2018 NTP Advisors

This year, the National Theater Project Creation & Touring annual deadline received 100 Preliminary Applications, its highest number of ever!  The review of the applications has begun, and from those 100, 24 will be asked to complete a final application. This an in-depth process that requires reading and commenting on applications, a commitment to funding diverse artists from all parts of the country, work sample review, and hard conversations about the applicant pool, theater across its many intersecting forms, equity, aesthetics, and resources.

To make these difficult decision, NTP relies heavily on its 12 Advisors who make grant recommendations during the preliminary and final stages of the process. NTP Advisors are drawn from leaders in the theater field – artists, presenters, and thinkers. During the final application process, Advisors work directly with the NTP Creation and Touring finalists as they prepare their final applications, reviewing language, budgets, and work samples, in order that each applicant submits the best application possible.

In addition to application review, Advisors also serve as programmatic and policy advisors, and as ambassadors for the program. Their input is invaluable and has led to innovations, such as the the NTP regional convenings and a Finalist Development grant. 

The NTP Advisors are a core part of the NTP model, and we like to take every opportunity to acknowledge them for their hard work. Advisors commit to serving three-year terms to ensure that there are always new voices as well as experienced voices representing many different aesthetics and perspectives in the room. It is with great sadness and immense gratefulness for their service that we say goodbye to three Advisors: Meena Natarajan, P. Carl, and Shoni Currier, for the exceptional and tenacious work that they did to allow NTP to support some truly amazing artists.

With this new round of applications, NTP is welcoming three new Advisors: 

• Brooke Horejsi, the Assistant Dean for Art & Creative Engagement in the College of Fine Arts and Executive Director of UtahPresents, has more than 20 years of experience in the field of creativity. Horejsi oversees a non-profit, campus based arts presenter and focuses on embedding the arts and creativity broadly across campus and the region.
• Todd London is Executive Director/Professor at University of Washington's School of Drama. He came to Seattle from 18 seasons as Artistic Director of New York's New Dramatists, the nation's oldest center for the support and development of playwrights, where he worked closely with more than a 150 of America’s leading playwrights and advocated nationally and internationally for hundreds more. 
• And we welcome back former Advisor Lisa Steindler, who has graciously agreed to complete the last year of service for Shoni Currier. Lisa is Executive Artistic Director of Z Space in San Francisco, CA where she has created a robust program of produced, co-produced and presented works by local and national artists.

NEFA values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive world, which we interpret as all people having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize creative and community endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our work.

This year’s 12 Advisors represent nine U.S. states. They are presenters, artists, former grantees, and thought partners. They come from major universities, small colleges, large and small presenting organizations, and service organizations. What they all have in common is experience in the theater field, a love of theater, and a commitment to making NTP the best it can be.