Good The@tre for Good Causes
1. How did The Good The@ter Festival & Aw@rds come about?
The festival was created by The Red Curtain International to showcase the work of other like-minded theater groups who refused to let theater stop just because auditoriums were closed. We created a Festiv@l and Aw@rd for productions that were not pre-recorded for “live streaming”. Though its roots are in India for the last five decades, the Red Curtain International is now a registered non-profit as a 501(c)(3) organization in Atlanta, Georgia/USA.
2. How did The Red Curtain International pick the cause to support?
The Red Curtain has been around for 51 years and espouses the mission of “good theater for good causes” starting with net proceeds going to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charities in 1969 in Calcutta, India. For the festival, we chose saving the lives of theater artisans in India who are unable to make ends meet to be the cause we would support. After due diligence, StayIN aLIVE was identified as having robust systems in place to help such artisans. While StayIN aLIVE helps all performing artists across India, The Red Curtain International has worked out with them that funds from The Good The@ter Festival would be given only to theater artisans.
3. Who is the Good The@ter Festival @ Awards’ donation partner?
Our donation partner is StayIN aLIVE in India. Their website is http://stayinalive.in/
4. When was StayIN aLIVE formed and what do they do?
Because India does not have a robust emergency funding process like many other countries, the organization was formed within weeks of the pandemic as a collective initiative by multiple creative arts organizations listed on the website banner. They are now set up as a foundation to make grants to starving artisans in India in the performing arts such as theater, dance, music, and mime.
5. How does StayIN aLive handle donations?
Donations from individuals to StayIN aLIVE are handled via GiveIndia which was founded in 2014 and a premier reputable organization that channels donations to reputable NGOs across India and provides a GiveAssured promise. StayINaLive has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and maintains compliance with GiveIndia. The organization can be contacted directly at stayinalivefund@gmail.com.
6. Has any outside organization provided an official/documented view about StayIN aLIVE?
The British Council has published “Taking the Temperature Report: Impact of Covid-19 on India’s Creative Economy” which provides details of StayIN aLIVE and their Artist Emergency Fund. The relevant pages of that report can be found HERE, and the full report can be accessed HERE.
7. What have been the results of the work done by StayIN aLIVE to help starving artisans? Has The Red Curtain International done some due diligence?
a. Since the launch of StayIN aLIVE’s Artist Emergency Fund in June 2020, there have been five grant cycles. They have successfully given out grants to 26 artists. The grants awarded are between INR 10,000 to INR 20,000 for a total sum of INR 395,000 that has been disbursed.
b. Overall applications received for grants:
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i. Languages applied in - English - 94 | Hindi - 17
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ii. 74.5% of the applicants were male and 25.5% Female
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iii. Genres that the applicants belong to - Performance Arts - 26.5%, Dance - 27.2%, Music - 16.9%, Theatre - 21.7%
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iv. 92.8% of the applicants had worked in their respective fields for more than 5 years.
c. Final grantees from Cycle 1 to 5:
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i. Genre - Theatre, Music, Dance and Mime
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ii. Gender - 7 Female and 19 Male
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iii. Location in India - Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Lucknow and Karnataka.
8. Will the donations to the festival be used for any starving artist in India?
We have agreement from StayIN aLIVE that donations from our festival will exclusively be used for grants for theater artisans whose livelihoods are negatively affected by the pandemic. This is in keeping with The Red Curtain’s mission over many decades of good theater for good causes.
9. Why is the festival season pass set at US $90? Will single tickets be available?
a. The festival is in keeping with our mission of good theater for a good cause.
b. Now that we have picked excellent plays from groups around the world and an A-list jury, we are concentrating on raising funds for the good cause -- helping starving artists. A performing artist in India can be sustained by US $90 for a month, and the typical grant is for 1-3 months.
c. We are announcing the season pass at this time with a focus on philanthropy rather than what a ticket price would be. Single tickets priced at US $12 will be released in mid-November – keep in mind this is for any group size watching through a single Zoom link.
d. In addition, promotion codes will be generated for folks in the developing world.
10. How will the funds raised be allocated to the “cause” of helping starving artists? Does The Red Curtain International pay its staff/volunteers? How about the festival jury?
a. The Red Curtain International is made up 100% of volunteers who are not paid. The Red Curtain does not pay cast, crew or administrative staff. We do good theater for good causes … because we love good theater and good causes.
b. The jury membersfrom across the globe are not paid. We are very grateful to them and thank them for agreeing to participate in the festival to help pick the award winners.
c. There are some reimbursable production and festival expenses such as Zoom licenses, ticketing site fees, production costs, internet charges for performers to get better bandwidth during the shows, and so on. The total budget for such items will be 10% or less of what is raised.
d. We have announced that US$500 will be awarded in six categories amounting to a total of US $3,000. The categories are detailed on the Festival’s web page. We are offering the winners in these categories to donate all or part of these prizes back to the “cause.”
e. It is expected that a supermajority of the total funds raised will go to the cause of saving lives of theater artisans, depending on the generosity of our collective community. Thanks to an anonymous donor residing in the US, the impact of individual donations will be doubled and help India-based starving theater artisans who are out of work.
11. Will the festival financials be transparent?
We will make the financials of the festival available to anyone with a need to know who requests the data while maintaining appropriate privacy such as donor lists and so on.
12. Where can I get additional information on the Festival?
Information is available at www.theredcurtaininternational.org/festival