Arizona Theatre Company Receives NEA Grant

Arizona Theatre Company has received a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) for a multi-faceted initiative, Voices of a New America, that includes support for Spanish language mainstage performances, commissioning a new Latino work about border issues and support for ATC's long-running National Latino Playwrighting Award.

The NEA Art Works Grant is one of 919 totaling $26.6 million to nonprofit organizations nationwide. Art Works grants support the creation of art, public engagement with art, lifelong learning in the arts and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts. The NEA received 1,474 eligible applications for Art Works grants requesting more than $75 million in funding.

The Art Works Grant will support multiple Spanish and English-language performances of ATC's production of Herbert Siguenza's An Evening with Pablo Picasso (April 4-26, 2015 in Tucson and April 30-May 17 in Phoenix) and culminate in a new commission by Playwright-In-Residence Elaine Romero.

""Thanks to the NEA, this grant will move ATC's mission forward by helping to provide opportunities to Latino playwrights to bring their unique and essential voices to local and national communities," said ATC Artistic Director David Ira Goldstein. "Voices of a New America is a multi-pronged initiative to nurture our Playwright-in-Residence Elaine Romero in her border-focused writing, celebrate the multiplicity of new visions through our National Latino Playwriting Contest, work toward publishing some of the distinguished winners of that annual contest over the last two decades, and bring the welcome sounds of Spanish-language performances to our mainstage."

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said that she is "pleased to be able to share the news of our support through Art Works including, the award to Arizona Theatre Company. The arts foster value, connection, creativity and innovation for the American people and these recommended grants demonstrate those attributes and affirm that the arts are part of our everyday lives."

Romero, who returned to Arizona after four years in Chicago, will lead the initiative, which includes writing the third play of her Arizona-Mexican trilogy.

"I wrote Wetback and Mother of Exiles away from the border and Voices of a New America offers me the opportunity to write the final play on the border that has inspired my stories for so long," she said. "In addition to my own contribution, I will work tirelessly to enrich the U.S. canon of contemporary playwriting by anthologizing winners of the National Latino Playwriting Award."

Submissions for the 2015 National Latino Playwriting Award are being accepted through the end of the year. For more information, visit the Arizona Theatre Company website at www.arizonatheatre.org.