Photo by Paul Ruffolo
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre - Stew
Krystal Drake, Olivia Dawson, Sola Thompson and Malaina Moore in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Stew
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) announced on Thursday that it has achieved the first benchmark of its sustainability campaign fundraising effort. The campaign aims to secure new and increased support for the theatre over the next three fiscal years, as the company navigates the lingering impacts of the pandemic and seeks to restructure its income-generating operations. The campaign's first goal was to raise $1.5 million in pledges, and MCT has surpassed this with commitments of $1,514,428. This achievement allows MCT to proceed with its 2023-24 season, which will be announced later this spring.
MCT's Artistic Director Brent Hazelton announced the sustainability campaign on February 14th, in response to a projected 35% operating deficit in 2023. The campaign was designed to create a stable financial foundation for the theatre company while it adapts to the new marketplace and builds its audience. Hazelton acknowledges that the pandemic's impacts are still being felt deeply by the performing arts industry, with studies projecting that audiences won't return to pre-pandemic levels until later in 2024. Companies without operating reserves to bridge this gap, like MCT, need time and space to reinvent themselves sustainably. Hazelton expressed gratitude for the community's response to MCT's call for help and sees it as a positive referendum on the way the company has pursued its mission over the last three years.
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MCT's Board of Trustees President, Marina Krejci, thanked the 700 individual donors who stepped forward to keep the theatre going, affirming the value of a theatre committed to the local and ratifying the belief in the vitality that MCT brings to the greater Milwaukee community. The theatre’s achievements in the last three years under Hazelton's leadership included achieving three-year averages of at least 50% of all season artists identifying as either Black, Indigenous, and People of Color or female, founding the Milwaukee Black Theatre Festival, generating a level of income and health insurance weeks for artists on par with national leaders during the first year of the pandemic, compensating all artists and staff above the Milwaukee County living wage standard, spending 90% of all expense dollars in Milwaukee, and prioritizing safety, resulting in no artist COVID-19 infections since becoming Wisconsin's first company to reconvene for in-person work on Actors' Equity Association contracts in January 2021.
MCT's achievement in surpassing its first benchmark of the sustainability campaign was made possible through the generous challenge match from Caran and Joel Quadracci, Donna and Donald Baumgartner, and the Herzfeld Foundation. These philanthropists are committed to keeping Milwaukee's arts and culture ecology rich and vibrant.
MCT's next production is the world premiere of ‘Hoops’ by Eliana Pipes, with original music by Milwaukee's B~Free, adapted from The Hoops Project portrait series by Milwaukee multidisciplinary artist Nicole Acosta. The production begins on March 10th and runs through April 2nd. MCT's achievement in surpassing its first benchmark is a testament to the community's support for the theatre company's mission and its commitment to sustainability.
