Foundation ATCA launches annual appeal to help it do good

Foundation ATCA launches annual appeal to help it do good

In a recent email appeal, Foundation president Jay Handelman notes its many good works, including scholarships and travel funds for critics, support for new ATCA members, subsidies of mini-conferences, the Osborn Prize for emerging playwrights, etc. This is the time of year for a tax-deductible contribution, especially in 2017, with deductions at the whim of a cut-and-paste tax bill. Click to read for Jay’s full letter and how to give.  

Dear ATCA colleagues and friends,

For many years, I have sent you letters detailing the activities of the Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association. We have taken a different approach this year, sending our annual notice via email, saving time, paper and postage. I hope it does not disappoint those who prefer the more personalized letters of the past.

Your Foundation has funded a variety of projects and continues to see ways to help ATCA expand its membership by making it easier for new people to join, get involved and attend our meetings.

In June, we covered the registration fees for ten first-time attendees at our annual gathering in San Francisco. We continue to support scholarships for participants at the National Critics Institute and fund the Osborn Prize for emerging playwrights and cover the costs of sending the winner to the awards presentation at the Humana Festival in Louisville, KY.

Many of our members have expressed a desire for more regional events. To foster this, we provided funds for a critics workshop in Seattle at the start of the year, organized by Misha Berson. We also have approved funding a regional critics weekend in March in Cincinnati being put together by Rick Pender and Lou Harry. That gathering is the first of what ATCA hopes will become a series of regional events that will make it easier for members who can’t attend our annual conferences to get more actively involved.

I have appointed Kerry Reid, the Foundation’s vice president and treasurer, to lead our effort to determine how we can best spend the money that we have collected in the Terry Helbing Fund for Gay and Lesbian Interests in Theatre. We are considering any and all ideas you may have for either one-time or ongoing projects. Please contact Kerry if you have thoughts or suggestions or would like to work with her in determining how the money is spent.

All these activities are possible only through the generosity so many of you have shown over the years with your donations to this annual appeal or when we pass the hat at conferences. Building on our investments is the only way we can continue to fulfill our mission to support and encourage the development and appreciation of theatre and theatre criticism, through ATCA and through our own projects.

We hope we can count on you to continue our work, and this email makes giving easier than ever. Just click here to access the donation page on the ATCA website. Your contributions are tax deductible. If you prefer, you may still send an old-fashioned, hand-written check to:

Tim Dodson, Administrator
Foundation ATCA
1701 NE 115th Street – #8A
Miami, FL 33181

Please know that your gifts and support are greatly appreciated by me, our board and all those who are helping to keep our association strong and vibrant through a continued period of transition.

On behalf of the Foundation board, I wish you all the best for a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to seeing many of you when we gather in July in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

In the meantime, never hesitate to contact me with your comments or suggestions.

Jay Handelman
president – foundation ATCA