Community Corner

Phoenix Productions Receives Grant to Help Fund Live Orchestra

The $3,000 grant was awarded by the Investors Savings Bank Foundation.

Phoenix Productions was recently awarded a $3,000 grant to help defray the cost of the live orchestras it uses for musical theater performances at the Count Basie Theatre and the Strand Center for the Arts.

The grant was awarded by the Investors Savings Bank Foundation, which enriches the lives of New Jersey citizens by supporting initiatives in the arts, education, youth development, affordable housing, and health and human services, a release states. The foundation has pledged more than $5.3 million since its establishment in 2005.

The Red Bank-based Phoenix Productions is a non-profit, award-winning community theatre organization that has brought more than 100 revivals of hit Broadway musicals to central New Jersey, including its , since 1987.

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“Last year, Broadway shut down when the musician’s union went on strike to protest the use of recorded music for live performances,” Lindsay Wood, Phoenix’s president said. “They saw it not only as a threat to their livelihood, but also as a threat to their art form. For Phoenix, a non-profit organization with limited resources, using recorded music may seem to be an easy fix. However, we have a mission to provide quality theatrical experiences for audience members and performers alike, including members of the orchestras.

We feel it is important to keep our performances live, as no machine can ever replace the uniqueness, subtlety, inspiration, devotion, passion, heart and soul expressed through live music and performance.”

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