Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Awards Matching Grant to Storycatchers Theatre
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2.22.10
Contact:
Nancy McCarty,
Executive Director, Storycatchers Theatre
312.280.4772
nmccarty@storycatcherstheatre.org
or
www.storycatcherstheatre.org
The RWJF grant will pay out over three years with matching dollars initially provided by The Woods Fund of Chicago and several other local funders, including the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Michael Reese Health Trust. Ira Glass of NPR's This American Life will host a special fundraising event on March 6, 2010 to generate additional contributions toward the three-year match.
"It was with much delight and enthusiasm that we nominated Storycatchers Theatre and its Temporary LockDown program for this award," explained Consuella Brown, Program Director at the Woods Fund. "Storycatchers engages marginalized youth, including those who are incarcerated, in programs that develop artistic, analytical, writing and problem-solving skills in ways that are designed to promote youth and community."
Brown continued, "This innovative nonprofit theatre company is highly regarded by its partners and the places where it conducts its programming; and it encourages young people to name and give voice to what they are feeling, seeing and thinking. Storycatchers' programs amplify the voices of youth in their communities and provide many opportunities to increase awareness of multiple points of view and the complexity of issues facing these youth."
"I am especially proud that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a national foundation focused on health issues, recognizes the importance of this program," said Alyssa Sorresso, Temporary LockDown Program Director. "Temporary LockDown helps teenage boys learn to make positive life choices as part of their preparation to re-enter the community after completing their sentences. It is a wonderful tribute to Storycatchers Theatre's unique partnership with the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ). Based on our success working with the girls at the Illinois Youth Center (IYC) in Warrenville for the past eight years, staff at IDJJ specifically requested that we develop a program for the boys at IYC-Chicago."
Led by Sorresso, Storycatchers teaching artists guide the incarcerated boys as they write, rehearse and perform original musical theatre reflecting their life experiences. Through the creative writing and performance skills workshops, the boys learn to express their emotions constructively. The act of using their personal stories to create a work of art cultivates pride and increased self-esteem in participants, who learn to use the creative process to understand the reasons for their behaviors and the power they have over their own lives.
The writing and performance skills workshops culminate in the production of an original one-act musical each spring. On April 14, 2010, the young performers will present their most recent work for their families, peers and invited guests.
Founded in 1984 as Music Theatre Workshop, Storycatchers Theatre delivers life-changing performing arts programs to youth living in underserved Chicago neighborhoods and incarcerated in juvenile detention facilities. Storycatchers' unique approach to positive youth development engages young people in a long-term, collaborative process that requires courage, honesty, and respect for the opinions and experiences of others.
The company began its groundbreaking work with incarcerated youth in 1990 at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Since then, Storycatchers has developed a full-scale partnership with the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, serving incarcerated youth in multiple locations. Storycatchers also delivers community-based programs in partnership with the Chicago Housing Authority, the Chicago Park District and Columbia College Chicago.
The Woods Fund of Chicago is a grant making foundation whose goal is to increase opportunities for less advantaged people and communities in the metropolitan area, including the opportunity to shape decisions affecting them. The foundation works primarily as a funding partner with nonprofit organizations. Woods supports nonprofits in their important roles of engaging people in civic life, addressing the causes of poverty and other challenges facing the region, promoting more effective public policies, reducing racism and other barriers to equal opportunity, and building a sense of community and common ground.
This award was allocated under a special RWJF Local Funding Partnerships program entitled Peaceful Pathways: Reducing Exposure to Violence. Through Peaceful Pathways, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partners with grantmakers and nonprofits who focus on the needs of a specific under-resourced group such as communities of color or people isolated because of their gender, sexual orientation, race, tribe, ethnic group or remote frontier location. Learn more at www.localfundingpartnerships.org.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.rwjf.org.
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Photos and interviews are available on request.
Contact Nancy McCarty, Executive Director, Storycatchers Theatre.