $ 3.4 million in grants to nonprofit efforts focused on: Alzheimer’s disease research; development of sustainable businesses; increase stewardship, reduce agricultural runoff and improve water quality in the Great Lakes Basin; and environmental health and justice efforts to reduce high blood lead levels and asthma in children in Detroit and Wayne counties.