Proposal to the Boston Foundation from Wheelock Family Theatre History, goals and major achievements

Wheelock Family Theatre (WFT) was founded in 1981 by four colleagues with backgrounds in theatre and education and a shared belief in the power of theatre to change lives. Since our first season, we have pursued a single mission -- to make professional quality theatre accessible to children and families and to lower the barriers of age, race, class, and physical ability, both onstage and in the audience. We do so by making our tickets affordable, by using multiracial and intergenerational casts, by making our offerings accessible to disabled communities, and by providing ways for young people to become involved through our education program. WFT has made a major contribution to the city of Boston and the region by providing an array of theatre and education opportunities for children and families who otherwise would never have had access to these cultural experiences.

WFT's production season runs from November-to-May and includes three plays, each chosen for its appeal to an intergenerational audience, our productions range from adaptations of classic children's literature (Winnie-the-Pooh, Stuart Little, The Wind in the Willows) to family musicals (The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, Anne of Green Gables) to productions geared for adolescents and adults (The Tempest, The Good Times Are Killing Me, To Kill a Mockingbird). WFT's original adaptations, including A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and Tuck Everlasting, contribute to the slim body of dramatic literature appropriate for intergenerational audiences. Our repertoire Ð coupled with affordable ticket prices Ð makes it possible for family members to attend productions together Ð a contribution to Boston life unmet by other local professional theatres. An average of 25,000 children and adults come to WFT each year.

Contributing to the quality of our offerings are the vision and experience of the directors, designers, and other artistic and technical personnel we hire. We challenge them to interpret familiar works in fresh ways. An artistic review committee attends a rehearsal and run-through of each production and provides constructive criticism for the director's consideration. Since we select our actors from a broad racial and cultural spectrum, we have gained a national reputation for our non-traditional casting. This year we received Actors' Equity Association's prestigious Rosetta LeNoire Award, a national honor recognizing outstanding contributions to increased diversity within the American theatre.

We offer unprecedented opportunities for actors of color (ten have earned their union membership through their work at WFT); dozens of actors of color have appeared here in roles they never dreamed they would--Superman, Maria von Trapp, and Cinderella, to name just a few. Our contribution to the ranks of professional actors of color and our purposeful presentation of racially mixed casts has significant impact on both the minority and majority communities of the city. The WFT theatre experience is enhanced for young people of color as they see professional actors of their own race or culture onstage.

WFT's parent organization, Wheelock College, is an institution of higher education with a century-old mission to improve the quality of life for children and families. It seeks to carry out its mission by training a range of providers (including teachers, social workers, and child life professionals) in fields of early childhood education and human development. Grounded in that mission and orientation as well, WFT shares instructors with Wheelock, provides a laboratory for arts majors, enhances Wheelock's connections to the community, and serves as a visible manifestation of the College's commitment to creating a multiracial and inclusive society.

Our education program is sustained by both a connection to our own working professional theatre and by our deep ties to Wheelock College. The curriculum and pedagogy of the education program are informed by a deep understanding of child development--the emotional, social, and intellectual needs of growing children--and by our belief that participation in theatre builds confidence, increases tolerance for others, enhances self-awareness and self-expression, and raises self-esteem. Research has shown that theatre experiences positively affect a range of important cognitive skills as well -- critical and creative thinking, reading comprehension, analysis, and interpretation.

From modest beginnings in 1983 (two classes in creative dramatics on Saturday mornings), our education program has grown to include weekday classes, vacation week institutes, a summer program, partnerships with schools, and a popular student matinee series (which has grown from one matinee performance per production to as many as ten). In 1993, with the support of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's YouthReach Program and the Peabody Foundation, we established PAH! Deaf Youth Theatre, an after-school theatre training program for deaf teen-agers. Recognized with a President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts "Coming Up Taller" Award in a 1998 White House ceremony, PAH! is in its sixth season, supporting deaf teen-agers with programming during winter, spring, and summer vacations and various workshops throughout the year. PAH! students have performed original works throughout Boston, on Cape Cod, and in New York City; many PAH! students have appeared in WFT mainstage productions; and six PAH teens are currently enrolled at Boston Arts Academy specializing in theatre, dance, and visual arts. The Peabody Foundation's generous support of PAH! has helped to make an enormous difference in the lives of urban deaf teens.

