L.A.’s Latino Theater Company receives $8.5 million
for Round 2 of its National Latinx Theater Initiative

LOS ANGELES (September 23, 2026) — Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company has received a five-year, $8.5 million award from the Paul Angell Foundation to continue the company’s National Latinx Theater Initiative (NLTI), a re-granting program that provides multi-year general operating support and professional development opportunities for Latinx theaters and ensembles across the United States and Puerto Rico.

The NLTI launched in 2023 with $12.4 million in support from national and local foundations. This funding from the Paul Angell Foundation puts the initiative on track to operate for a full eight years. NLTI leaders will continue fundraising with a goal of raising a total of $15 million for the initiative from October 2026 to September 2031.

The NLTI re-granting program has supported the financial stability and sustainability of Latinx theater companies and ensembles while raising their national profile. In Round 1, 52 theaters and ensembles from across the United States and Puerto Rico were selected through a two-tier peer-review process to receive three-year grants.

Multi-year general operating support allows NLTI grantees to address challenges and pursue new opportunities. In addition, NLTI offers professional development programs that strengthen grantees’ administrative and financial capacity. The five-year effort will encourage grantees to diversify their income sources and build greater long-term sustainability beyond the initiative’s conclusion in 2031.

Round 2 of the NLTI begins this October with a new request for proposals. Most Round 1 grantees are expected to have an opportunity to apply for continued support, while the initiative will also welcome new organizations in the field.

Latino Theater Company artistic director José Luis Valenzuela and internationally recognized arts administrator Olga Garay-English will continue to serve as directors of the initiative during the next five years. A nine-member national steering committee of Latinx theater professionals from across the country and Puerto Rico will guide the initiative’s structure and policies.

In addition to Valenzuela and Garay-English, the steering committee includes Jacqueline Flores, formerly with the Latinx Theatre Commons in Boston, MA; Tony García of Su Teatro in Denver, CO; Miranda González of Urban Theater Company in Chicago, IL; Abel Lopez of GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington, D.C.; David Lozano of Cara Mia Theatre in Dallas, TX; Rosalba Rolón of Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York; and Mari Torres of the Puerto Rico Arts Council.

National Latinx anchor producing theaters with annual budgets over $250,000 and at least 15 years of programming will be eligible for grants ranging from $75,000 to $120,000 per year. Local Latinx anchor producing theaters with annual budgets of $250,000 and under and at least five years of programming will be eligible for grants ranging from $25,000 to $60,000 annually.

Named to the Los Angeles Times “Best of Latino L.A.” list and a 2025 “Nonprofit of the Year” by California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, the Latino Theater Company is dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contributes to the future. The company has operated the City of Los Angeles-owned Los Angeles Theatre Center, housed in a former bank building in Downtown L.A.’s historic core, since 2006, producing hundreds of plays, creating over 4,000 jobs and helping hundreds of nonprofit organizations by providing space and resources. The City, recognizing the Latino Theater Company for its “effective first-class theater center operations,” recently extended the company’s initial 20-year lease for an additional 30 years, through 2056. Artistic director Jose Luis Valenzuela is the recipient of multiple awards including lifetime achievement awards from both the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and theater review site Stage Raw.

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