The Puppet Showplace Theatre’s Mary Churchill Memorial Fund for Underserved Children has been awarded a $10,000 Challenge America: Reaching Every Community Fast-Track Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Puppet Showplace Theatre (PST) will match the NEA’s grant to fund this vital program for the children of Boston’s low-income families.

Since the Mary Churchill Memorial Fund began in 2007, thousands of young children of Boston’s low-income families have enjoyed live puppetry performances at the Puppet Showplace Theatre. Though PST has received NEA funds in the past, the awarding of this grant marks the first year the National Endowment of the Arts will help fund this program. The grant will help in providing free performances for 1,000 kids spread throughout the 2010 calendar year.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

The Challenge America: Reaching Every Community Fast-Track Review Grants offer support primarily to small and mid-sized organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations – those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability.

Named to commemorate the passing of the theatre’s founder, the Mary Churchill Memorial Fund for Underserved Children is a subsidy program providing Boston’s low-income children with puppetry performances at little or no cost. At least 1,000 young children will be introduced to live performance by guest artists at New England’s first and only year-round non-profit theatre dedicated to the art of puppetry.

To contribute to the match for this grant please make a contribution here, or contact our Executive Director for more information at executive@puppetshowplace.org.