WHAT IS IT?

We are overjoyed to launch our very first commissioning fund, named in celebration of fierce arts advocate and longtime En Garde Arts board member and friend, Joan D. Firestone. The Joan D. Firestone Commissioning Fund is a five-year fund awarded annually to mid-career theatre artists creating work at the intersection of theatre and social change. Selected artists will receive an $18,000 unrestricted award and will be encouraged to use the funds however they wish to provide significant support and resources to bring their theatrical project to life. 

En Garde Arts will hold the first public developmental reading of the work or work-in-progress within the first year to 18 months from the original commission date. En Garde Arts will hold no rights to future productions of the commissioned work. 

WHO IS JOAN D. FIRESTONE?

“I truly believe that if it weren’t for the incredible philanthropic abilities of Joan D. Firestone, En Garde Arts wouldn’t exist today. In addition to her fierce determination to support the arts in any way she can, she is above all an extraordinary human being and I am honored to launch this fund in her name.” Anne Hamburger

“Joan has been a nurturing voice and unbelievable champion of artists for decades.  I’ve long admired her generosity and genuine commitment to supporting theater artists who are making work that is socially engaged, complex, and endeavors to have a meaningful dialogue with audiences.” Lynn Nottage

“Joan Firestone has devoted her life to supporting artists and making the arts in America more innovative, inclusive, and excellent. She has inspired me throughout my career and this groundbreaking new Fund is a fitting tribute to her transformative impact.” – David Henry Hwang

Joan is a force of nature, and we are very lucky that she is a long time Board member of En Garde Arts.

THE 2022 WINNER, KRISTINA WONG

#FoodBankInfluencer” has Kristina working with existing strategists in food desserts to reimagine the grocery store/ food bank line/ community fridge as a new immersive theater/ environment that will attempt to cue healthier instincts of consumption and self-determination..  Specifically, these funds will be used to pay a team of seamstresses who live near the Rocky Ridge Market in Dinnebito, AZ– a rural area of the Navajo Nation.  We’ll be sewing a new fabric interior of this market/ community hub that will reimagine it as the native Trading Posts it once was– creating a guide towards community building, ancient wisdom and a reclamation of food ways.

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE GENEROUS DONORS THAT MADE THIS FUND POSSIBLE

$15,000 and above: Leon Lowenstein Foundation; $10,000-$14,999: Agnes Gund, David Milch, David Richenthal; $5,000-$9,999: Arthur DeGroat, Ron Guttman, Anne Maffei, Meg Walker & Morey Bean; $2,000-$4,999: Deborah Dugan, Penny Brandt Jackson, Gerry Ohstrom; $1,000-$1,999: Cynthia Argo, Kim & Stewart Beck, Mimi & Denis Conway, Dorothy Dunn, Anne Hamburger, Claire O’Cleireacain, Joanne Ramos, Daryl Roth; Up to $999: Marilyn Abalos, Catherine Burns, Paula Dagen, Marylyn Dintenfass, Sarah Habermann, David Hamlin, Ari Handel, Marianna Houston, Lynn Loacker, Sheila Rae Ross, Michael Schubert, Marlene Siff, Debra Simon, Roger Skelton, Marianne Watson.

DO YOU WANT TO GIVE TO THE FUND?