Spotlight On

Mission:
NY Artists Unlimited, founded in 1982, is dedicated to taking professional theatre and art to under-served audiences. The company focuses on works that evoke dignity of the individual and sanctity of the human spirit. A multicultural nonprofit touring company, we travel self-contained to New York's inner city, ethnically-specific and -diverse neighborhoods, as well as to remote regions of the Northeast in order to create an appreciation and understanding of theatre/art through performances, discussions and workshops. Audiences are composed of people who, because of economics, geographical location, disability, age, and the like, cannot afford tickets or gain access to thought-provoking entertainment.

A company of 22 actors, directors and playwrights, representing cultures of Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, North, Central and South America, we work in three areas of programming: developing new works, performing repertory, and mainstage touring. We perform for adults and children in unusual spaces, such as dining rooms, gyms and community rooms in senior centers, nursing homes, women's centers, community centers, hospital hallways, parks and recreation centers, school rooms, university centers, and public libraries.

Occasionally in performing at benefits for other nonprofit organizations, productions have ended up on spectacular stages, such as Round Lake Auditorium and Saratoga Music Hall. Other appearances have included: Queens Theatre in the Park's AT&T Latino Cultural Festival, Queens Museum of Art, H.E.R.E. Arts Center, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Aetna Theatre at Hartford's Wadsworth Athenaeum, and more. We have an affiliation with Shooting Star Theatre in South Street Seaport and Montauk Theatre Productions, Long Island, where plays have reached local under-served communities.

Over the last two years, we have reached an audience of approximately 30,000. Arriving self-contained at performance sites, we put up a set, not unlike a traveling circus. Performances are interactive and followed by a discussion/workshop. While we load out, company members assist viewers with evaluations, which help us determine if the project 'speaks' to them.

Background:
NY Artists Unlimited is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Gannett Foundation/USA Weekend, NY Council for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Nancy Quinn Fund, A.R.T./New York-Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Arts Relief Fund, Puffin Foundation, Twelfth Night Club, City Parks/ Mellon Foundation, Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation, Montauk Theatre Productions, and individual donors.

The company holds a Volunteers for Youth award from the NYC Department of Juvenile Justice. Artistic Director Melba LaRose will be listed in the next edition of Marquis Who's Who in American Women. She is also listed in Who's Who in Executives & Professionals and is a Fulbright Senior Specialist Roster Candidate. An award-winning actress-director-playwright, she is the founding member of the company. Managing Director Elson de Faria is a Brazilian sculptor-installation artist with his own interior design/home improvement firm, Design de Faria. The Board of Directors numbers 16 and meetings are held quarterly.

Current Programs:
In repertory: "Song of the Simple Truth - El Canto de Julia de Burgos" (Puerto Rico's national treasure poet), adapted from the bilingual book edited and translated by local poet Jack Agueros. With a cast of three Latino and African-American actresses, it features original songs, live guitar, Latin dance choreography, a costume scheme of colorful Spanish shawls, and musical/ dramatic interpretations of the work of this remarkable poet. It was performed at World Trade Center Tower One for the Manhattan Community Arts Fund Awards Ceremony of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council on September 4, 2001.

In 2002, we premiered at Shooting Star Theatre our "America the Beautiful," a project about 9/11 seen through the hearts and minds of five typical New Yorkers of varied ethnic backgrounds, with a focus on the healing process for the downtown community. A powerful piece of theatre written and directed by Patricia C. LaRose, it contained a dramatic jazz background score by composer Paul Serrato.

"Song of the Simple Truth" has been touring for nearly three years and was featured at the H.E.R.E. Arts Center, Donnell Public Library's World Languages Collection, Queens Theatre in the Park's AT&T Latino Cultural Festival, Hartford's Wadsworth Athenaeum, NYU's RISE: Latina Conference, and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

Tours to Northeastern universities and Hispanic organizations are currently taking place, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Also touring: the original children's morality tale "The Prince & the Moon," with live guitar and songs in Spanish. And, for seniors and the elderly: "Voices of the Town - A Vaudeville Salute!" which demonstrates the breakthroughs made by this art form for African-Americans, immigrants, and women.

Last season, we premiered a pop/ hiphop "Little Red - Girl from the Hood" ("fresh and funny," New York Times) at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows, followed by a tour of special education day camps for mentally and emotionally challenged children. It then went on a tour of libraries and parks and recreation centers, supported by City Parks/Mellon Foundation. In this nontraditional, interactive version, Little Red is a Latino teenager who dreams of being a popstar and Grandma is a very lively African-American gospel singer. The Wolf is a scruffy street character/ popstar manager wannabe. The Bedford-Stuyvesant library performance was shown in its entirety on Cultural Corners, the City of NY cable TV channel 74, along with interviews of the company. Last summer, we were selected for free promotion on WNYC's S.T.A.R. Initiative.

Funding Needs:
There is an ongoing need for support of projects since the organizations we serve have little or no budgets -- and with current cutbacks, it is even more difficult. Still, this audience wants and needs presentations, and we are dedicated to serving them. In addition, the City of New York has offered the company a potential low-cost home in the East Village. However, it needs total renovation and new equipment before it can be opened to the public. We are very excited about the prospects of creating a cultural center for Loisaida (NY's Lower East Side) that will include music and theatre performances, workshops for under-served children and elderly, and a gallery for local artists. Of course, monetary contributions are always welcome, but we also need help in demolition, construction, electrical engineering, fundraising, lighting and sound equipment acquisition and installation, and more. This is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor, so to speak, and to help an organization that wants to do some good in the community. If you would like to join in on making this dream a reality, please contact us.

Every month, the "Spotlight On" highlights the activities of a different 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in the tri-state region (NY, NJ, or CT). The selection of organizations for the "Spotlight On" is based on criteria such as programmatic interests, geographic focus, and size, to ensure the broadest possible representation of the region's nonprofit sector.

If you'd like to see your NPO in the "Spotlight," please use this submission form to send us a profile of your organization. Or e-mail a description of your organization, following the above format, to nyweb@foundationcenter.org with "Spotlight Submission" in the subject line.