September 1, 2023
Ashland, OR—The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announces a $2M gift from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation to go toward ensuring a 2024 Season. The grant comes on the heels of a $250,000 donation from Sid and Karen DeBoer, who challenged other donors to support the historic theatre and an outpouring of community support for the 2024 season. To join them in supporting OSF and its 2024 Season, please visit osfashland.org.
“Miller is committed to supporting arts organizations at every size not just because they employ artists and their work enriches our lives as Oregonians, but because they are economic drivers in communities of all sizes in our state,” says Charles Putney, Chairman of the Board, James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, “OSF and its integral relationship to the Rogue Valley was a driving force to our decision to award this extraordinary gift.”
The Miller Foundation is a longtime supporter of OSF, with its first gift dating back to 2004. The Oregon-based foundation’s mission is to enhance the quality of life of Oregonians through the support of classroom education and the performing, visual, and literary arts.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Miller Foundation for deepening its commitment to and belief in OSF through this generous gift,” says Tyler Hokama, OSF’s Interim Executive Director. “This provides OSF a significant tailwind in our efforts toward a 2024 Season that strikes a balance of high-quality theatremaking and fiscal responsibility. We share the Miller Foundation’s vision for a thriving arts community, including the long-term success of OSF.”
“The timing of this generous gift from the Miller Foundation is vital for our long-term success as we continue fundraising for our 2024 season and beyond. Their generosity aligns with the excitement we’re hearing from our biggest supporters. We are confident that their gift will serve as a beacon to other foundations and individuals to invest in the future of the arts and our communities, by investing in the future of OSF, in the coming months,” said OSF’s Interim Director of Development Kamilah Long.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival recently announced Tim Bond as its new Artistic Director, effective September 1, 2023. The position will be a homecoming for Bond, who served as an Associate Artistic Director at OSF for 11 seasons. Bond has been collaborating with Interim Artistic Director Evren Odcikin in programming the 2024 season, which will feature OSF’s signature mix of Shakespeare productions, reimagined classics, timely new works, along with a return of many beloved OSF artists.
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About the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) was founded in 1935 in Ashland, OR and has grown from a three-day festival of two plays to a nationally renowned theatre arts organization that presents a rotating repertory season of up to 8 plays and musicals, including illuminating interpretations of Shakespeare, other enduring classics, and new works. OSF productions have been presented on Broadway, internationally, and at regional, community, and high school theatres across the country. OSF received the 1983 Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and is one of the largest nonprofit theatres in the nation with three stages, including an outdoor Elizabethan Theatre. Learn more at osfashland.org.
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