PLAYWRIGHTS PROJECT

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Grantee Database

Grant Year

2024-25

Grant Program

Creative Youth Development

Award Amount

$16,203.00

Project Description

With support from the California Arts Council, Playwrights Project will empower system impacted youth (youth who are justice involved, in foster care, struggling with housing insecurity, or pregnant/parenting) to take part in restorative circles and write plays that reflect on their personal strengths, voice their stories, and communicate the changes they want to see in the world. By uplifting individual voices, youth will gain confidence in their creative skills and resilience, develop greater empathy for one another, and demonstrate to the public the importance of second chances and countering negative stereotypes. The grant will fund artists’ fees and program and production costs.

Organization Summary

Playwrights Project provides playwriting workshops in schools, communities, and correctional facilities, conducts the annual California Young Playwrights Contest for writers under the age of 19, and professionally produces community readings and full productions of Plays by Young Writers and The Mosaic Festival. Playwrights Project’s programs engage underserved populations in dramatizing stories drawn from imagination and life experiences, including reflections on the impact of poverty, incarceration, addiction, foster care, and military service. Recognizing that life presents difficult situations, forces beyond our control, and challenging decisions, the programs guide individuals to reflect on past experiences with compassion, create fictional plays that examine hardships, explore positive non-violent solutions, look forward to brighter futures, and celebrate the resilience gained by triumphing over difficulties.

Organization