South Bend Civic Theatre—2007 Winner

The Community Foundation named South Bend Civic Theatre winner of the 8th Annual Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence.  The Leighton Award, the largest of its kind, brings with it a $100,000 endowment matching grant and a $10,000 unrestricted grant.

 The purpose of the Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence is to recognize and celebrate outstanding achievement by a local charity serving the St. Joseph County community.  The award is presented annually at a public event intended not only to recognize the outstanding achievements of the winners but the collective contribution of local charities to life in our community.

South Bend Civic Theatre received the major Leighton Award for producing outstanding community theater, and greater understanding, one story at a time. 

Since transitioning from an all-volunteer organization in 1995, with Jim Coppens as Executive Director, the South Bend Civic has advanced from the 17th largest community theater in Indiana to the third largest, behind only Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.  Their annual audience has grown from 3,500 to more than 14,000 and thousands of area youth have enrolled in theater workshops and camps or participated in South Bend Civic Theatre productions.  The Civic has also distinguished itself through its dedicated efforts to diversify its audiences, productions, and pool of actors.

South Bend Civic Theater is now on the home stretch of a $4 million campaign to turn the Scottish Rite Building into one of the top ten community theater facilities in the country.  The opening of this magnificent new venue is only months away.

According to Community Foundation Chair Edwina Kintner, “The one driving force behind South Bend Civic’s success is the gifts and talents of the actors, directors, set designers, lighting specialists, and scores of volunteers that create a very special kind of magic every time the curtain goes up.  South Bend Civic does many things, but first and foremost it presents outstanding community theater.”