WFT's education offerings also include our recently developed Partnerships Program, the first phase of which includes attendance at WFT student matinees, pre-show school visits by actors or technical staff, post-show workshops at WFT after each matinee, and the provision of WFT buttons allowing students to return to any performance with their families free of charge. Teachers in partnership schools receive study guides to extend classroom discussions and activities around each play. The entire package, offered for a fee, is the first step in developing closer relationships with these schools with the long-term goal of providing professional development to teachers for using theatre as a vehicle for classroom teaching and learning.

Beginning in 1997, WFT entered an educational collaboration with Studebaker Theater, Wheelock College, and the Cambridge Public Schools on a Massachusetts Cultural Council-funded project seeking to build classroom teachers' capacity to use dramatic arts for teaching content in core academic subjects. This latest collaborative -- coupled with calls for assistance from schools seeking to meet the goals of the new Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks -- has opened new vistas for our education program.

Of particular significance to the future of WFT was a 1998 strategic planning process undertaken by Advisory Board members and friends, with the full support and financial backing of Wheelock College President Marjorie Bakken. The process began with the formation of a strategic planning committee, its members representing the Boston Public Schools, the arts community, the business community, after-school program planning (at the local and national level), private-sector marketing and management groups, and Wheelock College faculty. The group worked together for an entire year and, at the end of the process, our consultant (a Boston University marketing professor) and the committee produced a 21-page plan outlining the work at hand. (See attachments for a copy.) The outcome of the plan is embodied in 17 goals falling within three interconnected areas: growth in the education program, increased outreach and marketing, and institutionalization of the theatre. At the same time, we re-affirmed our strong commitment to access and inclusion for all individuals and groups traditionally underserved by mainstream theatre.

Overview of organizational structure and size: board, staff and volunteer involvement

WFT has a traditional theatre structure with operations overseen by a producer and general manager. The former is responsible for all programs and productions of the theatre and the latter for budget management and day-to-day operations. The full-time administrative staff also includes a publicity and operations coordinator and a box office manager. A part-time education coordinator oversees our classes and school partnerships.

As part of Wheelock College, WFT adheres to the college's fiscal structures and procedures. We develop our budget in collaboration with the college's vice president for administration and finance, and manage it as a separate cost center. Over the years, we have remained financially solvent, albeit dependent on Wheelock College, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, local foundations (past and present funders include, among others, the Peabody Foundation, Sprague Foundation, Bell Atlantic, the Boston Globe Foundation, and VSA arts), and an annual giving program to subsidize ticket sales for low-income patrons. Our education program generates approximately 15 percent of the theatre's annual incomeÑand we anticipate it will play an increasingly important role as the program continues to expand.

WFT is guided by a 23-member Advisory Board recently reconstituted through the strategic planning process and co-chaired by Andrea Genser (a WFT founder and executive director of Wheelock's Centers for Child Care Policy and Training) and Jeff Coburn (a business management consultant). Since its reorganization, the full board has met twice; task forces focused on education, institutional development and finance, and marketing have been meeting every other month. Staff members attend all full board and task force meetings, helping to ensure that board recommendations are implemented in everyday operations.

In addition to the time contributed by Advisory Board members, WFT benefits from the hundreds of hours donated each season by the Friends of the Family Theatre. This group of 48 volunteers, many of whom are parents of children involved in WFT productions or classes, assists with a host of chores including ushering, concession sales, house management, and more. They also promote our theatre at the grassroots, spreading the word to schools, clubs, and organizations in the 25 Boston neighborhoods and suburbs they represent.

Organization's constituents with total number and break-down by age, gender, race/ethnicity, income levels, disabilities, geography and language spoken

WFT serves an average audience of 25,000 each season, including 565 subscribers and over 9,000 school children who attend student matinees. Our education programs serve approximately 1,500 young people each year Ð 400 in on-site classes and over 1,000 in WFT partner schools. Most of our patrons live in urban and suburban Boston, although significant numbers come from cities and towns along the New Hampshire border and in central and western Massachusetts. Our 650-seat facility on the campus of Wheelock College is easily reached by car or public transportation. Individuals of all ages, from toddlers to great-grandparents, are part of WFT audiences; our education program serves pre-schoolers through high schoolers.

