Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NEA grant allows Del Shakes to expand staffing

Delaware Shakespeare
Delaware Shakespeare gets a boost from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delaware Shakespeare gets a boost from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NEA is sending Del Shakes a$50,000 grant through the federal CARES Act.

The group’s development associate Cassie Alexander says that’s the most funding it’s ever received from the NEA.

 

“The award goes to keeping our essential staff on staff, which we’re very excited about," said Alexander. "But it also has allowed us to hire four associate artists who will join our staff for the rest of the year and help us create virtual programs for our patrons.”

And Alexander notes that Del Shakes is still developing that virtual programming.

 

"We are planning to offer a mix of free content and some paid content - but we want everything to be accessible," said Alexander. "So our associate artists are brainstorming things to offer and also ways that programs can be made in line with Delaware Shakespeare’s mission.” 

Meantime, the pandemic has forced Delaware Shakespeare to cancel its world premiere bilingual musical adaptation of Twelfth Night -  originally planned for Oct. 2020. Itwill now premiere in the fall 2021.

Alexander says the writing team for the musical Twelfth Night - plan to use the additional year to further refine the script and score, which reimagines Shakespeare’s characters of Viola and Sebastian as Latinx immigrants.

Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
   

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.
Related Content