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Dedicated to celebrating excellence and supporting education in the theatre, the American Theatre Wing has been an integral and influential part of the theatrical community for the better part of seven decades. Adapting its activities for each successive theatrical generation, ATW focuses today on programs and activities which help students, audiences and members of the theatrical community itself to learn more about what makes theatre tick from the people who make it so vital.
Best known for creating The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards®, now presented with The Broadway League, ATW has developed the best-known national platform for the recognition of theatrical achievement on Broadway. Yet ATW's reach extends beyond Broadway and beyond New York, with educational and media work that offers the very best in theatre to people around the world.
Current Programs Include:
- Working in the Theatre brings together the theatre's top performers, producers, playwrights, directors, choreographers and designers to discuss the rewards and realities of working in the theatre. Over 32 years, more than 1,000 different guests have been featured in nearly 300 revealing and entertaining programs. Working in the Theatre is broadcast five times weekly on CUNY-TV and the entire archive is available on the American Theatre Wing website. The program also provides the basis for a new series of theatre books from Continuum Publishing: Acting, Writing and Producing and the Theatre Business.
- Downstage Center, a weekly theatre interview podcast offering in-depth conversation with top theatre artists both on stage and behind the scenes. Now in its seventh year, having produced over 300 interviews, Downstage Center sets a national standard for sustained conversation about theatre.
- In The Wings, this video podcast explores and features the talents and stories behind the scenes, from the costume and scenic shops to the rehearsal room to the stage itself, with designers, artisans and craftspeople explaining their unique contributions to theatrical art in their own words. These short videos shine the spotlight on disciplines many may not even realize are a part of theatrical production and celebrate the full diversity of talent that contribute to bringing a show to the stage.
- SpringboardNYC is a two week concentrated pre-professional training course for college students planning careers in the theatre. The curriculum includes a series of workshops, seminars and master classes, placing participants in the center of New York's theatrical community, with access to influential working artists. Students from around the country learn job-seeking skills and urban survival tools to translate their academic training into productive careers. SpringboardNYC alums can be found successfully working in many areas of theatre such as Director of Training for Blue Man Group; playing Tracy in the National Tour of Hairspray; and in the casting office of Manhattan Theatre Club.
- The Theatre Intern Group, a networking and professional development group for young people beginning their careers in theatre administration and management. Theatre Intern Group creates social and professional development opportunities for the young people who work in theatrical offices, enabling them to build contacts with their peers immediately upon starting work in the theatrical community. TIG Members are invited to attend monthly panel discussions on the many varied facets of the theatre industry. More than 100 interns participate in the program on an annual basis.
- The National Theatre Company Grants Program, ATW has long shown its dedication to not-for-profit theatres through its Theatre Company Grants Program. After many years, during which eligibility was restricted to New York City companies, the focus of the grants have been expanded to a national level. Now known as the National Theatre Company Grants, the program distributes $10,000 grants for general operating support to regional theatre companies with five to fifteen years of production history. Companies presented with these grants are recognized for their achievements, which include articulating a distinctive mission, cultivating an audience, and nurturing a community of artists in ways that strengthen and demonstrate the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theatre.
- The Jonathan Larson Grants begun 13 years ago to recognize and support composers, lyricists and book writers at the beginning of their careers, is now a part of The American Theatre Wing, honoring the memory of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize recipient Jonathan Larson. Established with the resources of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation and gifts from the Larson Family, a restricted endowment at the Wing sustains these awards in perpetuity.
- AmericanTheatreWing.org, ATW's website has become the premier site for free online audio and video about the making of theatre -- in the words of people who make theatre. AmericanTheatreWing.org offers free, on-demand access to the ATW archive of the Working in the Theatre, In the Wings, and Downstage Center programs, as well as the Guides to Careers in Theatre, making the work of ATW available internationally. More than 800 hours of material is available as both streaming media and downloadable podcast, with new material added weekly.
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