Our audiences and education program (WFT classes, partnerships, and collaborations) include all racial groups represented in the greater Boston area: African Americans, Asians (representing a number of countries), Latinos, Eastern Europeans, and Native Americans. Located in close proximity to Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, and Roxbury, WFT draws on the rich variety of populations in these city neighborhoods. Audience members speak as many different languages as the countries they represent.

Children and families of all income levels come to WFT as well, including people from wealthy sections of Brookline and beyond and those from the very poorest sections of Boston. Our ongoing struggle to keep tickets affordable is one reason why our audiences are economically diverse. While ticket prices went up somewhat this year (from $10-$15 to $10-$17), they are still well below the average for professional theatre. We also give away hundreds of tickets to community groups and organizations each season. Tickets for our school matinees are offered at the reduced rate of $7 per seat. To ensure access to our education program, we provide scholarships and payment plans for students wishing to take classes but unable to afford the full cost.

WFT's audiences also include people who are deaf, blind, deaf/blind, wheelchair-users, physically disabled, learning disabled, and mentally ill. We have worked hard to make our theatre accessible to members of the physically challenged community since we first opened our doors in 1981.

Because of the broad array of access provisions already in place at WFT, we are well positioned to support the outreach initiative outlined in this request.

Request

Description of the specific request including goals and objectives

We are requesting a grant of $60,000 from the Peabody Foundation to support the first year of a long-term effort to more fully embed access in all of WFT's programming. This initiative seeks to extend our 20-year commitment to making professional theatre accessible to all members of the community and will build on a strong set of access provisions already in place. The program's overarching goals are:

As leaders in arts accessibility in the Boston area, we know how much more could and should be done to make full access a reality in theatres and arts institutions Ð including our own. Support from the Peabody Foundation will enable us to enlist the support of Boston's disability communities in designing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating a plan for universal access at Wheelock Family Theatre.

Needs and Challenges

"Access to the arts is a right, not a privilege," said Ted Kennedy, Jr. -- and yet, in the ten years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, many individuals are still excluded from Boston theatre experiences because of inappropriate facilities, expensive tickets, insufficient training, or the lack of opportunity to get involved. WFT has worked hard to make professional theatre accessible to all people in the community, but we recognize we still have a long way to go.

In short, we need to view each aspect of our operation through the lens of access and create a universal access plan.

In creating such a plan, we recognize the critical need for active decision-making by members of disability communities; it is no longer enough for "us" to make programmatic or artistic decisions for "them." Our universal access program must emanate from and be driven by members of Boston's disability communities. The success of this effort rests on enlisting their active participation in making WFT fully accessible by addressing the goals and objectives outlined above and implementing the activities described below.

Furthermore, there is a widespread need for information on creating and implementing access programs. WFT has frequently been consulted by other theatres interested in making their programs accessible to disabled patrons and we are often asked to make presentations on access at local and regional conferences. As we build our access program, we realize that there will be a need for detailed documentation of what we do so that our work can benefit the larger arts community. This need is addressed in our proposal as well.

Community or regional opportunities, strengths, and/or assets this effort will draw upon

WFT's 20-year history of outreach and service to physically challenged communities will significantly strengthen the proposed project. We are also fortunate that Boston is home to many strong organizations promoting access and universal design, and that WFT staff members enjoy professional working relationships with most of these organizations. We will draw on the knowledge and expertise of, among others, VSA arts, the Access to Theatre program of Partners for Youth with Disabilities, Adaptive Environments, and the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in our expanded access efforts.

Our Access Advisory Committee members will represent grassroots organizations, arts organizations, schools, independent living organizations, and state agencies. Members will keep WFT informed about current events, conferences, and workshops, possibly representing WFT at these events.

