Mission Statement: Theatre Development Fund, a not-for-profit organization, was created with the conviction that the live theatrical arts afford a unique expression of the human condition that must be sustained and nurtured. TDF’s twofold mission is to identify and provide support, including financial assistance, to theatrical works of artistic merit and to encourage and enable diverse audiences to attend live theatre and dance in all their venues.
1968
- Theatre Development Fund, a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, is founded. Opens temporary headquarters at Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- Theatre subsidy program begins with student tickets purchased to The Great White Hope
1971
- TDF Membership Program started
1972
- Voucher Program for Off-Off Broadway theatre
1973
- TKTS Discount Booth opens in Father Duffy Square
1974
- Costume Collection opens
- Dance Voucher Program
- Lower Manhattan TKTS opens on William Street
1976
- TDF offices move to 1501 Broadway
1978
1979
- Theatre Access Project (TAP) formed
- TDF begins National Services to consult with arts organizations
1980
- Dance Subsidy Program
- TAP presents first Broadway sign-language interpreted performance (The Elephant Man)
- Society of London Theatres consults with TDF to help them open their "Half-Price Ticket Booth" in Leicester Square.
1983
- Lower Manhattan TKTS moves to 2 World Trade Center
1986
- tdfsightlines, a quarterly newsletter, begins
1987
- NYC/ONSTAGE performing arts phone hotline launched
1988
- New enlarged Times Square TKTS booth installed in June, celebrating 15 years of TKTS
1989
- TDF Travel begins with first package tour to London
1991
- TDF begins administration of The Astaire Awards
- Spanish language information becomes available on NYC/ONSTAGE
- TDF and Juilliard join to launch annual week-long "Interpreting for the Theatre" Institute
1993
- Bomb explosion at World Trade Center Feb. 23 closes TKTS Lower Manhattan booth. By March 15, it is operating in temporary quarters at Manhattan Savings Bank at 4 W.T.C.
- TDF Costume Collection launches Irene Sharaff Awards
- TDF/Broadway League-sponsored Commercial Theater Institute presents first Robert Whitehead Award
1994
- Mayor Giuliani presents citation to TDF honoring 25th anniversary at June 6 Gracie Mansion reception for theatre
1995
- Stage Doors Program launched in January as TDF- Lexus Project for Student Audiences
- TAP launches Talking Hands Program sending children with mild to severe hearing loss to sign-language interpreted Broadway matinees
- TDF creates Residency Arts Project (RAP), a playwriting residency in NYC high schools
1996
- TDF website www.tdf.org launches
- Play by Play, a theatre magazine for and by NYC high school students, is first published
1997
- TAP presents first open-captioned Broadway performance (Barrymore)
1999
- TKTS2K Competition to design a new TKTS booth is announced
- TDF and Wendy Wasserstein develop Open Doors Program
2000
- First London tour for people with hearing loss
- TAP open captions performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company in England
2001
- Lower Manhattan TKTS destroyed on 9/11, moves to temporary location at Bowling Green Plaza
2002
- Lower Manhattan TKTS reopens at South Street Seaport
2003
- TAP begins open captioning Off Broadway productions
2004
- TDF Costume Collection moves to new space
- TAP begins National Open Captioning Initiative
2006
- Duffy Square renovation breaks ground
- TKTS moves to temporary location outside New York Marriott Marquis
2008
- TKTS Downtown Brooklyn opens in MetroTech Center
- TKTS returns to Duffy Square in its new permanent location "under the red steps"
- TKTS offices move to 520 Eighth Avenue
- TAP presents audio-described Broadway performance for people with low vision
2009
- The new TKTS Booth and revitalized Duffy Square are honored with 10 domestic and international design awards
- TDF publishes its first book, Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play
- TDF Membership Program launches Off-Off@$9
- TDF founds New Audiences for New York Program
2010
- TDF and CUNY pilot "BEAT" Program (Bridging Education and Theatre) on four CUNY campuses
- Official TKTS iPhone app is launched
- TKTS Patron Services Program begins