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October 06, 2003
Contact: Marilyn S. LeFeber,
(810) 238-5651,
info@mott.org
C.S. Mott Foundation provides $1.3 million for Flint Youth Theatre endowment, operations
FLINT, Mich. — The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has made a $1.36-million grant to the Flint Cultural Center Corporation (FCCC) to build Flint Youth Theatre’s (FYT) endowment and to help underwrite operating costs. The bulk of the funds--$1 million--is earmarked for endowment, while the remainder will help cover two years of operations.
FYT, currently celebrating its 46th anniversary, is housed in the William S. White and Claire M. White Center on the Flint Cultural Center campus. Earlier this year, FYT spun off from the Flint Board of Education and became a member organization of the Flint Cultural Center Corporation. This marks the final outcome of a three-year strategic planning process designed to ensure FYT’s long-term stability.
In addition to a range of intergenerational theatrical performances, FYT offers classes in drama and theater studies to area youth. More than 81,000 residents were served last year through its programs and facilities, including 48,000 K-8 students who attended performances in the Learning Through Theatre Series. In addition, FYT operates an outreach program in which resident artists take curriculum-based activities into the schools. A year-round drama school enrolls more than 600 students.
“We have a long association with this institution and believe it plays a significant educational role throughout the greater Flint area,” said William S. White, Mott Foundation president. “This grant will allow FYT to continue its excellent community-based, social-issue productions and help to build an endowment to sustain that excellence for many years to come.”
To date, the Foundation has contributed $4.2 million to FYT, including $500,000 in 2000 to help establish its endowment fund. Other grants have supported facilities development, and provided general operating and specific project support.
“This new gift will contribute to FYT’s long-term stability as it continues its natural evolution from being a strong partner to becoming a member of the FCCC family,” said Cindy Ornstein, FCCC president.
FYT was created in 1957 as part of the Flint Community Schools’ Speech and Drama Department. The theater group has expanded from offering one production a year to a nationally renowned, professional theater for intergenerational audiences, with four performance series, 35 productions and over 200 performances each season.
It has been the recipient of numerous national and state awards, including the Great Lakes Community Arts Award (2001), the Governors’ Award for Arts and Culture (2001), the National Council on Crime and Delinquency Pass Award (2001), and New Community Award (1999).
Executive Artistic Director William P. Ward noted that FYT will continue its strong working relationship with the community’s educational institutions, including the Flint Community Schools.
“This gift will help FYT remain a strong and viable organization, assist in our transition as an independent organization, and provide the levels of service and educational programming to benefit our young people,” he said.
From Thursday to Sunday (Oct. 9-12), FYT and FCCC will host The Animating Democracy Initiative National Exchange on Art and Civic Dialogue, a multiyear, national project of Americans for the Arts designed to foster artistic activity that encourages civic dialogue on important contemporary issues. This conference will bring 200 artists, cultural and civic leaders, dialogue specialists, scholars, and funders from throughout the United States to Flint. A new production, “Alien Soil,” written by Ward, will premiere at the conference. The production explores the concept of resettlement, the plight of refugees, and the definition of “home” and what it might mean to be without one.
The Mott Foundation, established in 1926 by an automotive pioneer, is a private philanthropy committed to supporting projects that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society. It supports nonprofit programs throughout the U.S. and, on a limited geographic basis, internationally. Grantmaking is focused in four programs: Civil Society, Environment, Flint Area and Pathways Out of Poverty. Besides Flint, offices are located in metropolitan Detroit, Johannesburg (South Africa) and London. The Foundation, with 2012 year-end assets of $2.28 billion, made 439 grants totaling $91 million. For more information, visit www.mott.org.
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