CTG Receives Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Grant

Center Theatre Group is one of 24 artists and arts organizations that are the recipients of The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's (DDCF) 2016 Building Demand for the Arts Implementation grant, it was announced today by the DDCF.

The $2.43 million in grants is for projects that aim to drive public demand for jazz, theatre and/or contemporary dance, supporting partnerships that are focused on using the performing arts in unique ways to develop meaningful connections with particular audiences.

CTG received $115,000 to partner with playwright Naomi Iizuka, according to the DDCF, "to activate demand within an already musically vibrant neighborhood."

Iizuka and CTG staff, in consultation with musicians from Boyle Heights, will create a series of workshops in which participants share music that is meaningful to them. Through Iizuka's guidance and that of local artists, participants will learn theatrical techniques to write their own stories connected to the music. By nurturing personal connections and combining music with theatre, CTG's goal is to awaken interest in theatre among the arts-inclined Boyle Heights population that is likely to attend other live events.

CTG joins other West Coast arts organization, Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles, American Conservatory Theater and CounterPulse in San Francisco, La Pen?a Cultural Center in Berkeley and On the Boards in Seattle, and organizations across the country in the receipt of this prestigious, imaginative grant.

"We believe that strong, creative partnerships between artists and organizations have the potential to nurture a public that is deeply invested in and understanding of the way the performing arts enriches it," said Cheryl Ikemiya, senior program officer for the Arts at DDCF. "We are delighted to support this outstanding cohort of grantees and are confident that they will act upon this shared belief and engage their communities in bold and unconventional ways."

The Building Demand for the Arts program promotes deeper, longer relationships between artists and arts organizations, as well as new kinds of conversation, brainstorming and cooperation between them. The program therefore also offers Exploration grants, which support initial, investigative conversations between artists and organizations about ways to build demand for the performing arts. The second and last cohort to receive Exploration grants was announced in November 2015. DDCF is awarding these grants as part of a larger $50 million, 10-year commitment over and above its existing funding for the performing arts.

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. The Arts Program of DDCF focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theatre artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org.

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