NEFA's National Theater Project Welcomes New Advisors

This has been a big month for the National Theater Project! The Preliminary Application has closed and review is beginning. This an in-depth process that requires reading 80+ 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.

NTP relies heavily on 12 Advisors who make grant recommendations during the application review process. NTP Advisors are drawn from leaders in the theater field – artists, presenters, and thinkers. During the final application process, Advisors work 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. They also serve as programmatic and policy advisors. Their input is invaluable and has led to innovations for the program, such as the NTP Regional Convenings and Finalist Development grants.

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 serve for rotating three-year terms. So, it was with great sadness and immense gratefulness for their service that we said goodbye to three Advisors at our annual Cohort Meeting last December. We’d like to thank Raelle Myrick-Hodges, Carlton Turner, and Lisa Steindler for the exceptional and tenacious work that they did to allow NTP to support some truly amazing artists. It’s hard to let them go!

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

• Byron Au Yong is a composer and on the Performing Arts & Social Justice faculty at the University of San Francisco. His project with Aaron Jafferis, Stuck Elevator, was an NTP Pilot Grantee in 2011.
• Keryl McCord is a long-time arts activist and administrator. She recently retired from Alternate Roots and is now CEO of EQ: Equity Quotient in Alpharetta, GA.
• Candace L. Feldman is the Director of Programming for UA Presents at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. Previously, she was the Producing Director for 651 Arts in Brooklyn, NY.

This year’s twelve Advisors represent ten U.S. states. They are presenters, and artists. They come from major universities, small colleges, large and small presenting 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.