Craft Institute To Administer $5 Million Grant for Black Theater

Congratulations to Dr. Monica White Ndounou and the Craft Institute!

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently announced that it will provide $5 million to aid Black theaters across the United States. The plan will be administered by The Billie Holiday Theater in collaboration with three other Black-led artistic institutions including The Craft Institute, which was founded by Associate Professor Monica White Ndounou with a mission to curate culturally inclusive ecosystems throughout the world of arts and entertainment.

Excerpt from the New York Times's October 1 article:

Black theaters across the country will receive a significant financial boost thanks to a multimillion-dollar program announced today by the Billie Holiday Theater, a Black-led artistic institution in Brooklyn….The initiative, known as The Black Seed, is described as the first national strategic plan to provide financial support for Black theaters across the country. It is backed by a $5 million lead gift from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which, according to a news release, is the largest-ever one-time investment in Black theater… The Billie Holiday Theater was founded in 1972 in response to the civil rights and Black Arts movements. The plan will be administered by that theater in collaboration with three other Black-led artistic institutions: the Craft Institute in Massachusetts, Plowshares Theater Company in Detroit, and WACO Theater Center in Los Angeles. The group will award up to 50 one- to three-year grants to Black theaters in the coming months, in amounts ranging from $30,000 to $300,000.

Read the full New York Times article HERE. (Sarah Bahr, Oct. 1, 2020)

Read the American Theatre article here. (January 18, 2021)