89.3 WFPL is carrying a report that the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre (actually now called the Indianapolis Civic Theatre) is receiving $25,000 in Federal stimulus funds to help keep its doors open.

Twenty-four groups throughout Indiana are getting grants totaling more than $500,000 to fund staff positions that are essential to their arts-related missions. The National Endowment for the Arts is providing the money under the economic stimulus plan enacted in March.

Sally Gaskill — of the advocacy group Indiana Coalition for the Arts — says the money is needed, given the recession and a recent 20 percent cut to the Indiana Arts Commission’s budget.

“Anything that the government can do, like the stimulus fund grants, certainly help to maintain these important jobs, because arts organizations are like any other employer,” she says. “They are responsible for paying taxes through their payroll and certainly those jobs are as important as jobs in the for-profit sector.”

Gaskill says arts groups need this support and more at a time when the recession is causing declines in revenues and contributions to arts groups.

The Theatre’s website carries this information about its history:

In 1914, a group of Indianapolis citizens discussed the idea of starting a community theatre in the city. Impressed with the quality and success of the Chicago Little Theatre Society, the group sought to bring the same kind of volunteer-based theatre to Indianapolis. Thus, the Little Theatre Society of Indiana was established and opened the following year with a presentation of four plays, including “The Killing Triangle: A Domestic Melodrama”, in the sculpture court at the John Herron Art Institute. S.A. Eliot was named Artistic Director and world-renowned author Booth Tarkington wrote several original plays for its stage.

In 1924, the Little Theatre decided to build its own structure, a new 240-seat playhouse at the corner of Alabama and 19th Streets, now the site of Footlite Musicals. On July 18, 1924, Booth Tarkington wrote to the Publicity Manager of the Little Theatre Society: “I hope your movement for a Playhouse for The Little Theatre will be successful. The Little Theatre in Indianapolis deserves to be taken seriously and gratefully by the Indianapolis public. I did not realize this until I saw a Little Theatre company play a comedy of my own better than a New York company did on Broadway.” In February 1926, “Treasure Island” was the first performance at the new playhouse. In 1929, the Little Theatre adopted a new name, Civic Theatre of Indianapolis. The name was changed to Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre of Indianapolis Inc. in 1949-50 as a tribute to the famous Hoosier’s artistic contributions as a playwright and his interest in the Theatre, although the name Indianapolis Civic Theatre was later adopted. In 1973, with a generous gift from Mrs. Grace Showalter, the Theatre relocated to the 645-seat Showalter Pavilion on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA).