Mission & History
LA Stage Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization empowering artists and engaging audiences since 1975, is dedicated to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles strengthening the sector through audience engagement, community building, collaborative marketing, professional development and advocacy. LA STAGE serves over 500 arts organizations annually, 300+ dues-paying member organizations comprised of professional, educational and community-based producing and presenting performing arts organizations, with the remaining groups coming from the broader arts and culture community.
Our predominant service area is Greater Los Angeles - including the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura, but our programs and partnerships often extend our reach throughout Southern California , California, the United States and occasionally Worldwide. LA Stage programs consistently reach all fifteen Los Angeles City Council Districts, all five Los Angeles County supervisorial districts and 43 states nationwide. We directly serve over 30,000 diverse local, regional, national and international performing arts patrons and indirectly serve 2.8 million unique households through our programmatic mix. LA Stage Alliance is a crucial and vibrant service organization through our nurturing of artistic and administrative excellence and providing the skills and tools necessary to ensure a robust and diverse network of artists better connected to their communities.
Providing access to the performing arts for patrons and access to resources for arts organizations has been our focus for nearly thirty-five years. With our many partners, LA STAGE creates strategic programming to “raise the floor” for the entire arts community, allowing artists to reach increasingly ambitious artistic and administrative goals and heights as they develop and mature. Our strength continues to exist in our ability to aggregate information, resources, opportunities and programming for our constituents who always look to LA STAGE for support and services, but in these trying times, rely even more on our leadership for their survival. LA STAGE is seen by the community as the go-to source for audience engagement resources and serves as a voice of the arts sector to elected officials and other stakeholders.
LA STAGE connects artists and arts administrators with opportunities to engage, inspire, educate and entertain their communities. Recently, LA STAGE identified a lack of administrative expertise in the performing arts community and began using the phrase “accidental administrators” when referring to the bulk of those individuals leading small and mid-sized performing arts organizations who entered the field as actors, stage managers and directors, only to wake up one day “running the place.” Our most recent programming addresses the challenges faced by this group with a focus on lifelong learning and the aggregation of tools and resources to improve the business acumen and best practices of arts leaders leading toward increased administrative, artistic and audience capacity. We convene our partners, stakeholders and constituents to discuss and disseminate information and research, to share accomplishments and to provide networking opportunities. We work directly with the LA Convention and Visitor’s Bureau on region-wide cultural tourism initiatives to facilitate participation of small and midsize organizations. Through LA STAGE programming, administrators gain necessary skills and expertise in marketing, audience and board development, and enjoy a greater access to their colleagues and potential collaborators in the region, engendering a stronger, more networked community. In addition, they better understand the marketplace and demographics of patron activity, allowing them to maximize their efforts to connect with audiences throughout the region.
LA STAGE was formed by leaders of small arts organizations who realized they could leverage their aggregate power with that of the larger organizations to benefit the entire community. LA STAGE has its origins in two separate organizations: The Los Angeles Theatre Alliance, a service organization founded in 1975, and The League of Producers and Theatres of Greater Los Angeles, a trade association founded in 1983. Since 1988, the two companies functioned as a single organization, sharing staff and office space. In 1993, the League formally dissolved and donated its assets to the Alliance (renamed Theatre LA, then LA Stage Alliance in 2003).
LA STAGE, as the leading service provider for the performing arts in greater Los Angeles, has received funding or serves in partnership with most of the major municipal, private foundation and corporate contributors in the region.
LA Stage Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization empowering artists and engaging audiences since 1975, is dedicated to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles strengthening the sector through audience engagement, community building, collaborative marketing, professional development and advocacy. LA STAGE serves over 500 arts organizations annually, 300+ dues-paying member organizations comprised of professional, educational and community-based producing and presenting performing arts organizations, with the remaining groups coming from the broader arts and culture community.
Our predominant service area is Greater Los Angeles - including the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura, but our programs and partnerships often extend our reach throughout Southern California , California, the United States and occasionally Worldwide. LA Stage programs consistently reach all fifteen Los Angeles City Council Districts, all five Los Angeles County supervisorial districts and 43 states nationwide. We directly serve over 30,000 diverse local, regional, national and international performing arts patrons and indirectly serve 2.8 million unique households through our programmatic mix. LA Stage Alliance is a crucial and vibrant service organization through our nurturing of artistic and administrative excellence and providing the skills and tools necessary to ensure a robust and diverse network of artists better connected to their communities.
Providing access to the performing arts for patrons and access to resources for arts organizations has been our focus for nearly thirty-five years. With our many partners, LA STAGE creates strategic programming to “raise the floor” for the entire arts community, allowing artists to reach increasingly ambitious artistic and administrative goals and heights as they develop and mature. Our strength continues to exist in our ability to aggregate information, resources, opportunities and programming for our constituents who always look to LA STAGE for support and services, but in these trying times, rely even more on our leadership for their survival. LA STAGE is seen by the community as the go-to source for audience engagement resources and serves as a voice of the arts sector to elected officials and other stakeholders.
LA STAGE connects artists and arts administrators with opportunities to engage, inspire, educate and entertain their communities. Recently, LA STAGE identified a lack of administrative expertise in the performing arts community and began using the phrase “accidental administrators” when referring to the bulk of those individuals leading small and mid-sized performing arts organizations who entered the field as actors, stage managers and directors, only to wake up one day “running the place.” Our most recent programming addresses the challenges faced by this group with a focus on lifelong learning and the aggregation of tools and resources to improve the business acumen and best practices of arts leaders leading toward increased administrative, artistic and audience capacity. We convene our partners, stakeholders and constituents to discuss and disseminate information and research, to share accomplishments and to provide networking opportunities. We work directly with the LA Convention and Visitor’s Bureau on region-wide cultural tourism initiatives to facilitate participation of small and midsize organizations. Through LA STAGE programming, administrators gain necessary skills and expertise in marketing, audience and board development, and enjoy a greater access to their colleagues and potential collaborators in the region, engendering a stronger, more networked community. In addition, they better understand the marketplace and demographics of patron activity, allowing them to maximize their efforts to connect with audiences throughout the region.
LA STAGE was formed by leaders of small arts organizations who realized they could leverage their aggregate power with that of the larger organizations to benefit the entire community. LA STAGE has its origins in two separate organizations: The Los Angeles Theatre Alliance, a service organization founded in 1975, and The League of Producers and Theatres of Greater Los Angeles, a trade association founded in 1983. Since 1988, the two companies functioned as a single organization, sharing staff and office space. In 1993, the League formally dissolved and donated its assets to the Alliance (renamed Theatre LA, then LA Stage Alliance in 2003).
LA STAGE, as the leading service provider for the performing arts in greater Los Angeles, has received funding or serves in partnership with most of the major municipal, private foundation and corporate contributors in the region.