Mayor Michelle Wu poses with Cultural Investment grantees, including Matt Gelman representing The Theater Offensive.
For Immediate Release: July 12, 2023
Press Contact: Jessica Ernst (she/her), Director of Development and Communications
617-661-1600 x306
THE THEATER OFFENSIVE IS THE BENEFICIARY OF A $1M CULTURAL INVESTMENT GRANT
Boston, MA – The Theater Offensive (TTO) is thrilled to announce the receipt of a Cultural Investment Grant of $1,000,000 from the Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. This investment from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture brings TTO closer to its goal of opening their first-ever permanent home.
Anticipated to open in 2024, TTO is building a state-of-the-art blackbox theater in the heart of the Fenway at 1252-1270 Boylston Street - the site of the former Machine and Ramrod nightclubs. A 13,000 square foot space featuring a flexible 150-seat theater, rehearsal and community space, and office space, it will be the largest theater in the world owned and operated by queer and trans people of color - a true landmark cultural facility.
This grant will increase TTO’s staff and programming capacity in preparation for owning and operating a facility presenting both its own work and other local queer artists, as well as supporting construction costs. TTO is Building a Queer (Re)Public in partnership with its community - an identity-affirming, accessible, celebratory home for artists and community members who have long sought a place to truly belong in the center of Boston.
“When the City of Boston presented us with the opportunity to build a permanent home in this historic queer space, we were excited by the prospect and ready to take on the challenge. This investment from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture continues TTO’s partnership with the city to build a landmark community cultural space that will serve the queer and trans people of color, as well as their loved ones, who call Boston home,” said TTO Board President Stetson Marshall.
TTO will expand upon its three-decade legacy as a trailblazing art, educational, and social action organization in this new home. Through a partnership with the City of Boston and Scape North America – an international developer that delivers innovative urban living solutions – TTO is building an iconic, innovative, and enduring space that will serve as the cultural cornerstone of a mixed-use development at 1252-1270 Boylston Street.
The Theater Offensive has launched a $20M campaign to build the Boylston Black Box. TTO began the quiet phase of the capital campaign in early 2021 and has now raised $13M toward its $20M goal.
ABOUT THE THEATER OFFENSIVE
The Theater Offensive (TTO) is a social change organization using theater and the performing arts as cultural organizing tools. We present liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) that transcends artistic boundaries, celebrates cultural abundance, and dismantles oppression. Building on a three-decade history of nationally recognized programming, TTO serves Boston’s QTPOC community and their allies, families, and friends with groundbreaking theater, arts education, and civic engagement offerings.