[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Receives Two Grants

[Gail Burns]

December 29, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com

pr at wamtheatre.com; 518.243.9627

Press Photos can be found at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157648698789976/>


WAM THEATRE RECEIVES TWO GRANTS

LENOX, MA (December 29, 2016)—WAM Theatre is delighted to announce they
have recently been the recipients of two substantial grants - an
unrestricted grant of $5,000 from the Massachusetts Bankers Association
(MBA) Charitable Foundation, and a $2,000 grant from the Dramatist Guild
Fund in support of the company’s 2017 Fresh Takes play reading series.

“All of us at WAM are honored by these year-end grants,” said Kristen van
Ginhoven, Artistic Director, “This year, WAM’s mission and vision has been
the lucky recipient of many incredible accolades and awards. These two
grants, received at a time when equality for all is more vital than ever,
are a strong nod of encouragement by our supporters at the banks and
colleagues in the theatre to continue our work using theatre to benefit
women and girls. We look forward to using these grants in 2017 to create as
much opportunity as we can. Many thanks to the Massachusetts Bankers
Association and the Dramatist Guild Fund for including WAM in their awards
this year.”

The MBA Charitable Foundation is supported by its 155 member banks
throughout Massachusetts and New England. The MBA Charitable Foundation
Awards are symbolic of the many individual donations banks make on a
regular basis to organizations and causes in their local communities. In
2016, 37 year-end community grants totalled a record $155,000, distributed
over eight geographic regions to deserving social service agencies.

WAM was nominated for an MBA  grant by Victoria May, Vice President of
Marketing, and Jay Anderson, President and CEO, at Pittsfield Cooperative
Bank, and Lori Gazillo, Vice President, Foundation Director, at the
Berkshire Bank Foundation. WAM is honored have received the generous
support of both banks regularly over the past seven seasons.

“We feel a small measure of pride once again to be able to help these
deserving non-profits,” said Charles P. O’Brien, chairman of the MBA
Charitable Foundation and president and CEO of the Adams Community Bank.
Other Berkshire organizations receiving grants include Louison House, IS183
Art School of the Berkshires, and an honorable mention grant to the
Berkshire Community Action Council.

Each year the Dramatists Guild Fund provides grants to nonprofit theaters
and theatrical institutions across the country that develop and/or produce
contemporary American plays and musicals in support of the American writer.
WAM’s Fresh Takes play reading series, launching its fourth season in 2017,
introduces Berkshire audiences to ground-breaking works by established
women playwrights who are contributing to the international conversation
throughout the English-speaking theatre. WAM Theatre’s Artistic Associate
Molly Clancy, will be curating the series once again.

Support from all our individual and corporate donors, coupled with generous
grants like these, enable WAM to continue its vision to create opportunity
for women and girls through the mission of theatre as philanthropy. The
company will announce their entire 2017 season on February 28.

OUR SEASON SPONSORS

WAM Theatre is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support
from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National
Endowment for the Humanities; and by the Massachusetts Cultural Council
Cultural. Our 2016 sponsors include the Adams Community Bank, Berkshire
Bank, Berkshire Magazine, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, Blue Q, Brabson
Library & Educational Foundation, Canyon Ranch, Custom Business Solution,
Dylandale Foundation, Feigenbaum Foundation, Garden Gables, Greylock
Federal Credit Union, Guido's Fresh Marketplace, In Touch Printing,
International Schools Theatre Association, Interprint, Dr. Jay Wise, DDS &
Dr. Casey Jones, DMD,  Jon Gotterer DMD, Keator Group, LLC, Lee Bank, Lenox
Education Enrichment Fund, Massachusetts Cultural Council, MAXYMILLIAN
Technologies, Michele’s Salon + Day Spa, Nina Molin MD, No. Six Depot
Roastery and Café, Petricca Industries, Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, RB
Design Co., The Rookwood Inn, Rouge Restaurant & Bistro, Toole Insurance,
A. von Schlegell & Co., The Sherman Investment Group-RBC Wealth Management,
the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, and Zabian's Fine Jewelers.

WAM Theatre is also supported in part by grants from the Lenox,
Alford-Egremont, Pittsfield Cultural Council, Cultural Council of Northern
Berkshires , Washington Cultural Council, Monterey Cultural Council,
Stockbridge Cultural Council, West Stockbridge Cultural Council, Richmond
Cultural Council – local agencies that are supported by the Massachusetts
Cultural Council, a state agency.

ABOUT WAM THEATRE

Based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, WAM Theatre is Where Arts and
Activism Meet. The company was co-founded in 2010 by Canadian director,
actor, educator, and producer Kristen van Ginhoven. WAM’s vision is to
create opportunity for women and girls through the mission of theatre as
philanthropy.

Inspired by the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for
Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, WAM donates a
portion of the proceeds from its theatrical events to organizations that
benefit women and girls.

Since 2010, WAM Theatre has donated more than $30,000 to eleven nonprofit
organizations and provided paid work to more than 175 theatre artists. In
addition to the main stage productions and special events, WAM Theatre’s
activities include a comprehensive educational outreach program and the
Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. For more information, visit
www.WAMTheatre.com

# # #
-- 
Gail M. Burns

*Marketing + Publicity Associate*
www.WAMTheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/>
413-274-8122

*Our 7th Season:*Special  <http://www.wamtheatre.com/special/>| 24hr Project
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/2016-24-hour-theatre-project/> | Fresh Takes
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-2016/> | Stars in the Orchard
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/stars-in-the-orchard-2016/> | Bakelite
Masterpiece <http://www.wamtheatre.com/the-bakelite-masterpiece/>

Make a donation now
<https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/WAMTheatreInc/donate.html> to WAM
Theatre!
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