Giving

Support Performance, Play & Design

PPD is a new department, born of Theater Arts and Art and Design, Games & Playable Media, whose work has been grounded in social justice and environmental awareness from the beginning. Together the faculty, staff and students reflect the future of California, inventing new areas of research and artistic inquiry in the productive zone that performance encompasses. An unusually interdisciplinary and collaborative faculty brings a wealth of worldwide experience and contacts. Staff are highly trained professionals with years of experience in and out of academic settings. Students specialize in diverse disciplines and represent the cultural abundance of UC Santa Cruz.

The only department in the world to break out of the traditional silos of theater, dance, and games. Fostering innovative perspectives and stories, we focus on dramatic world-building in virtual, augmented, and real-life stages.

How you can support Performance, Play & Design

Build New Things. A maker lab will augment our current scene and costume shops, providing resources for students to create their own installations and other aspects of production.

Push Experimental Theater Further. An XR motion capture and projection system will take our already cutting edge work and continue to push boundaries and create new disciplines and ways of thinking.

Improve Accessibility. Production sponsorships, scholarships, fellowships, and internships empower students from underrepresented and under-resourced communities to explore and create new work.

Hear New Voices. Our artist-in-residence program brings in visiting artists, particularly those whose work foregrounds equity, diversity, and inclusion to engage and inspire our students.

Scholarships

African American Theater Arts Troupe Scholarship

UCSC African American Theater Arts Troupe Scholarship – For students of all cultures based on merit, financial need, and participation with AATAT.

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Danny Scheie Scholarship

This endowed student scholarship was created by Theater Arts program alumni in honor of the momentous impact that Professor Emeritus Danny Scheie has had on UC Santa Cruz and its students. It was established and bestowed for the first time in 2023.

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Dharma-Grace Foundation Creative Writing Award Fund

Supports the production of an outstanding script written by an undergraduate junior or senior student in good academic standing.

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Gregg Barnes Costume Design Award Fund

Annual undergraduate award to fund ambitious costume design projects for Theater Arts majors.

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Priscilla Newton Undergraduate Scholarship in Theater Arts

Provides scholarships to students with demonstrated theatrical performance and given on the basis of merit and financial need.

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Learn more: 
Arts Development
artsdev@ucsc.edu