Writers’ Theatre Receives $100k NEA “Our Town” Grant

Stage Directions: Whatever its challenges, the NEA is certainly looking to change the way it interacts with arts orgs. It is giving out fewer small grants to small orgs, and betting on larger grants to projects that go beyond just institutional support. Their “Our Town” grant initiative grant awards money to a non-profit org that has partnered with a local government entity for a project that will “will improve quality of life, encourage creative activity, create community identity and a sense of place, and help revitalize local economies.” That’s a far step from simply giving operating funds to artists and arts orgs. The latest recipient of an NEA Our Town grant is the Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe, Ill. The grant will help Writers’ Theatre build a new theatre in downtown Glencoe. The new theatre center will be designed by 2011 MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang and Chicago’s Studio Gang Architects (SGA), and is meant to expand Chicago’s North Shore cultural corridor.