A.C.T. Successfully Concludes First-Ever Endowment Campaign

Alan L. Stein, Annette Bening, and Nancy Livingston. Photo by Debra McClinton Photography.

We are thrilled to begin the New Year with the announcement that A.C.T. has successfully completed The Next Generation Campaign, the company's historic effort to create an endowment that will sustain A.C.T.'s commitment to artistic excellence and high-quality actor training for generations to come.

Led by Campaign Committee Chair/A.C.T. Board of Trustees Vice Chair Nancy Livingston and Campaign Cabinet Chair/A.C.T. Board of Trustees Chair Emeritus Alan L. Stein, together with star of stage, film, and television and graduate of A.C.T.'s actor training conservatory Annette Bening, who served as chair of the Campaign Artistic Advisory Committee, The Next Generation Campaign raised more than $31 million by its close at midnight on December 31, 2009. The Next Generation Campaign is one of the largest endowment campaigns ever undertaken by a theater company in the United States and the most significant fundraising effort in A.C.T.'s 44-year history.

The major objectives of the campaign were threefold: to provide support for artistic excellence on the mainstage (including A.C.T.'s first endowed core acting company position), for excellence in actor training (including A.C.T.'s first three endowed Master of Fine Arts Program scholarships), and for excellence in developing large-scale, visionary new works for the mainstage (including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fund for New Works) and for the young actors in the conservatory (including the Craig Slaight New Plays Fund, named in honor of the beloved director of our Young Conservatory).

Thanks to the 3,600 donors, including 116 "Leadership Donors" who made commitments of $25,000 or more to The Next Generation Campaign, A.C.T. has built a solid financial foundation upon which the theater can forge new artistic paths and reach new audiences through a deep and wide-ranging series of initiatives.

Lead donors to The Next Generation Campaign include The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Burt and Deedee McMurtry, and Jeff and Laurie Ubben. Other distinguished supporters include Ray and Dagmar Dolby, James and Jean Douglas, and Ruth and Alan L. Stein. In addition to these munificent individual and foundation supporters, American Express made a generous grant to the campaign to support the restoration of the façade of the American Conservatory Theater in honor of the theater's 100th birthday in January.

"What is thrilling about endowment is that it's about the future," says A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. "Through the visionary leadership of Nancy, Alan, and Annette, and the generosity of a huge community of donors, A.C.T.'s future is extremely bright. The Next Generation Campaign allows us to commit to long-term artistic programming, take important creative risks, and sustain the artists, students, and staff who make A.C.T. such a unique and vital institution. We are deeply grateful to every single individual who contributed to its success."