Forward Theater Begins Endowment Campaign

Forward Theater Company is honored to announce that the Board of Governors of the Madison Community Foundation, at the request of donor Pleasant T. Rowland, has designated Ms. Rowland's original matching gift for a Great Performance Fund for the now-defunct Madison Repertory Theatre as a matching gift for a new Great Performance Fund for Forward Theater endowment campaign.

As with the original Great Performance Funds set up for individual resident companies of Overture Center when the facility opened in 2004, the new fund will provide annual operational support for Forward Theater (which has been a resident company at Overture since 2012).

As Forward Theater raises funds for this new endowment, to be held at the Madison Community Foundation, those funds will be matched dollar for dollar from the original assets donated by Ms. Rowland for the Madison Repertory Theatre's fund.

The funds raised by supporters of the Madison Repertory Theatre to match the original gift will remain at the Madison Community Foundation in the Great Performance Fund for Theater, which provides financial support through competitive grants to other organizations producing professional theater in Overture Center.

"We are pleased to assist Forward Theater in establishing their own endowment," said Bob Sorge, president of Madison Community Foundation. "We are proud to hold the Great Performance Funds at MCF, helping to support the long-term stability of Madison's professional arts organizations." Since their inception, the Funds held by MCF have distributed $20.4 million to the recipient arts organizations.

Jennifer Uphoff Gray, artistic director of Forward Theater, said, "this support from Pleasant Rowland and the Madison Community Foundation is providing Forward Theater with a transformational opportunity to ensure our future. We are currently planning for our endowment campaign, so that we can take full advantage of this generous matching gift. Annual distributions from this endowment will be used to assist with several long-range goals, including our commitment to raising artist wages, our establishment of new community engagement programs, and our investment in the development of new work."