CHICAGO — Four Chicago theaters across the city were awarded more than $600,000 in grants to bolster the city’s local arts scene.
The Bayless Family Foundation — a group that’s dedicated to uplifting the Chicago theater community and awards grants to local theaters annually — doled out $670,000 this year to Definition Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, Chicago Children’s Theatre and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.
Definition Theatre in Hyde Park and TimeLine Theatre Company in Lakeview were each awarded a Stepping Stone Grant of $180,000. The grant money will support both theaters over three years as they build performance spaces.
For nearly 12 years, Definition Theatre has been itinerant, or a traveling company working at venues across the city. The company is now preparing to cultivate a home in Woodlawn. While that process will likely take a few years, Definition Theatre has found a temporary space in Hyde Park in a building owned by the University of Chicago.
The Signal Grant is going to help offset the cost of operating the space — like paying rent and keeping the lights on — so the theater company can continue to grow its programming and focus on its construction in Woodlawn, according to Definition Executive Director Neel McNeill.
The grant relieves a lot of pressure that small nonprofits often face, like writing grant applications and wondering where the next dollar will come from, she said.
“We get to sort of spread our fingers and toes and get into this new world of like, ‘What does it look like to be in a rental space? What does it look like to try to program?’” McNeill said.
McNeill said theater changed her life and she’s grateful she can share that love with the South Side.
“Many students, especially living in underserved communities, don’t get the opportunity to engage with the arts like others do,” McNeill said. “It’s such a beautiful way to express yourself or really understand what you’re going through. And we’re excited that we have this opportunity to not only do the work but also do it in a community that we care so much about.”
TimeLine Theatre was awarded the same Stepping Stone Grant, which Managing Director Ted DeLong said will help with everything that goes on behind-the-scenes at the company, like bookkeeping and implementing an online payroll system.
“It’s bringing us into the state of the art for small and arts nonprofits,” DeLong said. “It helps us pay people, pay our bills, and do so smoothly and accurately and quickly.”
Like Definition, TimeLine is also working on establishing a new home base. It’s moving from its 25-year home on Wellington Avenue to a new spot in Uptown, which is set to start construction this summer. That journey has been “long and winding,” but it’s coming together, DeLong said.
“We’re tremendously grateful to Bayless,” DeLong said. “This is the sort of funding that’s unsexy but deeply necessary — work that’s really rare but it’s really valuable when you can find it. It’s something that relieves our costs and helps us with our administrative challenges.”
“We are awed by the dedication, creativity and resilience of our city’s incredible theater companies,” Rick Bayless, member of the Bayless Family Foundation Board of Directors, said in a press release. “We couldn’t be happier to support these organizations at true ‘Stepping Stone’ moments, and we trust that our support will help these organizations thrive in the coming years.”
Chicago is “arguably the most vital” city for theater in the nation, according to the Bayless Family Foundation’s website.
“As a theatre-loving family, we want to do everything we can to support that. So many theatre artists in Chicago struggle to find the resources to bring their visions to life,” the website reads.
‘It’s A Vote Of Confidence’
The Bayless Foundation also awarded Chicago Children’s Theatre and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company a Signal Grant, a one-time payment “that responds to community needs.”
Chicago Children’s Theatre in the West Loop received $100,000 to support its trauma-informed care program called ROAR, or Residencies of Arts and Resilience. The program uses theater as a way to uplift children living in stressful or traumatic circumstances, said Jacqui Russel, the theater’s artistic director and co-founder.
Chicago Children’s Theatre worked with Lurie Children’s Hospital Center for Childhood Resilience, local schools and teaching artists to develop ROAR, and the program includes interactive theater games and mental health practices so kids can better understand their emotions and take care of themselves, Russell said.
“If we can reach people when they’re young, we can impact their lives and that’s going to impact their community, and it’s going to make a lot of good change for everybody,” Russell said. “You’re impacting one child at a time and it can be so profound.”
ROAR has been in the works since before the pandemic and has reached nearly 700 students since 2022. The program currently operates in 17 classrooms across three schools.
This grant is going to help the theater hire more staff and expand to more schools, Russell said. The company also hopes to implement more bilingual programming for Spanish and Ukrainian students.
The Bayless grant was “a really nice surprise,” Russell said.
“We’re very excited because this is a large grant so it’s going to really help us,” she said. “We can expand in a way we’re dreaming of.”
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company also received a Signal Grant of $50,000. Executive Director Margaret McCloskey said the grant is transformative for the company, which sits along Belmont in Lakeview East.
“It is a vote of confidence in the direction that we’re headed and the vision that we have,” she said.
The Signal Grant works as a general operating grant, supporting Remy Bumppo’s variety of programming. For example, the company offers annual classes for all levels of theatergoers, from on-stage professionals to casual viewers, where they can learn about playwriting, monologues, stage design, literary analysis and more.
The classes have been “a real touch point and community builder” for decades, McCloskey said.
McCloskey said the Stepping Stone and Signal grants are transformative for the companies that receive them, especially as the theater continues to recover from the shutdowns and smaller audiences of the pandemic.
“Bayless is a bit of a standalone in terms of foundations making grants of this size to theaters of our size,” McCloskey said. “They do tremendous work and are making a huge impact on theaters in Chicago.”
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