Pew Center Announces 2011 Grant Recipients

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage has awarded $1,013,000 through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative (PTI) to 10 theater companies, performing arts presenters, and independent theater artists.

"Philadelphia audiences will be the first in the U.S. to see a broad range of ambitious productions."

This year's funded projects revolve around moments of laughter, tragedy, and magic, offering theater-goers in the Philadelphia region an exciting variety of dramatic experiences from which to choose. Highlights include the first and only U.S. performance of an eye-opening work about disability and difference in our society; a multilayered magic show from a local theater artist who has deep roots in the art of illusion; a powerful work from a Polish playwright that dramatizes the atrocities of the Holocaust and examines its lasting legacies of hatred, grief, and shame; and an exploration of women and comedy that will explode female comedic stereotypes and celebrate everyday humor.

"All of this year's grants involve either the creation of new work or American premieres," says Fran Kumin, director of the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. "Philadelphia audiences will be the first in the U.S. to see a broad range of ambitious productions."

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is dedicated to stimulating a vibrant cultural community in the five-county, Southeastern Pennsylvania region. Established in 2005, the Center houses seven funding Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trusts, and through them supports area artists and arts and heritage organizations whose work is distinguished by excellence, imagination, and courage. Each year, the Center's grants make possible more than 800 performances in dance, music, and theatre as well as history and visual arts exhibitions, and other public programs for audiences in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties. The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts, Philadelphia. For more information, visit www.pcah.us.

 

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