Last month, Postdoctoral Associate Ilya Vidrin and music professor Anthony Paul De Ritis received Live Arts Boston (LAB) 2021 Grants from the Boston Foundation. The over 100-year-old local organization provides funding to expand participation, promote cooperation, and heal racial and ethnic divisions within the community by providing grants addressing targeted needs and partnering with a variety of philanthropic organizations. 

First introduced in 2017, the LAB grant was created in partnership with the Barr Foundation and individual donors. A 2016 study by the Boston Foundation found that support for Boston’s performing art sector was low. This was particularly true for small organizations, newer experimental works, and culturally diverse works. Therefore, LAB was established to fill the identified funding gaps and give performing artists of all types a voice. 

Local artists and groups were invited to apply for funding to create, produce, or present new performing arts work for Greater Boston audiences. The grantees not only receive $15,000 each, but they also will receive project documentation, one-on-one advising, peer networking opportunities, and support for other professional development, in partnership with arts service organization Dunamis. In addition to theater, the LAB grant is available to a variety of performance art genres including dance, opera, spoken word, and circus arts. 

Learn more about their projects by clicking on their names.

Ilya Vidrin

Anthony Paul De Ritis