NEW YORK CITY: Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre and the publisher of this magazine, has launched the Audience (R)Evolution Cohort Grants, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The grants will award $25,000, $75,000, and $200,000 to teams of three or more not-for-profit organizations to design and implement audience-engagement and community-development strategies.
“Audience engagement remains a high priority for theatres across the country, and TCG’s Audience (R)Evolution initiative continues to think boldly about how to develop audiences in our changing world,” said Cheryl Ikemiya, senior program officer for the arts at Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, in a statement.
The grants will support programming, marketing, education, and outreach to test, implement, or further develop a strategy within the teams. The cohorts may also receive general operating support to be distributed throughout the cohort. Recipients will also participate in skills-based training structured for their individual needs.
The application deadline for the grants is March 4, and the application can be found here.
TCG also announced the second round of Audience (R)Evolution case studies to take place over the next three years. In 2013, TCG utilized AMS Planning & Research findings to provide information for the Audience (R)Evolution program. Based on this work, the Audience (R)Evolution program launched a Research and Resources Hub with eight case studies* on effective audience-engagement and community-development strategies.
Case studies analyzed models from Arkansas Repertory Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Long Wharf Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Youth Speaks, the Theater Offensive, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
The second round of studies will enter four phases: research and assessment, convenings, grant-making, and widespread dissemination of audience engagement models that work. More information on this study can be found here.
*A previous version of this story claimed that there were seven case studies.
