Pegasus Theatre Chicago Receives NEA Grant

Pegasus Theatre Chicago has been approved for a $20,000 Grant for Arts Projects award to support the Young Playwrights Festival (YPF). This project supports in-school and production programming for the Festival. YPF is among 1,073 projects across America totaling nearly $25 million that were selected during this first round of fiscal year 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category.

"The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project from Pegasus Theatre Chicago," said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. "Pegasus is among the arts organizations across the country that has demonstrated creativity, excellence, and resilience during this very challenging year."

The Young Playwrights Festival is a year-round program that begins in the classroom, where professional playwrights work with students to develop one-act plays. Additional theater artists are involved in workshops, follow-up readings and evaluating the competition phases which takes place April through July. Finally, a panel of judges select the three to four plays that will be professionally produced in January.

"We are honored to receive this award," said Executive and Producing Director Ilesa Duncan. "The National Endowment for the Arts continued support is critical to the success of the Young Playwrights Festival, especially during this tumultuous time. This grant helps us continue to enhance language arts, encourage independent, high-level thinking, and influence career development for the next generation of teen Chicago writers."

Pegasus Theatre Chicago has been a mainstay in the Chicago theater community for more than four decades. Its mission is to champion new, authentic voices and produce boldly imaginative theatre primarily by and about black, indigenous or other people of color. Home of the Young Playwrights Festival, the company promotes cultural equity while celebrating diversity, inclusion, and first voice.

Pegasus is also committed to initiating important conversations through the arts with strong community engagement and socially relevant programming, including the Young Playwrights Festival for high school-age scribes. Pegasus Theatre Chicago has received 77 Joseph Jefferson Awards and numerous nominations since its inception.
For more information on projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

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