Theatre Philadelphia

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Revision as of 11:07, 28 February 2017 by PaulSank (talk | contribs) (PaulSank moved page The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia to Theatre Philadelphia: to update the title)
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 The Theatre Alliance is a member-based service organization composed of non-profit professional theatres, individual theatre artists, and affiliated organizations within the Greater Philadelphia region.

Mission
The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia strengthens and leads the region’s richly diverse theatre industry by engaging new audiences for theatre while advancing the capacity of its members.

History
As the Theatre Alliance looks forward to a new decade of growth and vitality for the theatre community of Greater Philadelphia, it is a testament to that community to reflect on how this institution has grown through the collaborative efforts of its membership. In 1990 the organization was founded by an ad-hoc group of theatre professionals as the Performing Arts League of Philadelphia with a mission to expand awareness for all the performing arts in the Greater Philadelphia area. Within the year, the membership had created the Annual Auditions program which thrives to this day as the one time each year that local actors can gather to be seen by the whole the theatre community at once. By 1994 The Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre had been established, reflecting the unique vitality of the theatre sector in Philadelphia and prompting a revision of the organization’s mission to focus its efforts there. In the spring of 1997, the League's membership formally adopted this new mission and changed the organization’s name to the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

Over the next decade, the Theatre Alliance continued to grow, establishing an Individual Membership program and launching a highly successful website at www.theatrealliance.org in 1998, and the Gift Certificate program in 2002. In 2004, the On Stage page was created as a cross promotion effort in members’ playbills, and the Spark program was begun, offering professional development and networking opportunities to small and emerging theatre companies. Then in 2005 the Spark Showcase was established to provide a performance platform for these companies. By early 2006 the most ambitious undertaking by the Theatre Alliance membership was underway. With startup funding from William Penn Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, the Theatre Alliance and eight performing arts organizations from across Greater Philadelphia came together to establish the Tessitura Ticket Consortium with the intent to significantly increase the marketing capacity of the region’s nonprofit theatre community.

In 2007, the Theatre Alliance began its next phase of growth. Since then, the Theatre Alliance has sharpened its focus on the promotions aspect of its mission, working to create greater local, regional and national awareness of the scope and vitality of theatre in Greater Philadelphia. In pursuit of that agenda, several new initiatives have come to fruition including the Openings & Closings e-blasts, heightened focus on and activity around advocacy, a new website, and a comprehensive awareness campaign which includes a strong audience engagement component.

With a growing membership of 150 organizations and 350 individual artists, annually serving over one million theatregoers, the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia is the only local service organization dedicated exclusively to serve the region’s vibrant theatre community as they continue to pool resources, share ideas and gain recognition as a world-class theatre city. By promoting this vitality and strengthening industry capacity to build its audience base, the Theatre Alliance looks forward to meeting the Engage 2020 goal to double attendance for all of its member theatres..