FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 17, 2024
CONTACTS: Corinna Schulenburg | [email protected] | 212-609-5941                                                   

Theatre Communications Group Announces THRIVE! Uplifting Theatres of Color 
Video and Conference Programming

New York, NY – Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, is proud to share the THRIVE! Uplifting Theatres of Color programming at the 2024 TCG National Conference in Chicago, June 22-24. The THRIVE! Uplifting Theatres of Color program is supported by the Theater League of Kansas City, Doris Duke Foundation and the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, and is developed and administered by TCG with an Advisory Circle of BIPOC theatre leaders. THRIVE! provides unrestricted funds for U.S.-based Black, Indigenous, and Theatres of Color (BITOC*) who have all too often been outside the grantmaking sector’s funding opportunities. TCG has also released Introducing the THRIVE! Grant Recipients, a video created with 21 of the THRIVE! RECOGNIZE grantees that honors BITOC history, acknowledges their shared challenges of systemic racism, celebrates their artistry and resilience, and looks toward their abundant futures.

The BITOC-centered programming at the 2024 TCG National Conference includes: 

  • Discovering Common Connections: A Native/Indigenous Affinity Space, Thursday, June 20, 10am-11:30am CT: Hosted by The Center for Native Futures, this peer-led affinity space for Native and Indigenous theatre-makers will connect colleagues from across the U.S. and globally. Through conversations with Native/Indigenous members of TCG’s THRIVE! Advisory Circle and other Native/Indigenous arts leaders, there has been a strong desire for community building and mutual support. TCG recognizes the nuances within the Native/Indigenous arts community: theatre work is often created by groups of artists in multi-disciplines, including storytellers, educators and other community leaders who are performing in cultural centers and other community gathering spaces.
  • Evolving Forward: From Theatre Company to Cultural Center, Thursday, June 20, 12:45pm-2:15pm CT: In recent years, theatre companies across the country have embraced the opportunity to broaden their artistic horizons and redefine their roles as multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary cultural hubs. This transformative shift has been largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing challenges of bringing back audiences. Silk Road Cultural Center (formerly known as Silk Road Rising) will host a session featuring leaders from arts organizations who have successfully pivoted to a cultural center mode to share their unique experiences and perspectives. This conversation will contribute to an ongoing discourse about how theatre companies can reimagine new modes of artmaking and audience engagement in the face of continued adversity.
  • TCG Trip: A Workshop on Beyond Land Acknowledgments and lunch at downtown’s Center for Native Futures, Friday, June 21, 11:30am-2:30pm, CT: Organizations often talk about land acknowledgements as a "first step" towards relationship and repair with Native peoples, but what are the next steps? This workshop will familiarize participants with the #landback movement, examine case studies within and outside of the arts and culture field for what repair and relationship building with Native peoples and communities can look like, and give participants the opportunity to work in small groups to imagine what meaningful next steps beyond land acknowledgements may look like for their organization or individual artistic practice.
  • Finding the Yes: Community-based Tactics for Moving Through Crisis, Friday, June 21, 11:45am-1:45pm CT: Presented by Theater Mu staff and fellows, this session focuses on Theatres of Color around the $1 million budget range. Unlike many theatres during the Covid years, Mu has been able to grow, going from a $600,000 budget to $1.3 million in the last 3 years alone, while eliminating debt. Additionally, staff and programs have been expanded without the accompaniment of burnout or high turnover rates. Mu will share what has worked so that other theatres, especially BITOCs, can possibly employ these tactics, and also hold space for communal conversations and brainstorming around what can happen next. Specifically, the conversations will center on hiring, budgeting processes, artistic programming, and communications.
  • THRIVE! Gathering Space for BITOC, Friday, June 21, 4:30pm-7:30pm: Part facilitated discussion and part celebration, this session is centering BITOC - those working on staff at BITOCs, and those committed to working with BITOCs (teaching artists, individual artists, trustees, grantmakers, independent producers, to name a few). Although time will be spent uplifting bright spots of individual BITOCs, the central focus will be on mapping the most powerful fieldwide actions and creative interventions that move BITOCs towards a just and sustainable future. There will be discussion on tangible actions BITOCs can take as a cohort, whether it’s addressing challenges specific to a given community; actions geared to a current challenge; and/or strategies that benefit all BITOCs nationally.
  • National Latinx Theatre Initiative, Saturday, June 22, 11:45am-1pm CT: The National Latinx Theater Initiative (NLTI) is a new regranting, networking, and professional development project of the Latino Theater Company. It is funded by national and local foundations. The goal of this session is to encourage collaboration among TCG members and NLTI grantees. This could be through co-commissions, co-productions, touring support, and the presentation of NLTI grantee theaters. After two case studies are presented, Participants will be asked to share their own collaborations with Latinx theatres and explore possible new ones.

