Theatre Horizon, an award-winning professional theatre company located in Montgomery County, is pleased to share that they are the recipient of a Re:imagining Recovery grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. 

The grant will help Theatre Horizon undertake critical adaptations as they emerge from the effects of the pandemic.

The Center focused this year’s generous grant-making towards helping cultural organizations undertake critical adaptations as they emerge from the effects of the pandemic—bringing new perspectives on how the arts can be revitalized and play a key role in the resurgence of the region’s civic and economic vitality.

With the grant, Theatre Horizon will establish the formation of a community advisory board that will support Theatre Horizon in bolstering relationships with its Norristown neighbors, increasing the diversity of its audiences, and deepening its commitment to being an antiracist theater company.

Additionally, the company will design a more welcoming and accessible theater entrance and building exterior and develop strategies for virtual events that complement the experience of live theater.

“Theatre Horizon is grateful to have been selected as one of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s Re:imagining Recovery grantees,” notes Artistic Director Nell Bang-Jensen. “With this support, our company will continue to focus on becoming an antiracist ‘Third Space,’ a space separate from work and home that is essential for civil society, democracy, and civic engagement across perceived boundaries. We’ll be forming a Community Advisory Board led by antiracist facilitator Nicole Brewer and Conscientious Theatre Training, and we’ll be re-designing our theatre’s entrance to be more accessible and visible to the Norristown community.”

Additionally, Theatre Horizon has engaged with Digital Access Consultant Jared Mezzocchi to develop a strategy for more virtual events, like the company’s acclaimed Art Houses program which paired Philadelphia-area households with professional artists to create brand new online shows, along with technology upgrades.

“Theatre Horizon is the first theatre organization that I see in the country who is directly asking how to offer creative ventures to new audiences, made by new artists,” said Mezzochi.  “If we are discovering new access points to telling new stories, let’s not make the digital stage a nosebleed seat to the actual venue. Instead, let’s discover – together – what types of stories can excel in this format! Let’s discover new means of connectivity and interactivity that make the digital environment a place of unique communication and civic discourse.”

Theatre Horizon is one of 42 recipients of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s Re:imagining Recovery grants, which were designed to foster a stable future for the arts sector, helping organizations undertake critical adaptations needed to stabilize operations, reshape business and revenue models, and develop new approaches to programming and public engagement practices.  

For more information on Theatre Horizon, visit here.