WRT announces Grant opportunity for graduates
Wellesley Repertory Theatre was established in 1998 (as Wellesley Summer Theatre) by Founding Artistic Producer And Director Emerita of Wellesley College Theatre Nora Hussey. Wellesley Rep productions over the decades have been lauded by critics and audiences alike, and we are so proud of its ongoing legacy. Nora’s mission, supported by the generosity of Ruth Nagel Jones ‘42 and carried forward by Nora’s successor Marta Rainer ‘98, was to establish a professional artistic community for an ensemble of Wellesley College students, alumni, educators, and local theatre makers. Through the annual production of plays on campus outside of the academic year, Wellesley Rep built a bridge for Wellesley College students and graduates into their professional lives!
During the past several years of pandemic-induced production pause, we actively engaged with a wide web of graduates in our field to understand what sustains them in challenging times, and how we could be of service. Wellesley Repertory Theatre is now re-emerging, inspired and influenced by our community. We are redefining the Rep! We approach this opportunity with joy and care for what that bridge can look like going forward. We take our responsibility to be effective and intentional stewards of the resources endowed to us by the Jones family very seriously. We aspire to create opportunities that have direct and lasting impact on the manifold creative lives and careers of our graduates in an evolving, multifaceted artistic landscape.
While our core mission remains passionately steadfast, we are thrilled to set forth a reinterpretation of our methodology, with a renewed vision and structure:
WRT will provide project grants every two years to Wellesley College graduate theatre-makers to bolster career progression, encourage creative risk, establish bespoke laboratory conditions for artistic growth, and foster artistic engagement in their own communities.
WRT will gather this cohort of grant recipients and our campus community of makers in alternate years to connect, reflect, and share - through presentations, performances, conversations, gatherings and workshops.
In this way, WRT remains committed to acting as a creative incubator and source of artistic sustenance for current Wellesley College Theatre students, our amazing graduate body, and our local supporters.
To invest in this mission, Wellesley College Theatre (the Wellesley College Theatre Studies Program and Wellesley Repertory Theatre) will award up to 3 Wellesley Repertory Theatre Grants in this inaugural cycle: the 2024-25 academic year. This grant provides project-based support to Wellesley College graduates for the development and/or production of unpublished/unproduced work in the field. This unrestricted funding enables recent graduates and working alums to set aside time for creation, purchase materials, fund collaboration with other artists, rent rehearsal or performance space, and/or otherwise expand and bolster their work. Projects are expected to be completed during the 2024-25 academic year. Grantees will commit to attending an exhibition at Wellesley College campus - planned for September 2025 - to share their work with Theatre Studies students, the campus community, and the general public.
Funding:
In the 2024-25 cycle, projects may receive up to $7500 in funding
These funds can be used at the grantee’s discretion to cover both personal expenses and general expenses for the project, including but not limited to: travel related to project development, purchasing supplies, hiring collaborators/specialists/performers, and securing venue rentals.
Travel and accommodation to attend the 2025 Wellesley Repertory Theatre Festival/Conference will be covered by Wellesley College Theatre
How to Apply:
We invite Wellesley College alum artists to propose original or adapted performing arts projects they would like support to realize. Experimental, “out of the box”, socially engaged and/or multidisciplinary works are among the many forms encouraged. Applicants should be a Wellesley College graduate 2 or more years post-diploma. Projects may look like, but are not limited to:
Completion of a new script
Completion of a newly devised work
Staging an original work for the first time
Acquisition of, training with and implementation in practice of speciality technical equipment
Bringing a performance of original work to underserved populations or areas
Presentation at the 2025 Wellesley Repertory Theatre Festival/Conference may look like, but is not limited to:
A play reading of your new script
A workshop or performance of your new work
A presentation about your completed project and its impact
A teaching circle to pass along acquired skills to current students & community members
Timeline for Cycle 1:
August 31, 2024: Applications close
Early October, 2024: Grantees are announced
October 2024 - August 2025: Project activities should take place within this period.
May-June 2025: May-June, 2025: Grantees attend virtual conversation with WCT Steering Committee to update us on your project and identify intended engagement at WRT Festival.
September 21-27, 2025: Grantees attend Wellesley Repertory Theatre Festival/Conference to present their project and/or project report
“We who have made theatre at Wellesley College through the decades are Wellesley Repertory Theatre. We graduates who have been galvanized by the creative possibilities within the field of live performing arts are Wellesley Repertory Theatre. We who strive to connect with, teach, encourage, and gather our communities through the sharing of our multifaceted work are Wellesley Repertory Theatre. It is an honor, therefore, to “redefine the Rep” as a true global and multigenerational repertory of autonomous makers, striding our unique creative paths from the shared starting point of Wellesley College. Join us in our excitement as we celebrate our mission by expanding outward - committing to directly supporting the aspirations of our graduates in their own communities - while drawing inspiration inward to the heart of our campus, establishing the Rep as an encouraging fulcrum for the future leaders of the performing arts: Wellesley College students.”
-Director of Wellesley College Theatre Marta Rainer ‘98
