TCG Receives $100,000 Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, was awarded $100,000 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as part of its second round of funding for FY 2017.

As the only funder in the country to support arts activities in all 50 states and five U.S. jurisdictions, the NEA will award 1,195 grants totaling $84.06 million to support organizations that employ artists and cultural workers to provide programs for thousands of people from Idaho to Maine; in urban centers such as Cleveland, Ohio and Dallas, Texas; and in rural towns as different as Haines, Alaska and Whitesburg, Kentucky. The NEA's grant will support TCG's national convenings, professional development programs, and resources for theatre artists, administrators, and trustees nationwide.

In addition to TCG's own grant, seventy TCG Member Theatres will collectively receive 71 direct grants totaling $1,960,000 in the following categories: Theater and Musical Theater, Arts Education, Presenting and Multidisciplinary Works, Media Arts, and Folk and Traditional Arts (all disciplines encompassed by the Art Works initiative), as well as Our Town grants.

A list of all TCG Member Theatres for which the NEA has approved grants in this round can be found here. A complete list of all awardees-as well as more detailed information about Art Works and Our Town grants-can be found on the NEA website, along with a timetable of upcoming grant application deadlines.

"At a time when theatre is increasingly at the center of our civic discourse, support from the NEA for TCG and our Member Theatres is vitally important," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "With membership dues accounting for less than 20% of TCG's operating budget, support from funders like the NEA is critical to fulfilling our mission. Just as we'll use this support to make our programming and resources more accessible for practitioners across the country, NEA grants continue to empower theatres to engage a much larger and more diverse American audience to participate in the arts."

The NEA budget for FY17 is $150 million, which is the full amount requested for the year and includes a $2 million increase over the previous year's budget. According to the NEA, in FY16, NEA grants reached more than 20 million people attending live arts events, reached an additional 300 million people through broadcasts, and generated more than $500 million in matching support. The NEA's budget is 0.004 percent of the federal budget and 47 cents per capita. Each NEA grant dollar generates up to $9 in private and other public funding.

"The American people are recognized for their innovative spirit, and these grants represent the vision, energy, and talent of America's artists and arts organizations," said NEA Chairman Jane Chu in a statement from the NEA. "I am proud of the role the National Endowment for the Arts plays in helping advance the creative capacity of the United States."

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America's rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. For more information, visit www.arts.gov.

For over 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for U.S. theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture, and promote the professional not-for-profit theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research, and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 15 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its Member Theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. Visit www.tcg.org.