Support Artist Compensation

Grant Information
Requested	20000
Granted	13000.00
Categories	Arts
Location	United States
Grant Cycle	2025

Organization Info
501c3 Organization	RUSKIN GROUP THEATRE COMPANY
Organization Website	https://www.ruskingrouptheatre.com/

Grant Description
Description	The Opportunity: What Your Investment Will Support Our January-February 2026 inaugural season exemplifies our artistic ambitions and the need for robust operational support: Main Stage (The Kaplan): Honour, featuring Emmy-nominated actress Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives) and Jon Tenney (The Closer, Major Crimes). This production employs 20+ artists including actors, director, designers, stage managers, and technical staff. Second Stage (The Audre): Blue Kiss, a world premiere by playwright Stephen Fife, employing an additional 20 theatre professionals. Each production represents months of work for designers, weeks of rehearsal for actors and directors, and ongoing employment for production staff—totaling 12 weeks of paid artistic work across approximately 40 individuals. Our Track Record The Ruskin consistently punches above its weight class. Despite being a small Equity theatre, we regularly earn Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle nominations alongside Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum—institutions with budgets many times our size. This recognition reflects our commitment to hiring exceptional talent and supporting them with the resources to do their best work. Our new facility was made possible by extraordinary community investment: nearly $1 million raised for interior build-out, plus a finishing loan personally guaranteed by a longtime supporter. However, capital funding does not address operating costs. The challenge now is activation: transforming construction into creation, empty spaces into working theatres, and potential into performance. Conclusion The opening of our two-stage facility represents the most significant expansion in our organization’s history and comes at a moment when Los Angeles artists need stable employment more than ever. With the Dougherty Foundation’s continued partnership, we will launch this new chapter by doing what we do best: producing exceptional theatre while providing meaningful work for the talented professionals who are the heart of our mission. Thank you for your generous support throughout the years. We look forward to welcoming you to our new home.
Used for	The Ruskin Group Theatre Company requests $20,000 dollars from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation to support artist compensation during the inaugural season of our new two-stage facility at 2800 Airport Avenue in Santa Monica. After two years of capital fundraising and construction, we are poised to open our doors in January 2026 with dramatically expanded capacity: two performance venues and two rehearsal rooms that will double our programming and employment opportunities for Los Angeles artists. However, this growth comes at a critical juncture. More than 50% of our operating budget pays artists directly, and our community’s theatre professionals face unprecedented economic pressure following industry strikes and the exodus of film/television production from Los Angeles. The Dougherty Foundation’s longstanding partnership has been instrumental in our ability to produce critically acclaimed work that consistently earns recognition alongside Los Angeles’ most prominent institutions. As we transition from construction to creation, your continued support will determine whether we can fully activate this transformational facility and provide essential employment to the artists who are the foundation of our mission.
Benefits	Los Angeles theatre artists are in crisis. The 2023 Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes, combined with the flight of film and television production out of state and overseas, has left hundreds of highly skilled actors, designers, and technicians scrambling for work in one of America’s most expensive cities. Many are considering leaving the profession—and Los Angeles—entirely. The Ruskin provides a lifeline. Over the past two decades, we have employed over 800 artists offering not just income but artistic development, professional growth, and community. Our new facility will allow us to employ approximately 40 artists per show across two concurrent productions—effectively doubling our impact. Your support does more than fund excellent theatre; it sustains careers, keeps families housed, and preserves the artistic ecosystem that makes Los Angeles culture vital. For audiences, it ensures access to intimate, affordable, world-class productions in a city not traditionally known as a “theatre town”—a reputation we have spent 20+ years working to change.