National Theatre School of Canada

Background of organization:  

The National Theatre School of Canada was established in 1960 as a training centre for Canadians aspiring to careers in acting, playwriting, design and stagecraft. The school tracks its 1900 alumni closely; they include many leading professionals in theatre and film around the world, and an impressive 94% of all graduates work in arts and culture.

Full Grant description:

The Foundation’s grant will enable the NTS to expand its Cultural and Artistic Leadership Program (CALP) across Canada. Since it was established in 2006 with support from the Foundation, CALP has supported graduates with grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 to create over 50 theatrical productions, several of which have toured nationally and internationally.

Funding from the Foundation and other donors will be used to establish endowments in seven community foundations across Canada. Each year, the interest from these endowments will be used to support CALP productions by recent graduates of the NTS. Several private companies have already stepped forward to support this initiative as part of their contribution to NTS’ 50th anniversary campaign. The Federal and Quebec Governments will match all new donations to community foundations on behalf of the NTS. By 2015, it is expected that the community foundation endowments for this initiative will total $3,770,000 and the grants to artists will total $131,950 per year.