Theater J to Receive $100,000 Grant From the NEA as Part of the American Rescue Plan

Theater J has announced they have been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. Theater J is recommended to receive $100,000 and will use this funding to save jobs for theater artists. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC.

"Our nation's arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Endowment for the Arts' American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations, such as Theater J, rebuild and reopen," said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. "The arts are crucial in helping America's communities heal, unite, and inspire, as well as essential to our nation's economic recovery."

"This funding from the National Endowment for the Arts is vital to the recovery of the American theater," said Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr. "The arts drive our economy, and as an industry we make up more of our GDP than agriculture and mining combined. This support to Theater J will go directly toward saving jobs for theater artists that are at risk because of the pandemic. All of us at Theater J are thrilled to be doing our part to create good jobs for arts workers and invest in the creative recovery which will fuel our national economy."

With this support from the NEA, Theater J will hire five additional actors for each of the next two seasons, allowing the nation's leading Jewish theater to produce more ambitious plays and musicals. Located just a few blocks from the White House, Theater J produces plays and musicals that explore, wrestle with, and celebrate Jewish history, culture, and people. The theater strives to program work that paints a true picture the great diversity of the American Jewish landscape.

The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March 2021 when the NEA was provided $135 million for the arts sector. The funding for organizations is the third installment providing more than $57.7 million for arts organizations. In April 2021, the NEA announced $52 million (40 percent) in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The second installment in November 2021 allocated $20.2 million to 66 local arts agencies for subgranting to local artists and art organizations.

For more information on the NEA's American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of arts organizations funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.

Theater J is a program of the Edlavitch DCJCC. Theater J performs at the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater, located at 1529 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC, four blocks east of Dupont Circle. For more information about Theater J, contact their ticket office at: 202.777.3210 or go to their website at: www.theaterj.org.