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Theatre Development Fund (TDF), the nation’s largest not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts has been named as one of the six awardees of the 2011 Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture.  The award will be presented by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Alec Baldwin in a ceremony at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center on Tuesday, November 1 at 6pm.  The event will feature live performances by leading performing arts organizations, and appearances by special guest artists.

In addition to Theatre Development Fund, the other 2011 Awardees are:  Mikhail Baryshnikov, Artistic Director, Baryshnikov Arts Center; Alice Diamond, Arts Advocate; Jimmy Heath, Musician and Educator; Maya Lin, Artist; and Ronnie Shuster Principal, P.S. MO94; Stephen Sondheim will be the 2011 NYC Handel Medallion Recipient, the city's highest honor in the arts.

“Theatre Development Fund is honored to be recognized by Mayor Bloomberg and to be named with such an incredible group of artists, educators and arts advocates,” said Earl D. Weiner, TDF’s Chairman. “Since 1968, we’ve been driven by our mission to help make the performing arts accessible to tens of millions of New Yorkers and visitors through arts education, access for people with physical and developmental disabilities and affordable tickets. This recognition only strengthens our commitment to our mission.”

The Mayor’s Awards for Arts and Culture were created in 1976, when the Department of Cultural Affairs was founded, and given annually until 1994. Mayor Bloomberg revived the awards in 2004, with the assistance of the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, chaired by Agnes Gund, whose members are a diverse and distinguished group of advocates for the City’s non-profit cultural community.  The Awards acknowledge and celebrate the role individual artists, arts educators, cultural organizations, corporations and philanthropists play in the public-private partnerships that sustain the City’s creative vitality and economic well-being.

Theatre Development Fund (TDF) has played a unique role in strengthening live theatre and dance in New York City for the past 43 years. This not-for-profit service organization’s programs have provided over 80 million people access to the theatre at discount prices (with theatre lovers who would normally not be able to attend live performance) and returned over 2 billion dollars in revenue to thousands of theatre, dance and music productions. Best known for its TKTS Discount Booths, TDF’s membership, outreach, access and education programs, as well as its Costume Collection, help to make the unique experience of theatre available to everyone. Recently, TDF launched the Official TKTS app, published its first book, Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play, and,  last week presented the first-ever autism-friendly performance of a Broadway show at The Lion King for a sold out house of families with children on the autism spectrum. To learn more about TDF, go to: www.tdf.org.

photo downloadable below: TDF's Victoria Bailey accepting the award from Mayor Bloomberg at the November 1, 2011 ceremony at Alice Tully Hall