We can use already-established avenues for communication with members of disability communities via VSA arts' large database of consumers, cultural partners, producers, and businesses, as well as through VSA arts' active website and print newsletter ACCESS EXPRESSED. (WFT is an original cultural sponsor and regular contributor to the newsletter.) We can look to the Museum of Fine Arts, which has an active access advisory board, for advice on running and maintaining our new board. The MFA has also developed print advertising that can serve as a model for WFT.


Specific activities and timetable for meeting objectives

This board will be the WFT think tank on accessibility policies and activities Ð charged with determining strategies for outreach, training, and other activities related to program goals. The main action steps for a full-blown access program will be conceived and guided by this group. The full group will meet three times yearly. Task forces focused on productions and education and individual working committees focused on each of the specific communities outlined above will meet more frequently.

The Access Advisory Board, its task forces and subcommittees, and WFT's new access coordinator will be responsible for the following tasks:

Level and nature of the involvement of the community-at-large, local residents and/or other constituencies

The proposed program calls for the involvement of members of all Boston's disabilities communities in helping WFT to institutionalize existing access services and creating an access model that can be used by the larger arts community. It relies on the creation of a committee from the following organizations' members, many of whom we already know personally or have worked with as colleagues:

The Access Advisory Board will also include individual parents of disabled children and students from PAH!, the Horace Mann School, or other schools mentioned above. As we develop relationships with advising groups and targeted schools, we will provide members with tickets and transportation to WFT productions and meetings as warranted by financial need.

Our own staff and Access Advisory Board volunteers will respond to requests by other theatres and organizations for conference presentations on our access program.

Staff/volunteers and their involvement

With support from the Boston Globe Foundation, we will hire Jody Steiner, current director of PAH! Deaf Youth Theatre at WFT, as our first access coordinator. (See enclosed resume.) Jody has worked in the field of cultural access for 15 years, beginning with artist in residency work with VSA arts (formerly known as Very Special Arts). She has acted with the National Theatre of the Deaf, Living Stage Theatre Company of the Arena Stage, and with other regional theatres. She consults to arts institutions on access issues and trains interpreters for theatrical productions, including deaf/blind interpreters. Jody was recently honored for her access work with the first annual Champion of Cultural Access Award from VSA Arts.

Other key staff members involved in this project are Producer Susan Kosoff, a tenured full professor at Wheelock College and co-founder of WFT, who has worked in theatre since 1964, and Education Program Coordinator John Bay, an actor and educator who co-directs the Massachusetts Cultural Council-funded Cambridge Middle School Drama Collaborative and has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Wheelock College for over a decade.

WFT's access coordinator will work with the Access Advisory Board and its task forces, WFT staff, and Wheelock College staff to implement the goals and objectives outlined in this request. Embedded in all aspects of the theatre, awareness of access and implementation of the details needed to ensure access is the responsibility of the entire staff. All areas are involved: theatre producers and artistic directors who create programming, select scripts, cast productions, write articles, and work with Wheelock College; front of the house staff and volunteers who sell tickets, usher, sell refreshments, and help the public; education program faculty who teach after-school classes, vacation week institutes, and summer programs; and technical staff members who work with actors and audiences. To assist in staff and volunteers' ongoing learning, WFT will invite Betty Siegel, Access Coordinator at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to run a one-day training to share current developments in the access field.

In its regular day-to-day operations, WFT uses volunteers for ushering, publicity, front- of-the-house and back-stage help, concessions, box office sales, and a host of other chores. We also rely on student interns for office and production help. Advisory Board members and Friends of the Family Theatre are all volunteers. For this project, we will also rely on volunteers serving on the Access Advisory Board and working on related program activities.

Collaborations and other resources

WFT collaborates extensively with Wheelock College; various school departments, including the Boston and Cambridge Public School systems; members of the theatre and arts communities; professional organizations; and public and government arts agencies. A partial list includes Boston Cultural Partnership, Boston Foundation Fund for the Arts and Culture, Boston Children's Museum, StageSource, The Museum of Science, the Huntington Theatre, the Studebaker Theater, Harwich Junior Theatre, Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf, Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, D.E.A.F., Inc., and the Comprehensive School-age Parenting Program.