Ladder Up

THE LADDER UP INITIATIVE seeks out Artists, Designers, Technicians or Creative Groups from systematically underrepresented areas of the theater community and puts to them the simple question: Where are you right now and what is the specific thing you need most to get you or your project to the next level? The Board will match up these needs against available resources and select one or two recipients per year.

What is a bit different about our Ladder Up Initiative is that Sacred Fools leadership and Board are not pre-determining what those specific "needs" may be. For example, a playwright new to town may be seeking committed acting and directing talent in order to properly workshop a new script. Or a solo artist may be looking to experiment with a variety of composers or sound designers as the final puzzle piece in completing their next work. Or we may encounter a "next step" situation totally outside of our expectation that may challenge us to rethink something in our own theatrical mindset... and we welcome that possibility.

Ladder Up is how Sacred Fools can take 25+ years of experience, professional relationships and the skills of our extended community (the kind of institutional resources that a financial gift alone can't entirely match) and connect them to emerging artists who may find themselves at a challenging moment in their own development... one where the next step is in sight but just out of reach.