Mittbot and the Giants, live at Wembley. Best night of my life, man.
And then there's this:
ANNOUNCING THE LIT INDEPENDENT THEATER FUND
For over sixty years, Off-Off Broadway (now known as
Independent Theater) has provided a haven for New York City theater artists and
served as a cauldron and cradle for new and innovative American theater. This sector has grown beyond a “starting
place” for many artists and now provides the artistic home for over 10,000
individuals and 300 companies.
But this civic treasure is threatened. The economic realities of New York City have
forced many artists and companies to leave New York. Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Des
Moines and many other cities are poised to replace New York as the center of
new American theater.
We refuse to cede the ground to these other
cities.
We are beginning an annual, reliable funding pool
for the independent theater territory.
And it only costs a nickel.
Starting September 1, 2012, Horse Trade Theater
Group, Clancy Productions, Present Company (producers of the New York
International Fringe Festival), wreckio ensemble, Vampire Cowboys Theatre
Company, the Amoralists, Surf Reality, New Georges, Elephant Run District, Rabbit
Hole Ensemble, Jewish Plays Project, Parallel Exit, Gorilla Rep, Sponsored by
Nobody, Stolen Chair Theatre Company, Mind the Gap Theater, Art House
Productions, Angry Bubble Productions, ViolaCello Stageworks, La Lupa Italian
Cultural Arts Festival, Small Pond Entertainment, Organs of State, WET
Productions, Theater Askew, ETdC Projects Lab, Gemini/Collisionworks, Decades Out, the Living Theater, New York Theatre Experience, Inc. and other
companies will contribute five cents from every ticket sold this year as seed
money for the Independent Theater Fund. This list is growing every day.
We call on all independent theater companies,
artists and venues to join us in this effort.
As always, we recognize that we are strongest and most effective when we
work together and while our individual bank accounts may be small, our
collective resources are substantial.
Elena Holy, Producing Artistic Director of FringeNYC
says
"The
Present Company is always proud to be a part of anything that involves indie
theatre artists supporting each other. The New York International Fringe
Festival (FringeNYC) was forged on our collective indie traditions of
self-sufficiency, creativity, and working together. This new fund builds on
that idea and puts it into action across our entire community - its potential
impact is extraordinarily exciting."
This is the first phase of this funding initiative.
We call on the League of American Theaters and
Producers to join the cause and help us to support, sustain and strengthen the
independent theater community in New York City.
The Broadway League has a long history of supporting
charitable efforts that benefit the theatrical community and with this
initiative they will take the lead in addressing the exodus of young theater
professionals and companies from New York City as well as recognizing the
national cultural treasure that is the Off-Off Broadway territory.
With a five cent surcharge on each ticket sold to a
Broadway show, (which is .0057 of the average ticket price or about five
hundredths of a percent) we can create an immediate, annual fund for small
theater in New York.
In 2010, Broadway attendance was 12,106,105. If the Independent Theater Fund was in effect
in 2010, the independent theater community would have just over $605,000.00 to
maintain and upgrade venues, provide scholarships for promising writers,
directors, designers and performers and mount a high-visibility city-wide
marketing campaign for all of the independent theater productions in the city.
The allocation of funds will be divided into three
areas:
Real Estate Fund – money for venue renovation and
repair, equipment upgrade, etc. Also, a
Seed Money Fund will be created for real estate purchase.
Project Grants – money to create shows.
Individual Grants – money for independent theater
artists and practitioners.
We call on all theaters and companies in New York to
join the Fund.
No comments:
Post a Comment