During the pandemic, among the hardest-hit sector was the performing arts. Small theaters, music clubs and performing troupes were forced to shut down and many shuttered permanently, unable to survive. Some, such as small independent music venues, banded together as NIVA (National Independent Venue Association) to advocate for government support in the early days of the pandemic.
More recently, on a smaller scale, five small-to-midsize theater groups from across the country came together in the spring of 2023 to form The Future of American Theatre Cohort. Their goal was “to share resources, foster collective learning, and champion new visions” for theater, as well as to focus other aspects of growth, especially among marginalized groups, including audience building, new play development and more. Unsurprisingly, Cleveland Public Theatre, which has always focused on diversity in all aspects of its work, is one of the five, along with Massachusetts’ Company One, D.C.’s Mosaic Theater Company, Alaska’s Perseverance Theatre and San Francisco’s Crowded Fire Theater.
The collaboration’s groundwork has now paid off in a $2.5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with $500,000 going to each of the group’s members over a period of two years. Each will focus on one aspect of growth. CPT will focus on “deep interconnectivity between communities served and the art on stage,” an expansion of work it’s been doing all along, with programs that serve and engage the most diverse variety of ethnic/racial/socio-economic communities of any northeast Ohio theater group. Learn more about CPT here.
In a statement accompanying the announcement of the grant, CPT Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan said, “The history of the regional theatre movement is founded on an idea that community theatre is amateur, creating an inherent divide between theatres that are community centered and those that are ‘professional.’ In this time of reckoning what drew us to this cohort was the incredible professionalism of each company and their profound sense of community and their work that is truly connected to the public! In the short time we have been together the cohort gatherings have proven to be a place of innovation and inspiration, and I can’t wait to see how Cleveland, the theatre field, and the nation will be changed by the fundamental work of this grant.”
Learn more about the Mellon Foundation here.