TCG Announces Cycle A Recipients of Leadership U[niversity]-Continuing Ed Program

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces the 2013 Cycle A recipients of the Leadership U[niversity]-Continuing Ed program. Through the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, grants of up to $5,000 will support four mid-career and veteran theatre professionals at TCG Member Theatres for learning opportunities to advance their leadership skills. The goal of this program is to strengthen the field by developing the individuals who are the core and the future of theatre. The Cycle B Continuing Ed grant application process will launch in October of 2013.

"Our long-standing partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation allows us to create the leadership development opportunities for theatre practitioners that are essential to the growth of our field," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "These mid-career and veteran theatre practitioners will expand their leadership skills in areas that include production management, fundraising and new play development."

Leadership U[niversity] awards grants in two initiatives: One-on-One for early-career leaders and Continuing Ed for mid-career and veteran professionals. Continuing Ed grants of up to $5,000 are awarded to mid-career to veteran professionals at TCG Member Theatres for learning opportunities to advance their leadership skills. Grants have been awarded to the applicants' home theatres on behalf of the theatre practitioners.

Continuing Ed Grant Recipients:

Actors Theatre of Louisville, Paul Werner, Production Manager, Louisville, KY

Werner will observe the production process at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Contemporary American Theater Festival to learn best practices to incorporate into his own theatre's production process.

Hangar Theatre, Joshua Friedman, Managing Director, Ithaca, NY

Friedman will increase his fundraising skills at intensive courses at the Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. He will be mentored by Timothy J. Shields, managing director of McCarter Theatre in board relations and board development.

PlayGround, James Kleinmann, Artistic Director, San Francisco, CA

Kleinmann will examine models of new play and playwright development: specifically, how we support early-career playwrights through meetings with and observation of new play leaders from coast to coast, including the Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3, National New Play Network, South Coast Repertory and Center Theatre Group.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Thomas Weitz, Director of Digital Assets, Chicago, IL

Weitz will investigate the process by which arts and cultural institutions conceive and produce interactive exhibitions by making site visits all over the country. He will study many arts and cultural institutions' creative processes to learn how they measure success and what they perceive as potential pitfalls in the process of execution.

The Leadership U[niversity] Continuing Ed Cycle A panel included Curt Columbus, Artistic Director, Trinity Repertory Company; Ty Jones, Producing Director, The Classical Theatre of Harlem; and Stephanie Thompson, Executive Director, Dell'Arte International.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a private philanthropic institution that makes grants on a selective basis in five core program areas: higher education and scholarship; scholarly communications and information technology; museums and art conservation; conservation and the environment; and performing arts. The Foundation's Performing Arts program focuses on achieving long-term results by providing multi-year grants to leading organizations in the disciplines of music, theater, and dance. Annual giving in the area of the performing arts has averaged approximately $30 million per year since 2005. In 2004 The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was awarded a National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. www.mellon.org

For over 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 12,000 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 U.S. 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 12 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.

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