The Lasting Impact of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program

What happens after the week at Ten Chimneys?

When the on-site program is completed, the Lunt-Fontanne Fellows will return to their home communities across the country, bringing with them everything they gained artistically as part of the master class, along with renewed energy and a deepened commitment to mentorship. Ten Chimneys Foundation will help Lunt-Fontanne Fellows stay connected with each other and subsequent cohorts of Lunt-Fontanne Fellows. In particular, Ten Chimneys Foundation will actively encourage Lunt-Fontanne Fellows to engage in mentoring activities in their communities, with students and with younger actors. As Lunt-Fontanne Fellows engage in these mentoring activities, Ten Chimneys Foundation will share their stories and successes with other Lunt-Fontanne Fellows – further encouraging continued mentorship and educational outreach in communities across the country.

We anticipate that a good deal of post-Ten Chimneys interaction will be driven and shaped by the growing community of Lunt-Fontanne Fellows. Ten Chimneys Foundation is well-suited to be an effective liaison and facilitator, and is prepared to meet the needs and requests of Fellows that have returned to their home communities.

What are the expected outcomes of the program?

This exciting program will reap extensive benefits – both direct and indirect – for individual actors, for participating regional theatres, and for the communities both call home.

DIRECT BENEFITS: Actors participating directly in the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program will grow artistically, renew their passion for their art, form a national community of Lunt-Fontanne Fellows, and deepen their commitment to mentorship.

INDIRECT BENEFITS: Direct participants will then exponentially expand the impact of the program when they return to their home communities. Highlights of the “indirect benefits” to communities, individuals, and Partner Theatres include:

• Other actors (particularly younger actors) who work with Lunt-Fontanne Fellows will grow artistically from the results of the participants’ transformative experiences.
• Audiences will benefit from the artistic results of the growth and passion of actors at the Partner Theatres (both direct participants and other actors being indirectly affected).
• Individual theatres will benefit from the artistic results of their actors’ growth and passion (both direct participants and other actors being indirectly affected), from the media attention this national program will generate, and from increased donor and community enthusiasm.
• Students in these communities will benefit from the Lunt-Fontanne Fellows’ deepened commitment to mentorship.

More broadly, American theatre as a whole will benefit from an inspirational program fulfilling a critical and deeply felt need. Many of the most accomplished and dedicated regional-theatre actors in the country are desperate for this level of opportunity for mentorship and rejuvenation. And it simply hasn’t existed for them… until now. The Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program will have a profound and immediate impact – improving the vitality of American theatre and nurturing the next generation.