Atlanta Shakespeare company awarded National Endowment for
the Arts/Arts Midwest
Grant will bring professional performances to schools and
students across the state!
The National Endowment of the Arts and ArtsShakespeare in American
Communities. This will mark the
thirteenth year that Shakespeare in
American Communities and The National Endowment for the Arts have provided
this grant.
Midwest will
disperse $1 million in grants to 40 nonprofit professional companies across the
nation, including The Atlanta Shakespeare Company (ASC) this coming year. This
grant will allow companies to perform William Shakespeare’s work for students this
coming year through
In a press release
from Arts Midwest, Susan Chandler, Vice President of Arts Midwest, states “Shakespeare in American Communities’
goals of introducing students to the art form of theatre and to Shakespeare’s
timeless themes of love, ambition, jealousy, courage and betrayal will be
brilliantly executed by these theaters.”
Through this grant, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company will
present productions of Shakespeare’s work to at least 10 schools /2500 students
along with workshops before and question and answer sessions after the
performances. Shakespeare in American Communities provides an introduction to
William Shakespeare’s work to middle and high school students in a way that was
simply not possible before. With this grant, ASC will be touring their production of Romeo and Juliet Abridged to schools
across the state of Georgia with special outreach to rural counties with little
or no access to professional theatre performances. This past year, the production
reached over 1100 students in metro Atlanta and NE Georgia and neighboring
states.
Arts Midwest and the National Endowment for the Arts have
created a website to provide more information for Shakespeare in American Communities.
About Arts Midwest
Arts Midwest promotes creativity, nurtures cultural leadership, and engages
people in meaningful arts experiences, bringing vitality to Midwest communities
and enriching people’s lives. Based in Minneapolis, Arts Midwest connects the
arts to audiences throughout the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. One of
six nonprofit regional arts organizations in the United States, Arts Midwest’s
history spans more than 25 years. For more information, visit www.artsmidwest.org.
About the National
Endowment for the Arts Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the
independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the
opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and
develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts
agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector,
the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and
diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the
arts in every community across America. For more information, visit www.arts.gov
About the Atlanta
Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse The Atlanta
Shakespeare Company’s Education programs provide opportunities for students,
educators and parents throughout Georgia and the Southeast to experience the
power of Shakespeare’s language and dramatic vision through the play, passion,
poetry, active participation and performance using dynamic, language based
methods. ASC Education serves students
from K-12 grades in 54 Georgia counties and six southern states with matinees
in Atlanta, touring productions, workshops, residencies and other classroom
programs as well as offering professional training to emerging artists at The
Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. The Tavern is Atlanta’s only professional Equity
theatre company producing the works of William Shakespeare and select classic modern
plays throughout the year, in an Elizabethan Globe-inspired playhouse on
Peachtree St. in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.
This past year ASC/The Tavern reached a total of over 20,000 students
and 30,000 adults.
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If you would like more information please contact Laura Cole
by email at laura@shakespearetavern.com and visit www.shakespearetavern.com
Submitted by Amanda Lindsey McDonald in Education