 Edited by Jonathan Rivera and narrated by Reynaldo Piniella, the Introducing the THRIVE! Grant Recipients video takes the viewer through the founding history of the BITOC movement and its intersections with TCG. It highlights the formations of networks of color, including the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists (CAATA) and MENA Theater Makers Alliance (MENATMA), and details the racist funding divides faced by BITOC, further contextualizing them within broader inequities experienced by BIPOC communities. The video closes with an inspiring montage of footage from THRIVE RECOGNIZE grantee productions.

“Through this video and our Conference programming, we’re thrilled to amplify the work of BITOC all across the country,” said LaTeshia Ellerson, interim chief growth officer, TCG. “While the video acknowledges the very real and ongoing funding disparities these theatres face, it focuses on what makes these theatres an essential part of our theatre ecology—their artistry, their innovative spirit, and their deep commitment to the communities they serve.”

“We’re excited to witness the THRIVE! program evolve from its initial round of funding into a cornerstone of TCG’s programs going forward” said Karena Fiorenza, interim chief executive officer, TCG. “With Emilya Cachapero and Raksak “Big” Konseng’s developing sustained relationships with BITOC to mutually create these programs, we know that THRIVE! will continue to be deeply responsive and impactful.”

“This is the latest iteration of TCG’s commitment to uplifting BITOC through the power of video storytelling,” said Emilya Cachapero, Director of Grantmaking Programs, TCG. “This video joins past efforts like our Legacy Leaders of Color Video Project. Together with these Conference sessions, THRIVE! continues to bear witness to the unique aesthetic and social impact of these theatres.”

In addition to the THRIVE! Uplifting Theatres of Color Video and conference sessions, the program includes: 

  • RESPOND: 21 rapid response grants of $10,000 each, unrestricted. RESPOND grants aimed to address immediate, time-sensitive challenges that prevented theatres from their ongoing work with their community. 
  • RECOGNIZE: 21 general operating grants, unrestricted. RECOGNIZE grants were awarded to BITOC demonstrating a deep level of service to their chosen communities; a clear vision guiding their ongoing and future work; and the highest potential for the THRIVE! program to positively impact their organization.
  • RECOGNIZE grantees also participated in REBUILD: A Learning Cohort working with BIPOC consultants to strengthen their effectiveness in specific areas that included: financial planning, crisis management and scenario planning, and program evaluation. 
  • Indigenous Theatre Grants: Four Native/Indigenous theatres received $10,000 unrestricted funds each.
  • THRIVE! Grants Supported by Theater League of Kansas City: 30 BITOC received $10,000 in general operating support. 
  • THRIVE! Week 2023: a four-day virtual convening to uplift the leadership and wisdom of BITOC, held July 11-14, 2023.

Learn more about THRIVE! here: https://www.tcg.org/Web/Web/Our-Work/Grant-and-Professional-Development-Programs/THRIVE/overview.aspx 

TCG is inspired by the writings of W.E.B DuBois and defines BITOC as organizations that have been founded by, for, about, with, and near BIPOC communities. THRIVE! recognizes that communities of color often disperse beyond one geographic area. Also, since the start of pandemic time, TCG recognizes the difficulty of being in physical proximity to community members. For these reasons, TCG defines “near” and “with” broadly to include digital and cultural proximity. In addition to these elements, BITOC are led by BIPOC.

*A note about terminology: BITOC and BIPOC are terms used here for solidarity purposes representing a multiplicity of racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. We acknowledge that the terms “BITOC” and “BIPOC” are imperfect, not universally embraced by many who identify as People of Color and/or People of the Global Majority, and that language is in a constant state of reimagination and redefinition. For reference, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color represent over 80% of the global population. It is possible that during the program period, the language may shift again. 

The mission of the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future by investing in artists and the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, child well-being and greater mutual understanding among diverse communities. DDF focuses its support to the performing arts on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. Visit www.dorisduke.org to learn more.

The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation works to advance equitable change by creating access to systems and solutions that expand economic opportunity, promote innovative approaches to education, improve access to supportive care for life-threatening illness, and lift up social impact theatre. We practice active philanthropy, support outstanding leaders with bold ideas, and explore innovative approaches and models that can be tested locally and, if successful, implemented nationally.

Theater League of Kansas City is a not-for-profit civic performing arts organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in the communities it serves with the thrill of live! theater. Founded by Mark Edelman in Kansas City in 1977, the organization has presented the Best of Broadway in theaters across the country to well over a million patrons. Today, the League supports a broad range of professional theater through grants, student ticket subsidies and new works development in its hometown of Kansas City and performing arts organizations around the country.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the biennial TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by Interim Chief Growth Officer LaTeshia Ellerson and Interim Chief Executive Officer Karena Fiorenza. www.tcg.org. 

 

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