Alliance Theatre, Seattle Rep and More Receive TCG's First Audience (R)Evolution Travel Grants

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, is pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Audience (R)Evolution Travel Grants.

Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Travel Grants award up to $7,500 to five teams of TCG Member Theatre staff and community stakeholders. The grants will empower teams to observe effective audience engagement programs, as well as consult with professionals on strategies to deepen relationships with communities they serve. Additionally, the Audience (R)Evolution program will soon publish a series of Case Studies on audience engagement, and launch a second phase of grantmaking through Cohort Grants,

"To borrow from William Gibson, the future of audience engagement is here, it's just not evenly distributed," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "Thanks to our long-standing partnership with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, these Travel Grants will empower the peer-driven exchange of innovative audience engagement models that work."

The Travel Grants are the initial phase of Audience (R)Evolution's second round of grantmaking. The second phase will feature Cohort Grants in the amount of $25,000, $75,000, and $200,000 to allow teams of three or more not-for-profit organizations to design and implement audience engagement and community development strategies together. These grants are intended to have a seismic impact on the participating theatres, as well as the field at large, by building audiences for theatre through projects that lead to new, more frequent, and increased theatre attendance. The Cohort grants will launch in November 2015. Find more information on Audience (R)Evolution grants here.

"Audience development remains a high priority for theatres across the country, and TCG's Audience (R)Evolution initiative continues to think boldly about how to reach the audiences of both today and tomorrow," said Ben Cameron, program director for the Arts at DDCF. "We expect this new program will have an enormous influence on the theatre field and are honored to support TCG and this newest cohort of recipients."

The inaugural round of Audience (R)Evolution Travel Grants awarded $37,295 in total funds to the following theatres:

Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA

Christopher Moses (The Dan Reardon Director of Education/Associate Artistic Director) and Michael Winn (Community Engagement Manager) will travel to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Cornerstone Theater Company, and La Jolla Playhouse to research new community engagement strategies. These strategies will be developed to cultivate new audiences during the Alliance's 2017-2018 off-site season, when they will stage 12 productions in 12 venues across the city, making theatre in collaboration with and about the many communities that make up Atlanta.

Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Little Rock, AR

Allyson Pittman Gattin (Director of Communications and Marketing), Catherine L. Hughes (Board Chair), and Robert Hupp (Producing Artistic Director) will engage in peer-learning activities with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Cape Fear Regional Theatre, organizations that have an acknowledged track record of engaging with rural audiences that have little immediate access to theatre, as well as military families.

Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD

As part of Imagination Stage's commitment to serve their local Latino community, Miriam Gonzales (Teaching Artist), Joanne Seelig (Director of Education), and Elena Velasco (Teaching Artist), will travel to CalArts and Center Theatre Group to learn about their successes in engaging with their communities and undertake training with Cornerstone Theater Company to learn techniques of community engagement, story gathering, and performance. This work will deeply inform Imagination Stage's program, ¡Óyeme!, which provides creative outlets using culturally based, trauma-informed theatre to aid in the healing and assimilation of Central American refugee youth resettled in the organization's community.

Penumbra Theatre Company, St. Paul, MN

Sarah Bellamy (Co-Artistic Director), Shannon Brunette (General Manager), and Stephanie Lein Walseth (Director of Inquiry) will create a cross-sector partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama to observe best practices in audience engagement and community development around issues of social justice and equity. For 39 years Penumbra has energized audiences around its theatrical offerings. Now as they look to advance the advocacy portion of their mission, they are seeking guidance from a pioneer in the field of human rights.

Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle, WA

Karen Rippel Chilcote (Communications Director), Marya Sea Kaminski (Associate Artistic Director), and Melissa A. Husby (Director of Institutional Giving) will visit The Public Theater to observe their strategies and practices in working with community partners and building organizational support in development and communications. Seattle Rep will also send staff to Pasadena Playhouse to observe and study Seema Sueko's Consensus Organizing for Theater model with partner communities and not-for-profits. This work is in support for their new engagement program, City Rep, which is based on The Public Theater's Public Works program.

The Audience (R)Evolution Travel Grants panel included: Doug Borwick, author and CEO, ArtsEngaged; Erika Mallin, executive director, Signature Theatre; and Brad Erickson, executive director, Theatre Bay Area.

The second round of Audience (R)Evolution will take place over three years through the following four phases: research and assessment, a convening, grant-making and widespread dissemination of audience engagement models that work. Learn more about the Audience (R)Evolution program here. The Audience (R)Evolution Case Studies will be released later this year.

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, the environment, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. The Arts Program of DDCF focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theatre artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, visit ddcf.org.

For over 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 14 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. For more information, visit www.tcg.org.

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