DETROIT: Detroit Public Theatre (DPT) will be launching their first residency and partnership program, Third Avenue Garage (TAG), as part of its 2022-23 season in its new home at the Third Avenue Garage at 3960 Third Avenue.
The program serves as a residency and partnerships program designed to give local Detroit artists and companies the opportunity to live in a fully subsidized residency with access to partnerships that will ease the challenges artists face when producing original work. The goal is to amplify local Detroit artists by giving them resources within a state-of-the-art facility.
From one-week developmental workshops to multi-week full-length productions, the program gives artists access to all the theatre’s resources, including the black box, lobby, bar, dressing rooms, and backstage. DPT will also offer box office and technical support. The program is open to all different specialties of performing artists, including dance, opera, theatre, performance art, literary arts/spoken word, puppetry, music, and film.
The program is being funded through the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, and the application process has been designed by DPT members and peer performing arts organizations.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with DPT as we collectively build out the TAG Residencies,” said John Sloan III, producing artistic director of Obsidian Theatre Festival/GhostLight Productions and member of DPT’s TAG design cohort, in a statement. “Detroit has always been a city with an artistic heartbeat, a theatrical pulse. But that pulse needs a physical space in which it can thrive. And DPT’s TAG program has the potential to be a true game changer, providing an opportunity for artists of varied genre and background to grow their work inside the safety of four walls, with a sacred stage beneath their feet.”
Sarah Winkler, the producing artistic director at Detroit Public Theater, spoke about the program in a statement: “We are not only building a home for DPT’s productions and artists—we are also committed to creating a space where we can support and incubate other Detroit performing arts companies facing the same sorts of challenges we have encountered. The warm, welcoming, affordable cultural hub we are building will enable DPT to “‘pay forward”‘ the support and launching pad the Detroit Symphony Orchestra provided us in our first five years.”
The application process includes the Intent to Apply form, which applicants are encouraged to submit by the deadline of July 17. The full application is due by Aug. 15 at 11:59 p.m. An interview process will follow in the fall, and decisions will be made by October. More information on the application, residency and partnerships can be found at www.detroitpublictheatre.org/tag. Additional questions about the program can be directed to TAG@detroitpublictheatre.org.
