TTO Receives Open Door Grant
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug 15, 2022
Cheyenne Myrie – (617)661-1600
Cheyenne@TheTheaterOffensive.rg
Boston, MA – The Theater Offensive announced today it has received a $50,000 grant from the Boston Foundation for general operating support through the Foundation’s Open Door Grants program.
“This grant will allow us to continue empowering Queer and Trans Artists of color with resources to build a queer republic and continue presenting liberating art that dismantles oppression ” Harold Steward said today. “We look forward to building upon our record of diverse programming over the 30+ years to serve Queer and Trans Artists of color in Boston and worldwide.”
The Theater Offensive was founded in 1989 and today serves a diverse community of Queer and Trans Artists of color in Boston and beyond through in-person and hybrid programming.
Open Door Grants are competitive grants designed for organizations whose proposal is focused on Greater Boston and whose values align with those of the Boston Foundation. Grants are awarded twice each year and are selected by staff and community reviewers through an inclusive evaluation process. Funds for Open Door Grants come from the Boston Foundation’s Permanent Fund for Boston, Greater Boston’s only endowed fund focusing on the pressing needs of Greater Boston, supplemented by other Foundation funds as available. The Permanent Fund has been made possible by more than a century of gifts from those who seek to support innovative solutions to the region’s most pressing problems since 1915.
The Theater Offensive (TTO) is a social change organization focused on queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) and their allies that uses theater and the creative process as a cultural organizing tool. Founded in 1989, TTO grew out of the seminal queer guerrilla street performance troupe United Fruit Company. TTO has always avoided familiar productions and, instead, continually sought to support the creation of transgressive and transformative new queer works. TTO serves the Greater Boston area, with a particular focus on QTPOC. We work closely and collaboratively with artists, community groups, schools, and local businesses to create and present profound performances by and about QTPOC. Our programming is designed to prioritize the self-identified needs of low-income queer residents of color and amplify their voices.
The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, brings people and resources together to solve Boston’s big problems. Established in 1915, it is one of the largest community foundations in the nation—with net assets of $1.3 billion. In 2020, the Foundation and its donors
paid $215 million in grants to nonprofit organizations. The Foundation works in close partnership with its donors, with more than 1,000 separate charitable funds established for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. It also serves as a major civic leader, think tank and advocacy organization, commissioning research into the most critical issues of our time and helping to shape public policy designed to advance opportunity for everyone in Greater Boston. The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), a consulting unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations and corporations around the globe. For more information about the Boston Foundation and TPI, visit tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.