On Oct. 1, the Wallace Foundation announced they are launching a new six-year $40 million initiative focused on audience building for performing arts. The initiative will provide four-year grants to a select cohort of organizations around the country. Wallace will be inviting 80 organizations to submit proposals and will fund approximately 25 of them.

Wallace President Will Miller just shared the news in a webinar featuring guest panelists:

• Robert Battle, artistic director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
• Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
• James Houghton, founding artistic director, Signature Theatre Company
• Kelly Tweeddale, executive director, Seattle Opera

Additional key details ---

• Grantees of the new initiative will be named in February 2015
• Grantees will be multidisciplinary presenters or those in other non-visual arts forms, such as opera, theater, music and dance
• Over four years, the grantees will design and execute projects to build audiences through a variety of ways, including new programs as well as nontraditional venues
• Wallace plans to fund an independent $3.5-million study to assess the effectiveness of the Building Audiences program, which it will share with other arts organizations