STAGE TUBE: I AM THEATRE Project - Ben Cameron

BroadwayWorld.com is excited to share a weekly series developed by the Theatre Communications Group! This week Ben Cameron shares pivotal moments in his theatre career and why the arts matter to him!

Since 2006, Ben Cameron has been Program Director, Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in New York, NY, supervising a $13 million grants program focusing on organizations and artists in the theatre, contemporary dance, jazz and presenting fields. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group. Other roles include Senior Program Officer at the Dayton Hudson Foundation, Manager of Community Relations for Target Stores (supervising its grant-making program) and Director of the Theater Program at the National Endowment for the Arts. He has addressed arts gatherings in Ireland, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, England, Scotland and Russia, as well as US national gatherings of the theatre, chamber music, symphony, presenting, dance, and chorAl Fields; served on the national boards of the Arts and Business Council and Grantmakers in the Arts; and received honorary degrees from Goucher College in Baltimore, DePaul University in Chicago and American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, in addition to an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. In 2007, he was one of five recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has lectured on theatre aboard both the Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 on four separate cruises, appeared during 14 seasons as a panelist on the quiz feature on the Live from the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, twice ridden his bicycle from Minneapolis to Chicago to raise money for AIDS relief services, and served for six years as a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee. He is originally from High Point, North Carolina.

I AM THEATRE spotlights the stories of theatre practitioners, in their own words. With 50 videos over the next 50 weeks, TCG is celebrating its 50th anniversary by sharing stories from a diverse group of people who are creating, supporting, and engaging with theatre. YOU ARE THEATRE: We want to hear your stories! TCG will release a new video each week of individuals sharing pivotal moments in theatre - and hope they will inspire you to tell your stories too. Join us as we seek to raise the international awareness of the depth, diversity and impact of the theatre field. WE ARE THEATRE! Today, not-for-profit professional theatres in the U.S. employ 130,000 people annually, inspire more than 30 million attendees and contribute $2 billion directly to the U.S. economy. What if thousands of theatre artists across the world posted their own video testimonies of why they do what they do and why theatre matters? How might that transform communities' awareness of our work? Please share the stories we've recorded, and we'll share the videos you make, and together we'll testify in a voIce That everyone will hear...I AM THEATRE. YOU ARE THEATRE. WE ARE THEATRE!

For 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 13,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the US Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. www.tcg.org