(Los Angeles, CA)

Cornerstone Institute

Total Award: $60,000 over 1 year

To support the Cornerstone Institute, a five-week summer Institute that teaches community-based theater practice to students and professionals from around the country. Cornerstone is a multi-ethnic, ensemble-based theater company that produces plays which combine the artistry of professional and community collaborators. By making theater with and for people of many ages, cultures and levels of theatrical experience, Cornerstone builds bridges between and within diverse communities in its home community and nationwide. Cornerstone has a history of traveling to rural communities, living and working in small towns while creating musical productions based on the issues of the host communities. The Cornerstone Institute will: collaborate with 20 students from across the country and 1,800 residents from neighboring towns; disseminate a handbook that codifies best practices in the field of community based theater; engage in a three-month Story Circle and a script feed-back process with local residents that will be the source of the text for the play; engage the students in a five-week residency which will include auditions, rehearsals and performances; integrate community organizational partners into the institute process and identify mentors, musicians, dramaturgs, design assistants, directors and stage managers who will support the process and implement two-day intensives as well as a longer term institute.

Program Contribution Breakdown:
$60,000 Arts and Culture Program: Objective I, Strategy 4