The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Applicant Eligibility
The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative accepts applications from theatre companies, performing arts presenters and independent theatre performance artists meeting eligibility criteria. Applications will not be accepted from past grantees who failed to submit approved narrative or financial reports for previous project or professional development grants. Applications are not accepted from students on any level.
Established Theatre Companies and Performing Arts Presenters
Established Theatre Companies and Performing Arts Presenters meeting all of the following requirements are eligible to apply:
- The organization employs professional artists or contracts for productions employing professional artists.
- The organization has been based in the five-county Philadelphia area for at least three consecutive years and will be based in the region during the year of the grant. These counties are Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia.
- The company has been incorporated as a nonprofit organization with 501(c)3 status.
- The organization has had work evaluated by site reporters for the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative during the 2009-2010 season.
A substantive theatre program that operates as a division or a unit of a larger organization such as a university may be eligible to apply for PTI support. Such organizations should contact the PTI Director to determine their eligibility.
Organizations with budgets over $500,000:
- Must have produced and/or presented a season of productions for audiences in the five-county Philadelphia region during the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
- Will produce and/or present another season of productions in the five-county Philadelphia region during the year of the grant.
- Must have a full-time salaried artistic director.
- Must submit a certified independent audit for the most recently completed fiscal year.
Organizations with budgets under $500,000:
- Must have at least one employee whose salary is reported on a W-2 form.
- Must have mounted at least one production for audiences in the five-county Philadelphia region in three of the last five years and must mount at least one production here during the year of the grant.
- Must submit a certified independent audit if income was over $175,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year. An organization with income under $175,000 may submit IRS Form 990 if the organization has never had a certified independent audit.
Independent Theatre Performance Artists
Professional independent artists who create and perform their own work, or generative theatre artists who create and direct—or create and produce—work may apply for project support if they meet all of the following requirements:
- The artist has been a legal resident of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery or Philadelphia county for at least the past two consecutive years and will be based in one of those counties during the year of the grant.
- The artist is not employed full-time in an artistic capacity or part-time as the artistic director by a theatre or other performing arts organization.
- The artist has had one production that s/he created and performed—or created and directed or produced—for the public at a professional venue for which admission was charged. Work done while an undergraduate or graduate student at a college or university does not meet this requirement.
- The artist has had work seen and evaluated by site reporters for the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative during the 2008-09 or 2009-10 season or before May 3, 2010 (earlier for first-time applicants). If your work has not yet been seen, please contact PTI Program Specialist Murph Henderson at (267) 350-4942. Since PTI’s site visitors live outside of the Philadelphia area, you must give PTI at least 3 weeks notice of performances you want evaluated.
If an application is being submitted by two artists who wish to work collaboratively, each artist must meet the above requirements.
Please see guidelines for complete requirements.