BATS Improv

For General Support

  • Amount
    $80,000
  • Program
  • Date Awarded
    11/17/2008
  • Term
    24 Months
  • Type of Support
    General Support/Organization
Overview
San Francisco’s Bay Area Theatresports (BATS) is the region’s premier improvisational performance company. The 20 members of BATS main stage company (10 men and 10 women) perform original long-form improv shows every Friday and Saturday night for 12,000 people a year, two-thirds of whom are under 40 years old. The company, founded in 1987, also conducts year-round classes for 1,300 adults at all levels of acting experience. The organization supports its $550,000 annual budget by generating earned income through ticket sales, tuition and by conducting team-building workshops for corporate clients eager to train staff how to work collaboratively, think creatively and respond to new information quickly. The company also offers free improv classes and shows to people living with chronic, life-threatening illness through its Laughing Stock program and in 2008 initiated a Youth Performance Series that brought 620 children from San Francisco’s public schools to see performances at the company’s theater in the Fort Mason arts complex of San Francisco’s Marina District. BATS is a local leader in getting teens and audiences in their 20s and 30s to have a positive theater experience and theerby build an appetite for further cultural encounters. Renewed support for the organization will enable it to expand and diversify its audience, develop its board and increase compensation for artists.
About the Grantee
Grantee Website
www.improv.org 
Address
2 Marina Boulevard Building B, San Francisco, CA, 94123-1328, United States
Grants to this Grantee
for general operating support  
Bay Area Theatresports is the region’s leading presenter and instructor of improvisational theater. Each year, it reaches more than 13,000 people through 130 performances at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center and 100 workshops held throughout the Bay Area. The company’s 20 members serve as instructors for enrolled students, corporate clients, and people living with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Renewed funding will help sustain Bay Area Theatresports’ mainstage and educational offerings, as well as improve its audience management system and develop a fundraising plan.
for general operating support  
Bay Area Theatresports is the region’s leading presenter and instructor of improvisational theater. Each year, it reaches more than 13,000 people through 145 performances at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center and 100 workshops held throughout the Bay Area. The company’s twenty members serve as instructors for enrolled students, corporate clients, and people living with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. It is developing a long range plan that would help the organization to expand programs, and to sustain its recent growth and strong financial performance.
for general operating support  
San Francisco’s Bay Area Theatresports (BATS) is the region’s premier improvisational performance company. The 20 members of BATS main stage company (10 men and 10 women) perform original long-form improv shows every Friday and Saturday night for 12,000 people a year, two-thirds of whom are under 40 years old. The company, founded in 1987, also conducts year-round classes for 1,300 adults at all levels of acting experience. The organization supports its $750,000 annual budget by generating earned income through ticket sales, tuition and by conducting team-building workshops for corporate clients eager to train staff how to work collaboratively, think creatively and respond to new information quickly. BATS is a local leader in getting teens and audiences in their 20s and 30s to have a positive theater experience and theerby build an appetite for further cultural encounters. Renewed support for the organization will enable it to expand and diversify its audience, develop its board and increase compensation for artists.

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