Metro Theater Company Awarded $55,000 PNC Arts Alive Grant To Support Ongoing Streaming Of Virtual Programs Through 2023

Metro Theater Company (MTC) has received a $55,000 grant from the PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive - a multi-year initiative that challenges visual and performing arts organizations to put forth their best, most original thinking to expand audience participation and engagement. The two-year PNC Arts Alive grant will support MTC Remote, a program that will enable MTC to evolve the digital footprint it developed during the pandemic into an ongoing, sustainable platform. Through this grant, MTC will be able to continue the digital delivery of its programs through the spring of 2023, helping ensure increased access to pandemic-affected communities, regional rural schools and families, and national and global audiences.

"Improving access to the arts is central to PNC Arts Alive," said Michael Scully, PNC regional president for St. Louis. "As recent events have challenged organizations to reconsider the premise of what access means and adopt technology to reach new and existing audiences, Metro Theater Company is leaning into its ability to continue delivering programming to those unable to attend productions in person."

"There's no question that MTC made the leap into digital programming, like so many others in our field, as a necessity during the pandemic," said MTC Managing Director Joe Gfaller. "However, in shifting our practices to effectively reach audiences both in person and online, it became clear that independent of the health crisis, virtual programming enabled critical access to those who had never been able to experience our programs before. Geography, work schedules, and even comfort in gathering for some with cognitive, behavioral, or physical challenges were all barriers that have worked against attending in-person performances. We are so grateful to the PNC Foundation for enabling us to extend these programs long after the pandemic has ended in order to effectively welcome these new audiences into the Metro Theater Company family, wherever in the world they may be."

Metro Theater Company is St. Louis' third-oldest theater company and a nationally recognized TYA (theater for young audiences) that reaches tens of thousands of St. Louis-area students and families each year. MTC creates professional theater, fosters inclusive community, and nurtures meaningful learning a"? locally and nationally a"? to empower young people, promote equity and access, and encourage civic engagement through the arts. Across nearly five decades, Metro Theater Company has reached a total audience of well over two million young people in person and contributed 36 new plays for young people.

MTC Remote will package together all of Metro Theater Company's virtual offerings through May 2023. Its goal is to broaden Metro Theater Company's reach beyond its current physical capacity, providing digital educational resources and arts access to build a foundation with as-yet-untapped areas of St. Louis and creating opportunities to engage current and new audiences. Based on the impact of virtual programming during the past year, MTC anticipates reaching an additional 100,000 people through digital means each year of MTC Remote.

During the 2021-22 season, MTC Remote will enable streaming of all MTC productions, including Digging Up Dessa (an original play about a young girl who is inspired by an imaginary friend - the ghost of 19th century paleontologist Mary Anning - to reclaim Mary's legacy and win the science fair by proving gender bias in science), Last Stop on Market Street (a hip-hop musical about community based on the New York Times bestselling, Newbery Medal-winning, and Coretta Scott King Award-winning picture book by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson), and two additional plays to be announced later this summer. In addition, MTC Remote will include access to all future digital learning and arts-integrated residency programs that bring the arts directly into classrooms across the region.

MTC Remote's ability to make high-quality arts and theatrical programming more accessible for those with the greatest needs is aligned directly with the long-range goals articulated in Metro Theater Company's Every Child Initiative - a portion of MTC's 2020 5-year strategic plan that envisions Metro Theater Company reaching every child in St. Louis at least once by age 18 between the company's 50th and 60th season.

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