Shakespeare Theatre Association of America

Friday June 26, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $15 million increase for both the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for FY 2010. Currently funded at $155 million, this increase would bring both agencies' budgets to $170 million. Please take two minutes to write to your Senators and urge them to support this important funding increase!

Thanks to the arts leadership of House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Congressional Arts Caucus co-chair Louise Slaughter (D-NY), this House-approved funding increase for the NEA exceeds President Obama's budget request by $8.7 million and is the highest proposed appropriation for the NEA since its $176 million peak in FY 1992. On June 25, corresponding legislation in the Senate Appropriations Committee set NEA and NEH funding at only $161.3 million each.

Next Steps:
We must now put pressure on the Senate to match the funding level set in the House of Representatives. Please take two minutes to visit Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center to send a letter to your Senators.

Thanks to Will Hammond the STAA website has been successfully moved to our new web host. All STAA members can now make updates and changes to their membership information. Thank you for your patience. If you have not joined the mailing list through Google Groups please Log on and click "Mailing Lists" under the Member Services heading. The mailing list is for members only!

2010 STAA Conference will take place at Shakespeare's Globe in London. The conference dates are Thursday January 7 to Sunday January 10. Registration for the conference and to book rooms in one of the group reservation hotels, will begin on September 1.

Further details will be posted on the STAA website in the coming months, including details of the registration process and conference sessions. If you have any immediate queries regarding the conference logistics please contact Claire Bridge at Shakespeare's Globe at claire.b@shakespearesglobe.com

REVOLUTIONARY SHAKESPEARE CAPTURED ATTENTION OF
STAA MEMBERS IN MASSACHUSETTS WINTER WONDERLAND

Revolutionary Shakespeare was the theme of the 2009 Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA) Conference, held on Jan. 29-Jan. 31, 2009. The conference was hosted by Shakespeare & Company on their 30-acre campus, in Lenox, Massachusetts with much of the activity presented in the recently opened state-of-the-art Production and Performing Arts Center and new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. A special performance of Romeo and Juliet was created for young audiences by Shakespeare & Company’s Education Department and was presented at the conference.

The formal STAA conference began on Jan. 29 and closed with the annual member banquet on Jan. 31. Each of the three conference days had its own point of departure: Revolutions Past; Revolutions Present; and Revolutions Forever. General Sessions covered topics such as Revolutionary Moments, Power to the People, and Revolutionary Spaces. Break out sessions included topics raised during general sessions, and included Staging Revolutions; Spreading Revolutions; Tearing Down the Walls; and Writing Revolutions.