PRODUCER HUB Achieves Independent Not-For-Profit Status

PRODUCER HUB – a critical resource for independent producers working across the performing arts – has spun off into an independent 501(c)3 organization. Producer Hub’s mission is to provide producers, at every level, with the community, mentorship, education and resources to create work, realize their full potential, and make lasting contributions to the performing arts field. Producer Hub was first launched in 2020 under the auspices of Octopus Theatricals where it has been housed ever since. Producer Hub and Octopus will continue to operate as strategic partners, with much of the Producer Hub team working across both companies.
 
Producer Hub was originally conceived in 2017 by Mara Isaacs and Ronee Penoi as a connective space designed to provide tools, resources and community for independent producers and artists working in the experimental and non-profit sectors. In 2020, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing suspension of live performance events, the need for the hub accelerated and the company began offering programming and fiscal sponsorships to producing companies, organizations, and individual productions across opera, theater, dance, film, music, visual arts, and more by partnering with their own fiscal sponsor, The Tank. Through that program, Producer Hub was able to facilitate more than $15 million of funds on behalf of 100+ fiscally sponsored artists – nearly half of which was raised in 2023 alone. This new independent structure allows Producer Hub to directly seek funding to further its programs and expand their already fast-growing fiscal sponsorship program to reach organizations around the country.
 
Producer Hub will be led by Producing Director Michael Francis, working alongside Communications Associate Cindy Tsai, Management Associate Katie Dragone, Operations Associate Kelly Letourneau, and Consultant Sophie Blumberg. The Producer Hub Board of Directors currently includes Mara Isaacs, Ronee Penoi, Adam Hyndman, and Liz Engelman.
 
As a fiscal sponsor, Producer Hub will provide fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services and support for independent creative producers and emerging organizations in the independent sector. Fiscal sponsorship offers a way to process and manage donations and build donor relationships for mission-driven artists and companies without each one having to endure the financial and administrative burden associated with becoming a tax exempt, 501(c)3 organization. It can also be used to provide fiscal support during the process of establishing non-profit status for those that seek to do so. Founded with the principle that funds raised should go to the artists themselves, Producer Hub has established a low-cost fiscal sponsorship fee, ranging from 2-3% of contributed funds, making them a cost-effective choice in a field that typically charges 7-15%.
 
“Producer Hub grew out of a need to be more creative about how we finance art—it’s not a one-size-fits-all industry. A tax status shouldn’t legitimize art and taking the steps to reach 501(c)3 status requires a significant amount of time and money and isn’t always the right fit for every project,” said Michael Francis. “We’re grateful that our partnerships with Octopus Theatricals and The Tank allowed us to take the time to find our footing so that we can reach that status ourselves in order to better serve independent producers and artists.”
 
Since its founding, select fiscally sponsored organizations (some of whom have already achieved their own non-profit status) include Black Theatre Coalition, Breaking The Binary, Black Trans Femme Artists Collective, Pomegranate Arts, Sweat Variant, Groundwater Arts, Lightning Rod Special, and more. Project-specific funding includes the Salon Africana, The Lantern Fund at The Harriet Tubman Effect, Cast Album Project and Geoff Sobelle’s FOOD.
 
In addition to fiscal sponsorship, the Producer Hub’s free website resources provides a directory of employment opportunities specifically related to independent art, a directory of educational and training resources, funding opportunities, online discussion groups, recordings of past webinars for reference, and more. Producer Hub also hosts educational seminars, webinars, and panel discussions to help develop the professional practice of participants, inspire future visioning, facilitating discourse around present and future models of making and producing work, and create opportunities for professional collaboration.
 
For more information visit: ProducerHub.org

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