Nebraska Repertory Theatre receives tourism support grant
calendar icon11 Aug 2022
Lincoln, Neb.--The Nebraska Repertory Theatre has received a $150,000 Tourism Support Grant from the City of Lincoln and Lancaster County. The awards, given to 15 organizations, were announced by Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird at a press conference on Aug. 11.
The Lied Center for Performing Arts was also awarded a tourism support grant. The Rep and the Lied Center were the only University of Nebraska–Lincoln organizations to receive the grants.
The grants were available for non-profit businesses in the tourism industry for operational expenses to provide support assistance to non-profit businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic. A total of $5 million was made available between the city and the county and was made possible with funds from the American Rescue Plan.
“I am extremely grateful to our city and county leaders for making this assistance available to organizations like the Nebraska Repertory Theatre that were affected by the pandemic,” said Andy Belser, dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. “These were extraordinary times for arts organizations to continue to operate in and navigate through, and we are proud of the ways the Rep continued to connect to its audiences during these challenging times. The Nebraska Rep is an important pillar of the arts culture in Lincoln.”
The Nebraska Repertory Theatre’s 2022-2023 season will be announced at The Gala, an annual gala event and celebration on Aug. 26 at the Rococo Theatre. For information and tickets, visit https://nebraskarep.org.
“We are so grateful to the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County for recognizing Nebraska Rep’s tremendous impact as an economic and cultural driver in our community,” said Christina Kirk, executive director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre and director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film.
The Nebraska Repertory Theatre is the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film’s Equity theatre and the state’s only regional professional theatre. As one of only eight professional (Actors’ Equity Association) theatres housed within an academic institution, students from the Carson School have the opportunity to work and train alongside professional directors, actors, designers and technicians.
The Nebraska Repertory Theatre has produced more than 200 shows and employed hundreds of actors, directors, designers and technicians, as well as boosting the local economy buying fabric, lumber and other materials for productions.
Artistic Director Andy Park said the grant support means so much to The Rep.
“We are committed to producing professional theatre that not only serves the Lincoln community, but the entire state,” Park said. “We are ‘The Theatre of all Nebraska.’”