CASA 0101 says that a fundraising appeal launched in February has made enough progress for the Boyle Heights nonprofit theater to stay open into 2019.
“We are in a better place financially now in December 2018 that we were back at the beginning of the year,” said Josefina López, Founding Artistic Director of the nonprofit, in a recent press release. “We aren’t out of the woods yet, but we are getting there.”
The fundraiser, launched early in the year, seeks 350 patrons to become recurring donors of at least $25 a month. According the theater, 184 donors had committed to the #CASA350 campaign as of early December. The theater also said it raised $17,000 from a fundraiser in October.
Various institutional funders, including the California Endowment, Weingart Foundation and LA County Arts Commision, continue to help support the organization.
In early August, the company gave up its lease of Little CASA, the 50-seat storefront stage at 2009 E. First St. that was the theater’s original location, to decrease their monthly overhead. Teatro Luna West, an all-Latina theater ensemble based out of Chicago that expanded to Los Angeles in 2014, began performances at the space in the fall.
“The synergy between our two theater companies will now breathe additional creative life into the community of Boyle Heights,” said Alex Meda, the Co-Artistic Director of Teatro Luna West, in the press release.
López said CASA 0101 will present various co-productions with other theater companies, including Teatro Luna West, in the upcoming year. In early January, the company will stage the world premiere production of Free Los Tres, a co-production with Stage of the Arts about a historic campaign in support of three Eastside activists arrested and convicted for the assault of a federal officer posing as a drug dealer in East Los Angeles.
“We are making progress, slowly, but surely,” says Emmanuel Deleage, Executive Director of the theater. “Our #CASA350 fundraising campaign is still ongoing and we ask theater lovers and supporters of diversity on the American stage to consider helping to support us, so we can continue to bring audiences fun, entertaining, innovative and educational shows and programs.”
The company also said it had promoted a staffer to a newly-created position of Development Director, where he will focus on fundraising, and hired a new office administrator.
