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The Kenneth Rainin Foundation recently awarded one of its four first-round Impact Grants to Magic Theatre, the Bay Area's original home for new plays and playwrights. Magic Theatre will use this three-year capacity building grant to support fund development, board development, and audience assessment. Magic Theatre's capacity building activities for the next three years will be supported by a grant of $150,000.
The Kenneth Rainin Foundation launched its Impact Grants Program earlier in 2013. The program strengthens the Bay Area performing arts ecosystem by supporting organizations' efforts to achieve optimal conditions under which to create art and by strengthening the organizational capacity of these local theatre, dance, and multi-disciplinary companies. The four small and mid-size organizations selected for this initial round operate with budgets between $50,000 and $2 million. All offer programming of exemplary quality and contemporary relevance. Each has demonstrated its readiness and ability to engage in capacity building work.
The grants are intended to improve the health of emerging organizations or to help more established organizations manage significant transitions. Capacity building activities are tailored to each organization based on an organizational assessment process.
Magic Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Loretta Greco expressed her appreciation to the Foundation: "We are honored to be recognized in this inaugural round of support, among such esteemed colleagues. We applaud the Rainin Foundation's vision and leadership in the area of capacity building for Bay Area arts organizations."
"Our board of directors felt it was critical to provide this type of support because we want our grantees to succeed and thrive long-term," said Shelley Trott, the Foundation's Senior Program Officer for the Arts. "We will work directly with them to help them achieve their objectives and sustain the organizational changes they are making."
"We are proud to partner with these exceptional organizations. The Foundation understands that significant organizational changes require a long-term investment. Arts organizations have to remain financially viable while responding to numerous challenges," said Dr. Jennifer Rainin, president of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation.
Poised to enter its 47th year, Magic Theatre is dedicated to the cultivation of innovative plays, playwrights, and audiences through explosive and entertaining productions of original work. Working side-by-side with adventuresome playwrights, Magic Theatre fosters new works from page to stage as world premieres, or seizes the rare opportunity to further develop a new work with a second or third production. The list of playwrights cultivated and premiered at Magic Theatre is a veritable who's who of American theatre: Sam Shepard, Michael McClure, Octavio Solis, Nilo Cruz, Paula Vogel, Rebecca Gilman, Lloyd Suh, Taylor Mac, Theresa Rebeck, Sharr White, Linda McLean, and Luis Alfaro, to name few. We invite you to experience new play development at Magic Theatre. magictheatre.org
At the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, we believe that people working to affect change need an early champion to further their ideas. Like our founder, we listen to and invest in collaborative and innovative projects that advance the arts, education and health, because with our support, truly groundbreaking ideas can make life better for us all. Learn more at krfoundation.org.
