WATERFORD, CT—The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute, the nation’s only program designed for arts writers and critics to strengthen their skills, has joined with American Theatre magazine and Theatre Communications Group’s Rising Leaders of Color to address the lack of diversity in the critical talent pool, and to create new opportunities to nurture and grow arts journalists to reflect the increasingly diverse work on U.S. stages.

This year TCG’s yearlong RLC program, which identifies and nurtures early-career theatre leaders from diverse backgrounds, has opened applications to young arts journalists and critics of color, alongside the program’s cohort of early-career administrative, creative, and technical theatre staff. In turn the O’Neill’s National Critics Institute will invite the arts journalists selected among TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color to be full participants in the 2017 National Critics Institute.

One of the O’Neill’s oldest programs, the Institute convenes concurrently with the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference and the National Music Theater Conference. NCI, helmed by Director Chris Jones, critic and columnist at the Chicago Tribune, is a two-week residential workshop, and includes writing workshops in the crafts of reviewing across disciplines; in writing more exciting profiles in the field of arts and entertainment; insights into the critical process with a world-class faculty composed of America’s leading arts critics; explorations of the relationship of critics with social media; study of best practices when it comes blogging and other online sites; off-site trips; and many opportunities to network with other critics and creative professionals.

National Critics Institute Director Chris Jones notes, “The National Critics Institute and American Theater magazine have enjoyed a close relationship these past three years, with most of the talented editorial staff spending time as NCI fellows at the O’Neill. We’re thrilled to partner with this essential magazine on the development of the great arts writers of the future.”

O’Neill Executive Director Preston Whiteway remarks “The O’Neill’s mission, at its core, is to provide opportunity and be a launchpad for artists of all stripes.  I’m thrilled we can expand our offerings with this partnership.  TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color is already making valuable impacts across the field, and I’m looking forward to even more through this partnership with NCI.”

“This partnership affirms something that has always been clear to me but may bear repeating: that arts writers and critics and editors are leaders too,” states Rob Weinert-Kendt, Editor-in-Chief of American Theatre magazine, which is published by TCG, and which will be helping to administer the RLC’s arts journalists outside their work with the institute. “Joining the resources of the Critics Institute with TCG’s mission of equity, diversity, and inclusion seems like a perfect way to address both the need for critical fellowship and craft development in nurturing young arts writers, and the need for the arts journalism field to make diversity and inclusion conscious priorities.”

TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color program, supported by Meyer Memorial Trust and Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, focuses on early-career leaders from whichever region each year’s June TCG conference is held. This year’s is in Portland, Ore., so candidates for this year’s RLC round will be from Oregon. Next year’s conference and cohort will be centered around St. Louis. According to Weinert-Kendt, this geographical diversity is nearly as crucial to the program’s long-term impact as racial and ethnic diversity, not only because American Theatre is a national publication with need of correspondents in all 50 states, but because arts journalists working in markets outside the largest U.S. cities are often the ones most in need of encouragement, opportunity, and connection with the national critical community.

The RLC arts journalist will also participate in a year-long curriculum designed to provide professional development and networking opportunities. The online application submission deadline for RLC is May 1, 2017 at 12 p.m. Eastern time.

Founded in 1964, the O’Neill is the country’s preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the American theater, and named in honor of Eugene O’Neill, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and America’s only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.  The O’Neill has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and thousands more emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O’Neill have gone on to full production at theaters around the world. O’Neill programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Critics Institute, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, and National Theater Institute – which offers six credit-earning undergraduate training programs. In addition, the O’Neill owns and operates Monte Cristo Cottage as a museum open to the public. The O’Neill is the recipient of two Tony Awards and National Medal of Arts. www.theoneill.org.

About the National Critics Institute: Director Chris Jones, critic and columnist at the Chicago Tribune, leads National Critics Institute, America’s leading boot camp for arts writers, offering fellows an intensive course of study for writers of all experience levels, especially for those in mid-career. However, each year a small number of young and aspiring critics join the group.Scholarships up to the full amount are available for well-qualified applicants, covering the full cost of the cost of week’s tuition, room and board. The National Critics Institute is supported by the Reva and David Logan Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the Drama Desk, the American Theater Critics Association and other friends of the O’Neill. Application guidelines and additional information, here.

=Theatre Communications Group’s Rising Leaders of Colors is a part of TCG’s multi-year, six-point Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Initiative to transform the theatre field into a more equitable, inclusive, and diverse community. Learn more about the Rising Leaders of Color program here, and the EDI Initiative here. Information about applications is here.