The Theatre Leadership Project has announced a new program that will provide on-the-job training, mentorship opportunities, and financial support to up to five BIPOC company managers and assistant company managers.
The program is designed for company managers and assistants currently working on Broadway shows, particularly as the industry is starting up again. Fellows will receive supplemental learning opportunities and mentorship, along with assistance being placed with a new production should their production close. The initiative can also provide up to 20 weeks of income between shows, with the ability for additional funds to cover childcare, student loan payments, moving expenses, and more.
As job placement is part of the program, BIPOC company managers not currently working on Broadway shows are invited to apply as well.
The program is the latest in TTLP's work to diversify leadership in the commercial theatre. The organization launched earlier this year with a three-year fellowship program that trains, mentors, and places the next generation of Black producers and managers in commercial theatre. The new company management program is differentiated from the existing fellowship by being available to BIPOC company managers and assistants already working on Broadway shows.
"TTLP is seeking to blast away the barriers that undermine retention of Black talent in commercial theatre by delivering individual programs to each participant that address their specific needs, whether they be additional skills like accounting for stage or other growth areas like networking, conflict management, or executive leadership training," says TTLP Co-Founder Travis LeMont Ballenger. "As a person-centric organization, we recognize that one size does not fit all, so we will give our company management fellows room to envision and chart their own destiny."
Applications for TTLP's Company Management Program, which will be accepted on a rolling basis, will be available beginning August 2 by emailing [email protected]. Prospective company managers and assistants currently with Broadway shows should use the subject line "Company Management Program," and those not currently working on a show should use the subject line "CM Program Applicant." For more information, visit TheatreLeadershipProject.org.
TTLP's founding members are producers Barbara Broccoli (Once, The Band’s Visit), Lia Vollack (MJ the Musical, Almost Famous), Alecia Parker (Waitress, Chicago), Patrick Daly (The Mountaintop; August: Osage County), and Ballenger (MJ the Musical, Almost Famous). Whoopi Goldberg, Kamilah Forbes, Whitney White, Aaliytha Stevens, Brian Moreland, Robert Fried, Stefan Schick, and Oliver Sultan serve as advisory council members. Leah Harris, formerly of Dallas Theater Center and Milwaukee Rep, is program manager.
