Walton Arts Center and TheatreSquared announce three-year partnership agreement
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS—July 26, 2010—Walton Arts Center is pleased to announce a new and extended partnership with TheatreSquared (T2), Northwest Arkansas’ premiere professional theater company. Under the terms of the agreement, T2 has become an official resident company of the arts center, performing their annual season in Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios.
“We are excited for this enhanced relationship and the opportunity to work in partnership with TheatreSquared,” said Peter B. Lane, Walton Arts Center President/CEO. “As our region grows, we want professional arts organizations like T2 to succeed and grow and provide high quality arts experiences to our region. Walton Arts Center is pleased to help support this emerging theatrical company that is producing thoughtful, entertaining and interesting work.”
“TheatreSquared exists to serve our artists and audiences,” said Martin Miller, TheatreSquared Managing Director. “This new partnership will benefit both. We will be able to focus more time and resources on bringing great artists from the across the region and nation to Northwest Arkansas, and creating imaginative worlds on stage. Our audiences will benefit from top-notch ticketing services and the intimate, flexible venue we’ve come to call home.”
TheatreSquared presents a four-play subscription series and the Arkansas New Play Fest each year, totaling more than 65 annual performances for a growing regional audience. Under the new agreement, T2 will continue its residency in the 150-seat Studio Theatre at Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios, and T2 education staff will create study guides and provide in-school workshops for Walton Arts Center’s arts-in-education programming. Walton Arts Center will provide a full range of box office services for TheatreSquared productions, as well as assist in cross-promotion and marketing to help introduce broader audiences to T2’s work.
The new partnership formalizes and extends a relationship that began with TheatreSquared’s founding in 2005. “TheatreSquared provides the kind of high quality, locally produced shows that complement Walton Arts Center’s programming,” said Jodi Beznoska, VP of Communications for WAC and a longtime member of T2’s Board of Directors. “I’m hopeful that this relationship, which has been strong ever since TheatreSquared’s debut, will continue to grow and improve in the next three years.”
Walton Arts Center is Arkansas' premier center for the performing arts and entertainment. Each year more than 140,000 people from Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma and beyond attend over 350 public events at Walton Arts Center, including performances, rehearsals, community gatherings, receptions, graduations and more. Approximately 20,000 students and teachers from 30 school districts participate annually in arts learning programs at Walton Arts Center, and over 300 volunteers donate more than 15,000 hours of time each year to its operations. Walton Arts Center presents entertainers and artists from around the world including Broadway musicals, renowned dance companies, international artists, up-and-coming jazz musicians and more. As a non-profit organization, Walton Arts Center enjoys the generous support of public sector funding, corporate sponsorship and private donors, allowing audience members to pay on average only 50% of the cost of programs offered. To learn more about Walton Arts Center, visit www.waltonartscenter.org.
Founded in 2005, TheatreSquared (T2) is Northwest Arkansas’s regional theatre, producing professional work that is challenging and heartfelt, intimate and entertaining. The company strives to ensure that audiences of all backgrounds have access to its artistic and educational programs. The Theatre’s professional productions include family programs, classics, new plays and world premieres. Sixty-five annual performances and the Arkansas New Play Fest attract a growing audience of patrons from throughout Northwest Arkansas, including more than 1,000 students and teachers. Performances are presented in the intimate, 150-seat Studio Theatre at Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios in downtown Fayetteville. Together with its theatrical season, T2’s educational offerings are a core focus in the company’s service. T2 for Education, the Theatre’s program for students and teachers, offers deeply discounted student performances, professional development for educators, and a variety of in-school programs focused on engaging students in learning and literacy through theatre. For more information, visit theatre2.org.
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