American Theatre: The Fall and Rise of Private Funding for Theatre
Here’s a breakdown of the key themes and information from the provided text, focusing on how foundations are changing their grant-making practices:
Key Trends in Foundation Funding:
* Focus on Equity & Inclusion: foundations are explicitly adopting racial equity as a core value and actively seeking to fund Black, Asian, and Latine organizations. They are also increasing funding to organizations of color in general.
* Supporting Smaller Organizations: there’s a shift towards funding smaller organizations, not just large, established institutions.
* Multi-Year General Operating support: Foundations are moving away from project-specific grants and providing more funding for a theater’s overall operations. This provides more stability.
* Relief for NEA Funding Losses: Foundations are stepping in to support groups that are losing funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
* Community Focus: Foundations are looking for organizations that are deeply rooted in their communities and see audiences as part of the community, not just consumers of art.
* Expanding Geographic Scope: Some foundations (like Barr) are expanding their reach beyond major cities to include rural areas and statewide partnerships.
* Broader Definitions of “Arts & Culture”: Foundations are recognizing organizations that blend arts and other community development roles (like Double Edge Theatre’s work as a rural economic developer).
Examples of Foundations and Their Changes:
* Angell Foundation: Funding smaller organizations and increasing grants to BIPOC organizations,providing relief for NEA losses,and offering more multi-year general operating support.
* Barr Foundation: Adopting racial equity as a value, expanding beyond Boston to fund regranting opportunities statewide, and funding a wider range of organizations (from the Huntington Theatre Company to smaller Iranian troupes and Black theatre groups like Front Porch Arts Collective, and rural groups like Double Edge Theatre).
* Gilman Foundation: Implemented regranting programs in each New York City borough to help smaller organizations, many of which were companies of color.
* Wallace Foundation: Funding smaller organizations and those representing underserved populations,prioritizing groups that are community-rooted.
What Theatres Need to Do:
* Be Proactive: Theatres need to actively build relationships with program officers at foundations (“be a squeaky wheel”) and produce high-quality work to get noticed.
In essence, the text paints a picture of foundations becoming more aware of systemic inequities and actively working to address them through their grant-making.They are diversifying their portfolios, supporting a wider range of organizations, and prioritizing community engagement.