Community Matters Partnership Program
Centering the voices and building institutional well-being with local nonprofits
Each year Playback Memphis partners with six nonprofit organizations to catalyze growth, healing, and flourishing through our special listening and story sharing theatre. We invite organizations committed to strengthening community well-being and centering the voices, stories, and wisdom of marginalized peoples in Memphis to apply for a Community Matters partnership. Applications for 2024 partnerships are now OPEN and can be accessed here.
Program Details
Selected partners receive a tailored workshop/performance valued at $3,000 by Playback Memphis at a deeply discounted price and also receive six complimentary tickets to attend a Memphis Matters public performance where the Community Matters partner’s work is highlighted. Past partners have included nonprofits working with refugees, survivors of domestic violence, justice impacted youth, seniors, and veterans.
Our Memphis Matters performances also create a unique opportunity for advocacy around the issues that matter most to our partners, and allow us to highlight and promote the good work of partners to our audiences through their collateral material, social media and word of mouth.
We seek to collaborate and share the practice of Playback theatre as a resource to foster awareness, dialogue, and collective purpose and agency.
How do I know if a Community Matters partnership is right for my organization?
- You are part of a nonprofit organization
- You have not been selected as a Community Matters partner in the past 5 years
- You are seeking community-based, culturally responsive, transformative tools for engaging those you serve
- You regularly engage groups or have the capacity to easily convene a group
- You are seeking to increase connectivity, meaning making, and trust within your organization through listening practices and story sharing
- Your organization would benefit from capturing stories that illuminate the impact of a key advocacy issue
- Commitment from leadership to engage in the partnership
- Capacity to secure space for the workshop
- Capacity to pay in accordance with sliding scale
Cost of Community Matters Partnership
Based on Organization’s Budget ($3,000 value)
| Organizations with budgets of $500,000 or less | Organizations with budgets from $500,000-$1,000,000 | Organizations with budget over 1 million |
| $250 A 90% discount | $500 An 80% discount | $1,000 A 60% discount |
Playback Memphis values partnering across sectors with organizations at every stage of growth and development. Our Community Matters partnerships allow your organization a deeply discounted price for a Playback engagement, while also supporting local artists, driving meaningful work and revenue to Playback Memphis paid professional ensemble members.
When nonprofits partner with arts organizations to catalyze growth and healing we build a flourishing Memphis. When your organization invests in a Community Matters partnership, good things grow in Memphis.
Community Matters experiences are gratefully supported through ticket proceeds from our Memphis Matters public performances, Tennessee Arts Commission grant funding, and the generosity of corporate sponsors and individual donors like YOU.
Please contact [email protected] for questions about the program.
