Delaware Shakespeare receives Mid Atlantic Arts Regional Resilience Fund grant

WILMINGTON – Delaware Shakespeare has received a $60,000 grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.  The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF) has granted $1,594,340 in support of 38 organizations through the Mid Atlantic Arts Regional Resilience Fund. MAAF collaborated with the five other U.S. Regional Arts Organizations – Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance, New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts, and the Western States Arts Federation – to form The United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with generous support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

MAAF’s Executive Director Theresa Colvin said, “It was gratifying to work with our sister Regional Arts Organizations and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to design and implement the U.S. Regional Arts Resilience Fund. We all know the need is great and hope that by supporting these visionary organizations, the impact to the field and the communities they serve will reach far beyond their own walls.”

This grant marks the second time Delaware Shakespeare has received a grant funded by a national philanthropic foundation, after receiving a Theatre Communications Group Audience (R)Evolution grant funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in 2016.

According to the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, “Mid Atlantic Arts Regional Resilience grants will support mid-Atlantic nonprofit arts and cultural organizations as they build resilience and look to the future with programming, planning, and reimagining their work. The program was designed for organizations with visionary leadership and whose work is critical to the region, primarily supporting those making a statewide, regional and/or national impact. Grant awards can support general operating expenses and associated relief and resilience expenses.”

Delaware Shakespeare Producing Artistic Director David Stradley, “We’re honored to receive this support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. It’s a humbling recognition of Delaware Shakespeare’s work to share vibrant theatre and learning programs with the full spectrum of humanity in our state. We’ve found ways to continue this work even during a pandemic, and this grant ensures audiences of all kinds will be able to connect with Shakespeare in the First State whatever 2021 brings. ”

Funds will be used to maintain Delaware Shakespeare’s small administrative staff during challenging economic times, extend the period of service of five associate artists initially funded by a National Endowment for the Arts CARES Act grant to June of 2021, and facilitate new programmatic partnerships.