2018-461-E Arts - WomensTheatre arts grant

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DocuSign Envelope ID: 66DB6581- 30BA- 412A- BCF6- 57F9109A01BA Orange County Arts Commission Organization Name Women's Theatre Festival by Cheryl Edson in 2018 -19 Grassroots Arts Program Grant Application cedson19 @gmail.com Original application Mailing Address of 6116 Valley Estates Drive, Raleigh, NC 27713 Organization How did you hear about Social Media our grant program? Did you or a No representative of your orgnanization attend one of our grants training sessions? Nature of Organization Arts Organization Organization Description Mission: To create, produce, and promote extraordinary theatre by women. Powered by Submittable U 06/05/2018 id. 10503774 06/05/2018 The Women's Theatre Festival was founded in early 2016 by Artistic Director Ashley Popio. The first festival saw more than 250 volunteers produce 8 mainstage shows, a 24 -hour Occupy the Stage event of staged readings, and numerous panels, talkbacks and workshops across 4 cities at 6 different venues. 2017's "Women are Funny" festival expanded on that success, selling over 1500 tickets and hosting three premieres of original plays. 2018's "Women are Heroes" will feature 5 mainstage shows, including "These Shining Lives" at the Arts Center in Carrboro. All our shows are written, directed, and produced by women, and feature casts that are at least 50% female or nonbinary actors, and we aim for casts with at least 50% actors of color. Board and staff composition: The Women's Theatre Festival has a board of 13 members who meet monthly. The board is made up of twelve women and one man, with one individual identifying as Asian - American, two identifying as African - American, nine as white, and one identifying as other. The staff consists of Artistic Director Ashley Popio, Managing Director Johannah Edwards, Marketing and Communications Director Cindy Jenkins, and Executive Assistant Sarah Koop. Current arts programs and services: While our organization has programming through the year, our signature project is our annual summer festival, now entering its third year. The 2018 Women's Theatre Festival, themed "Women Are Heroes ", is a series of five fully produced plays as well as a 24 -hour theater convention of staged readings, workshops, and panels all highlighting courageous women taking place throughout the Triangle this summer. We are specifically requesting grant funds for our production of "These Shining Lives" by Melanie Marnich, which will be performed at the Carrboro Arts Center from July 27th - August 5th, 2018. Number and demographics of people served: Specifically for the show "These Shining Lives ", based on previous festivals, we conservatively expect to sell at least 60 tickets per performance, with 8 performances for a total of 480 tickets sold. However, this is a conservative estimate we use to create our budget, and often actual ticket sales are significantly higher. Last year's festival audience was 19% African American, 5% Asian American, 1 % Latinx, and 68% white, with 7% identifying as other. Each year we have exceeded our conservative audience goals and expect to do so again.