Hoosier Shakespeare Festival receives Ball State Arts Grant
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Ball State University has named the Marion-based Hoosier Shakespeare Festival the recipient of its 2023 Community Engagement for the Arts Grant. The university said Wednesday the grant, created in 2022, serves to demonstrate its commitment beyond its campus to community engagement through the arts.
The grant awards up to $35,000 to an East Central Indiana community arts-focused organization or program. The funding is intended to assist initiatives across all creative fields that promote public awareness and appreciation of the arts and diversity within the local arts community, the university said in a news release.
“We are so grateful for this grant,” said Dennis Henry, the festival’s artistic director. “This funding will allow us to reach a broader audience by providing programming all year round, such as First Fridays or at community libraries, as well as promote the events more widely.”
Founded in 2015, the Hoosier Shakespeare Festival takes live performances of classic Shakespeare plays to communities in Grant, Wabash, Howard, and Delaware counties. The traveling festival performs as many as 16 live shows each June with free admission.
“Anyone can come and enjoy the magic of The Bard right in their own community,” said Bianca Sulanke, project assistant in the Office of Community Engagement at Ball State. “I’m thankful that [the grant committee] can play a part in bringing next year’s Hoosier Shakespeare Festival Season to a modern audience in many areas throughout the East Central Indiana region.”
The inaugural grant recipient last year was Arts Place Inc. in Jay County city of Portland.