LIT Fund statement of principles

Folks,

Take a look and please respond.

And come to the Town Hall meeting this Wednesday, RSVP at fund@litny.org.

This is a living document, based on the feedback and response we’ve received from the independent theater territory so far.  We look forward to revising, fine-tuning and strengthening the ideas and principles below with you.

LIT FUND BASICS 

WHAT IT IS

The League of Independent Theater Fund is designed to financially assist organizations and individual theater artists creating independent theater in the five boroughs of New York City. The intent of the fund is to help this vital segment of American theater thrive in a difficult economic environment and to have a positive impact on the cultural landscape of the city. 

Money for the LIT Fund comes from contributions from a number of organizations (listed below), who donate five cents per ticket sold to their performances. This five cent donation is not passed on to the ticket buyer but comes from the organization. 

Recipients of money from the LIT Fund are chosen based both on a demonstrated history of work and a proven responsibility in the independent theater sector.  Recipients will be required to serve on the Fund’s adjudication panel the year following their funding and will be ineligible to receive funds two years in a row. 

Fund distribution will be determined on an annual basis and there will be no set categories.  Our members have identified real estate costs, artist compensation, money to create new work, marketing, equipment purchase and touring costs as current areas of concern. We trust that the artists and organizations we serve know best where the money is needed and we intend to have them dictate where it is distributed.

At the core of the LIT Fund is the simple idea of theater people helping theater people. 

All money collected will go solely to the independent theater territory, with a small portion dedicated to administering the Fund.

We will strive for radical transparency throughout our entire process, from collection to deliberation to decision to distribution.

We will neither accept money from nor give money to corrupt organizations or individuals.  We are defining “corrupt” in this context as organizations or individuals that do not honor artists and arts workers in terms of financial compensation, professional treatment or basic human respect.

We recognize that the power of the Fund will be measured in the level of commitment and collaboration of theater people in New York City, not in the amount of money collected and distributed.  

The money is important, of course, but finally, it’s not really about the money. The power of the Fund is us working together and taking care of each other.

HOW IT WORKS

The legal entity responsible for the administration of the Fund is the League of Independent Theater, Inc.  Current LIT board members are Randi Berry, John Clancy, Jennifer Conley Darling, Martin Denton, Amanda Feldman, Chris Harcum, Christopher Heath, Robert Honeywell and Erez Ziv.

In the inaugural year, LIT will form a committee of nine members tasked with determining how the initial funds collected in 2012-2013 will be distributed.  Three members will be recruited from the LIT board, three members will be recruited from the LIT membership and three members will be recruited from the philanthropic and commercial theater sectors in New York City.  This committee, after extensive public and private discussion and review, will make formal recommendations to the LIT board by June 1^st, 2012.  These recommendations will be public documents.  The LIT board will review the recommendations and announce the first year fiscal priorities and objectives of the Fund by June 15, 2012.

Funds will begin being collected on August 1, 2012.  The first distribution of the LIT Fund will occur no later than December 31, 2013. 

LIT FUND PARTICIPANTS AS OF 3/23/12

Agony Productions, The Amoralists, Angry Bubble Productions Art House Productions, CSV Cultural Center, Caps Lock Theatre, Clancy Productions The Civilians, Decades Out, Deconstructive Theatre Project, Elephant Run District, ETdC Projects Lab, Flux Theatre Ensemble, Gemini/Collisionworks, Gorilla Rep, HERE Horse Trade Theater Group,  Inverse Theatre,   Irondale Ensemble Living Theater, Jewish Plays Project, John Montgomery Theatre Company, La Lupa Italian Cultural Arts Festival, Mabou Mines, Mind the Gap Theatre, New Georges, The New Ohio Theatre, New York Neo-Futurists, New York Theatre Experience, Inc., No. 11 Productions, Organs of State, OutOurWayProductions, P.S. 122, Parallel Exit, Peculiar Works, Present Company (producers of FringeNYC), Purple Rep, Rabbit Hole Ensemble, Reverie Productions, Sinking Ship Productions, Small Pond Entertainment, Sponsored by Nobody, Stolen Chair Theater Company, Surf Reality, Tectonic Theater Project,  terraNOVA Collective, Theatre Askew,  Untitled Theater Company #61, undergroundzero, Vampire Cowboys Theater Company, ViolaCello StageWorks, LLC, WET Productions, White Horse Theater Company, Wreckio Ensemble.