The AICA Receives Two-Year $500,000 pledge

We’re thrilled to announce that The Share Fund has renewed their extraordinary support of the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement(AICA), pledging $500,000 in matching funds over two years (2025 and 2026)!  

AICA is a collective impact project in which young adults, ages 18-25, who have encountered obstacles to livable wage employment train to become theatre technicians and embark on careers as stage hands and lighting and sound engineers, a high-wage, high-demand industry in DC. Led by The Theatre Lab, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Life Pieces To Masterpieces and the DC Arts Education Alliance, the IACA is designed to combat two pressing needs that arose from the pandemic: 1) the number of youth who were disengaged from school and work, and 2) the shortage of skilled theatre technicians, which has caused a labor crisis in the creative economy.  The success of the program is tangible. Our recent graduates are working all over town–at Woolly Mammoth, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Studio Theatre, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company, to name just a few.

Theatre Lab Co-Director Deb Gottesman hailed the Share Fund gift as transformational. “The Share Fund made the first investment in the program when it was just an idea in 2022. They took a chance on us and that allowed us to attract many more stakeholders and funders. We are so grateful that The Share Fund is now ensuring the continued impact of the program on its participants and the community.”