TECO THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS INC

We have worked to reclaim the word 'excellence' from its historic, elitist undertones to recognize that the very best art and culture are for everyone. We believe that we are reaching toward artistic excellence if our work helps our community make sense of our place in the world, ask questions, and appreciate things they have never before experienced. Our neighborhood is heavily influenced by Hispanic, African American, and LGBT cultures. This creates a unique platform to creatively tell stories about our cultural experiences. Our organization and our artists embrace diversity at the core of our work as we strive to be relevant to 21st-century American audiences.

Our organization's goals will be met by engaging current community partners and cultivating relationships with new ones. We offer:

•A full season of performances at the Bishop Arts Theatre Center consisting of 4 to 5 plays each season and more than 60 performances each year.
•Commission of new plays by local playwrights
•Year round arts education programs for youth and adult learners
•A world-class jazz series

BATC took ownership of our building in 2005. In doing so, we committed to a restoration of all three floors of the building, including offices and performance spaces. Our goal for the next few years is to complete the renovation of our third floor which will include an open-air performance and meeting space in light of Covid-19. During the pandemic, it became increasingly clear that in order to serve older adult BIPOC audiences and youth, we needed to provide a safe, open-air environment to guarantee the health and safety of audiences whose health is compromised. According to a recent Harvard study, the numbers of Black and Latinos patrons are four to nine times more likely to be infected by COVID than white audiences. In addition, BATC is looking to move toward a shared leadership structure, creating a position for a managing director to take on more of the responsibilities of our rapidly growing organization. The need to attract the right candidates from the BIPOC community is clear, although the national theatre community has not done an adequate job of training Black, Latinx, and Persons of Color to move up the ladder into these high-powered positions. In order to address this concern, we have engaged the services of Amplify Leadership Advisors to mentor up and train individuals who seek greater experience at this level.

BATC has been a central player in the rise of the Oak Cliff community and the empowerment of its vibrant population of Black, Latinx and BIPOC families. We have seen the economic and cultural rise of this area even as we see the challenges faced by this population continue. As Diana Espaldon pointed out about small arts organizations like ours in a 2009 interview with Americans for the Arts, "It’s about arts meets cultural preservation, meets community
building, meets business incubation, meets civic engagement, meets social justice. These groups come from a different artistic vision. Their work is already larger than the art itself.” This is the spirit and power of Bishop Arts Theatre Center. We are a cultural and educational institution whose work addresses racial inequality and, in
doing so, reaches far beyond the stage to address the cultural, economic, and social needs of this community.

BATC cultivates diverse arts programming to foster cultural preservation, community building, business growth, civic engagement, and social justice in a traditionally underserved community. We are a community-led space that brings together a diverse group of artists and community members to voice their ideas and co-create cultural works that reflect and resonate with their lived experiences. Throughout the year, we hold listening sessions to
survey our audience on issues they want to see addressed and discussed on our stage. Together we envision programmatic offerings to meet those needs to create culturally vibrant and thought-provoking performances, as well as learning experiences that promote social change, cultural empowerment and the development of new artistic voices. The community engagement process is a critical aspect of our work because it allows community
members to directly influence the creative work that will embody and bring into the room issues of immediate concern. Our after-school and summer camp programs serve youth from our local school districts from elementary to high school levels. Our programs also serve vulnerable populations including seniors, youth involved with the juvenile justice system and LGBTQ community. While our community members face many educational and economic inequities preventing them from making it through traditional theater doors, they are passionate about the arts, are resourceful and resilient in the face of many adversities and are committed to collaborative
problem-solving and community building.

As of today, we remain financially solvent. Bishop Arts Theatre maintains a stellar record of fiscal responsibility and is in good standing with current and previous funders. On the heels of the pandemic, we fully restored and expanded our programs both digitally and in person. In 2020 and 2021, we secured two PPP loans that were fully forgiven, as well as Employee Retention Tax Credits. BATC was the recipient of a Shuttered Venues Operators grant in 2021. These funds allowed us to retire our construction debt of $500,000, which originated in 2005 during renovations of the facility. In addition, we were able to leverage those funds to secure more local philanthropic support in order to provide long-term financial stability. Finally, in January 2022, BATC was one of only 7% of performing arts organizations nationwide to receive the National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan Award.