American Theatre Wing Receives Over $100K Grant for 'Working in the Theatre' Series & More

The American Theatre Wing announced today that they are one of five recipients of a Phase II grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's 2016 Fund for National Projects. The Wing will allocate the $112,500 grant for their national media programming, including their popular "Working in the Theatre" web docu-series, that connects theatre communities with audiences online and on mobile devices.

"The American Theatre Wing is grateful to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for this tremendous vote of confidence in our work. We look forward to building on the progress we made with our Phase I grant, using this Phase II funding to further expand our media programming and to help the national theatre community do the same, connecting audiences with the work of theatre artists across the country," said Ms. Hitchens, President and CEO of the Wing.

During Phase I of the Wing's Doris Duke Charitable Foundation funding, the "Working in the Theatre" docu-series worked with thirty-seven theatre companies/productions, plus eighteen independent artists from across the country, documenting the people, process, work, and diversity of American theatre. "Working in the Theatre" film crews have traveled outside of New York City to highlight regional work and artists, visiting Minnesota, Maryland, Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois, Washington D.C., New Jersey, Arizona, and Kansas. "Working in the Theatre" was recently nominated for a 2016 Webby Award for Best Documentary Series, coming in ahead of runners-up such as PBS, Time Magazine, Bloomberg, ABC News, Nightline, and more.

Through the Fund for National Projects, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) aims to strengthen the national infrastructure of performing arts by supporting projects that promise to foster continued dynamism and vitality in their respective fields of contemporary dance, jazz, and theatre. Twelve performing arts organizations will receive over $1.37 million to pilot new ideas, including Art2Action in Tampa, FL; East West Players in Los Angeles, CA; Jazz Forward Coalition, through Fractured Atlas in New York, NY; National Arts Strategies, in partnership with the International Association of Blacks in Dance, in Alexandria, VA; Network of Ensemble Theaters in Portland, OR; Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul, MN; Virginia Tech's School of Performing Arts in Blacksburg, VA; American Theatre Wing in New York, NY; Childsplay in Tempe, AZ; DataArts in Philadelphia, PA; Partners for Sacred Places in Philadelphia, PA; and Theatre Communications Group in New York, NY.

Since 2007, DDCF's Fund for National Projects has supported 78 projects with grants totaling over $11.86 million. This round of grants marks the ninth year that DDCF has provided support to performing arts organizations with the goal of fostering creative yet untested projects that offer potentially vast benefits to the sector of performing arts nationwide.

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. The Arts Program of DDCF focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theatre artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, visit www.ddcf.org.

The American Theatre Wing (Heather Hitchens, President and CEO) is dedicated to advancing artistic excellence and nurturing theatre's next generation: on the stage, behind the scenes, and in the audience. For nearly a century, the Wing has pursued this mission with programs that span the nation to invest in the growth and evolution of American Theatre. Traditionally, the Wing has encouraged members of the theatre community to share their off-stage time and talent directly with the theatre audience at large--whether it was singing for the troops in the Stage Door Canteen of the 1940s, or sharing their stories on a podcast today. As the founders of The Tony Awards, the American Theatre Wing has developed the foremost national platform for the recognition of theatrical achievement on Broadway. Yet the Wing's reach extends beyond Broadway and beyond New York. The American Theatre Wing is now in the third year of a long-term partnership with The Village Voice to co-present The Obie Awards, off-Broadway's Highest Honor. The Wing also develops the next generation of theatre professionals through the SpringboardNYC and Theatre Intern Network programs, incubates innovative theatre across the country through the National Theatre Company Grants, fosters the song of American theatre through the Jonathan Larson Grants, honors the best in New York theatrical design with the Henry Hewes Design Award, illuminates the creative process through the "Working in the Theatre" program and media archive, and supports theatre education opportunities for underserved young people and under-resourced public schools around the United States with the newly launched Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative. Visitors to AmericanTheatreWing.org can gain inspiration and insight into the artistic process through the Wing's extensive media collection, and learn more about its programming for students, aspiring and working professionals, and audiences.

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