Theatre Communications Group

10/10/2026

In September, our friends at the Wallace Foundation published four briefs exploring research and trends across the arts community. These resources provide a wealth of insight that can speak to theatres and arts organizations nationwide.

The Cost of Large-Scale Community Events looks at how one organization balances the demand of funders and its commitment to its community. The study speaks to a familiar tightrope of maintaining staff capacity while serving the larger community and even offers a suggestion to funders of how to reframe their expectations to account for success metrics that do not overextend staff.

Staffing Activist Arts Organizations dives into unique challenges that activist organizations face. While the study is focused on arts-based organizations dedicated to community-based advocacy, its findings ring true for many arts organizations outside of that scope as well. The study highlights the importance of supporting staff wellbeing through rest and wellbeing programs, strong organizational development, and more.

Challenging Narratives of a Cultural Desert illustrates the importance of safeguarding the legacies of arts organizations rooted in communities of color by shining light on the funding landscape, networks, and the importance of BIPOC embedded arts and culture organizations in the U.S. Southwest.

Insights for Amplifying explores areas where Native peoples have gained media visibility and where they are ignored or misrepresented. The brief is based on The Native Visibility + Power-Building (NVP) Project: Insights and Action guide by IllumiNative. Focus groups, online surveys, and social media analysis all synthesized together to create a comprehensive overview of the state of Native visibility and the brief includes implications for stakeholders to carry into next steps.

To read each of these briefs and access more resources from the Wallace Foundation, click the link:

Find studies and resources on the arts, youth arts participation, and funding models that support equitable access across communities.

10/09/2026

TCG is still fighting for artistic freedom. On Wednesday, October 7, Theatre Communications Group (TCG) returned to court alongside our co-plaintiffs (Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Q***r Theater, and The Theater Offensive) in our ongoing legal challenge against the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

In September 2025, we won a significant victory. A federal district court ruled that the NEA's policy violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. The court blocked the restrictions and prevented the agency from disfavoring projects on that basis.

The federal government appealed that decision, bringing us back to court this week.

The implications of this case extend well beyond any single grant, artist, or organization and no theatre or theatremaker moves forward alone.

If you believe in a theatre ecology where artists can create freely, where our collective rights are defended, and where theatres and theatremakers have a national organization standing alongside them, we invite you to invest in this work.

A gift to TCG supports our capacity to advocate, connect, and mobilize our field, today and into the future. We invite you to power continued advocacy: https://f.mtr.cool/57vfz71we3

10/09/2026

We're rounding out our TCG Hot Seat series with a very special interviewee! Huge thanks to Francisco Rivera Rodriguez and the team at ICP that partnered with us to make NC2: San Juan a reality. The conference wouldn't have been the success that it was without their collaboration.

The hot seat may be empty for now, but the connections forged and the work began did not end in June. We're looking forward to the ways that we'll continue to make meaning together as a field. We'll see you at the next convening!

10/05/2026

A new episode of The Bridge just dropped, and it's an inspiring one!
Chris Moses, co-artistic director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, joins us to talk about building theater for literally every age—from a stage designed for babies as young as two months old to touring work for middle schoolers.

He also breaks down the Alliance's free childcare program for working artists helping to eliminate the need to choose between family and career, and shares the wild long-term goal: making theater so essential to Atlanta that people simply "take it for granted."
Link in bio to listen.

09/21/2026

Arts service organizations are navigating a rapidly changing arts ecosystem and understanding the needs and impact of our field has never been more important.

As a participant in the 2026 National Arts Service Organizations Survey, TCG urges fellow ASOs across the country to make sure your organization is counted.

This first-of-its-kind national survey from ADC Consulting will help build a clearer picture of the role, impact, and evolution of ASOs and provide field-wide research that can strengthen how we understand, advocate for, and support one another.

If you’re an arts service organization, add your voice by October 9th!

Take the survey: https://f.mtr.cool/s5g5972nwx

09/17/2026

Two weeks left to make your voice heard!

Performers, choreographers, playwrights, musicians, designers, technicians, and others working across the performing arts: Researcher Annie Dorsen and SMU DataArts want to hear about your experiences with generative AI.

Take the Impacts of AI on the Performing Arts Survey to help inform future policy, advocacy, and support for artists and please share it widely with your colleagues!

GenAI Usage in the Performing Arts.

09/16/2026

"Someone asked me yesterday why I bothered to adapt Everyman. Because the text is in Middle English, we often lose sight of the fact that it was made by theater artists who believed they were speaking to a group of people about something important. So my challenge became almost an archaeology of seeing: I wanted to re-create the spirit of that play in a contemporary theater-viewing context." —Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Haven't read EVERYBODY yet? Don't worry, copies are available! Grab yours today: https://f.mtr.cool/k41ivrkwvt

09/15/2026

TCG and New Native Theatre are building stronger connections between Native theatremakers and TCG’s national network and resources through our Land Acknowledgement-in-Action initiative.

-Native-led theatres that have not previously been TCG Theatre Members can receive a complimentary year of Theatre Membership.

-Native artists interested in forming arts organizations can receive a complimentary year of Individual Membership.

Learn more about the initiative and how to join: https://f.mtr.cool/cyiiblif1t

09/14/2026

What’s next for the American nonprofit theatre movement?

On September 29 from 3–5 p.m. ET, TCG's Co-Executive Director of National and Global Programming Emilya Cachapero will serve as one of 17 respondents for Is the American Nonprofit Theater Movement Over?, a virtual conversation co-hosted by the DeVos Institute of Arts and Nonprofit Management and Out of Hand Theater.

Respondents will offer their perspectives on the state and future of the field before participants continue the conversation in small groups and an interactive group session.

Together, the gathering will explore what defines the nonprofit theatre movement today, which elements of its historical model remain relevant, where theatres are finding new paths toward relevance and sustainability, and what the field’s next era might look like.

Join the conversation: https://f.mtr.cool/lkyfr5zoj6

09/03/2026

We're back with another round of TCG Hot Seat, recapping our amazing time in San Juan this past June! Ariana Torres (actress, dancer, theater technician, and NC26 Fellow) took the mic to share what the TCG National Conference has meant to her and why it's powerful to hold convenings like it in Puerto Rico.