The richness, vitality and astonishing variety of the performing artsfrom theatre to dance to musicare among the glories of New York City. Theatre Development Fund, which has just entered its 30th year of service to the performing arts, is the one not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving the entire spectrum with programs that touch the lives of millions of New Yorkers and tourists.
Through its various subsidy programsincluding the widely popular TKTS Discount Ticket Centre in Times Square, a universally recognized landmark for Broadway (which celebrates its 25th birthday next June), TDF accounts for over two million theatre admissions a year, distributing more than $60 million in revenue to the performing arts.
TDF, which was founded in 1968, emerged at a time when bringing serious plays to Broadway had become increasingly difficult. A small group of theatre-concerned individuals decided to establish an organization for injecting private, foundation and even government funds into the commercial producing arena to assist works of artistic merit. Since 1968, when TDF first provided subsidy support to Howard Sackler's The Great White Hope, over 600 plays and musicals have received this assistance.
Theatre Development Fund offers many other programs and services upon which the city's performing arts groups have come to rely.
Everywhere the need grows to preserve New York's exemplary and nurturing role in the cultural life of the country as a whole. TDF's answer is to assess future needs in the performing arts, to renew and enhance its original goals, and to continue to view its prospects and face the future with optimism.
Happy 30th birthday, TDF! True to its mission to support works of artistic merit and make theatre accessible to those who could not ordinarily afford attendance, TDF has stepped forward to:
create the TDF Voucher to assist the hundreds of smaller, struggling, experimental theatre, dance and music groups, which so enrich New York's cultural life
establish the TDF Costume Collection, which enables non-profit groups throughout the U.S. to rent costumes for over 1,000 productions annually, at very low costs
create the Theatre Access Project (TAP) to aid handicapped persons and to present sign-interpreted performances of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, thus making the theatre accessible to people who are deaf
create in-depth Arts Education programs such as Stage Doors and Residency Arts Project (RAP)
, which not only bring students to Broadway, but also serve as preparation for the shows and introduces the students to the skills of audience appreciation.
Learn more about TDF's programs by visiting their website at http://www.tdf.org .
