Foundation ATCA elects new board and officers
New York — The Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association held its new year formation meeting on February 4, 2025 and elected new members to the board and a slate of officers. Martha Wade Steketee was elected as president of the non-profit foundation after serving as vice president for a number of years. Rick Pender was re-elected as secretary, and Chris Byrne was re-elected as treasurer. The vice-president role will be finalized soon.
The Foundation’s board is made up of the nine members of the ATCA Executive Committee (2025 officers to be finalized on February 10, 2025), plus six outside (“”Class B””) members. Re-elected to Class B board positions were Handelman, Steketee, Pender, Jonathan Abarbanel, Chris Rawson, and Kelundra Smith.
The Foundation is a 501 ( c ) 3, tax-exempt organization that serves multiple purposes and initiatives related to the work of ATCA in addition to supporting travel-related funding to international and other conferences.
The Foundation receives and then distributes funds for The Harold and Mimi Steinberg / ATCA New Play Award honoring a winner and two citation prizes each year, and for the The Francesca Primus Prize (currently being re-configured for ongoing awards) honoring outstanding contributions to the American theater by an emerging female-identifying playwright. The Foundation entirely supports The M. Elizabeth Osborn Award for playwrights who may have established themselves regionally or in smaller theaters, but have yet to obtain national recognition.
The Foundation funds or partially supports two programs established in 2022 to honor and mentor the work of emerging artists. The Helbing Mentorship Program promotes the voices of young LGBTQIA+ arts writers through scholarship, mentorship, and professional development, and The Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism honors work by U.S. reviewers, critics, and journalists from under-represented groups who write about theater and its role in highlighting people from various cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.
All ATCA members are members of the Foundation, and anyone is eligible to apply for grants to support their own work, research, or travel. For more information, contact Martha Wade Steketee at msteketee@gmail.com.
UPDATE 2/12/25: The Foundation Board voted by email to elect Kitty Drexel, currently one of the nine Foundation Board members that are also elected members of the ATCA Executive Committee, as the Foundation vice president to serve on the 2025 leadership team with Steketee, Byrne, and Pender.
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