USITT congratulates the three recipients of our new PURPOSE Grant program, offering research grant funding of up to $10,000 per recipient to support individual and group investigations.

The program, known by the acronym PURPOSE (Plan for Unprecedented Research Projecting Optimal and Sustainable Engagement), supports individual and group investigations into current industry restart efforts including changed production operations, increased sustainability of physical resources, and/or improved working conditions for all involved artists and technicians.

USITT President Carolyn Satter noted that “when USITT was established, research was and remains one of the primary purposes for its existence.  For the Institute, this funding is an investment in our members, with a return that will yield a positive impact on our industry.  The Board of Directors is proud to make available up to $30,000 in grant funding for this program for USITT members.”

The winning recipients were officially announced at USITT22 in Baltimore.

The selected winners and their proposal titles are as follows:

• “CTE in Live Entertainment Production” was granted $10,000
• “Shifting Production Practices in the Broader Industry” was granted $10,050
• “Giving Skin Color Voice In The Spotlight; best practices for microphone color matching” was granted $2,386

"I’m excited to see USITT funding another round of research that will impact the live entertainment industry," said Executive Director David Grindle. "These grants speak to our core values and the information this research yields will help put those values in to practice. Congratulations to all of our recipients.