If you have trouble with the giving form below, you can fill it out directly at this link, or email us at info@rudemechs.com to make your gift over the phone.

Today we’re asking you to support Rude Mechs again, for the long haul, with a recurring donation.

We’ve got a sweet team of new friends and old ready to create original works in the aftermath of a global pandemic. All that’s missing is you.

If you already give monthly, well hello! and thank you! And if it’s possible for you in these crazy times, we hope you’ll consider increasing your gift.

If you sign up to be a monthly giver before 12/15, we’ll toast you at our Winter Party!

And if cash isn’t what you have to give, we’ll take your time, your energy, your life force, your first-born… we’re easy. You can email us at volunteer@rudemechs.com to connect.

What do you get when you give to The Rudes?

Just like in the before times, you get invitations and perks for a season of dynamic happenings, and anything else we can think of that might strike a fancy.

But you know and we know that your support is about so much more than perks. You’re bringing exceptional works of art to life and making Austin the genuinely creative place you love. Everything we do – YOU made that. Every artist we support – YOU support.

Your monthly gift to Rude Mechs sustains us, and the whole performing arts scene, spreading adventurousness, excellence, and general badassery throughout the community, and providing jobs for over 150 actors, designers, technicians, musicians, teachers, choreographers, videographers, writers, and theatre-makers at large.

MEANWHILE…

We have some things already brewing.

We are the Resident Theatre Company of The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance, and as such regularly host and respond to the work of theatre / dance students at Crashbox.

Since we launched the [free] Rude Mechs Artist Residency in partnership with The Plant at Kyle in 2019, we have provided residencies for 50 Austin artists! Thank you to The Plant at Kyle for hosting!

We’re proud to report that we’ve been hosting month-long residencies in our venue CRASHBOX since June 2020, and now that we’ve expanded into the space next door, we are offering a dedicated artist studio for that residency.

Thank you for supporting this lineup of new Rude work!

Since our inception, Rude Mechs has:

  • collaboratively created and produced 35 original full-length plays;
  • toured 57 times around the US and abroad with twelve of our productions;
  • produced seven plays written/created by other people;
  • co-presented shows by 40 solo-performance artists in our Throws Like a Girl series and Crossing Borders;
  • co-produced over 50 shows in our Rude Fusion and Second Stage series;
  • hosted Black Arts Movement Festival for four years and Fusebox Festival for twelve years;
  • managed multi-disciplinary arts and culture venues and studios, providing free space and resources to artists, and the most affordable rental rates in town for 25 years;
  • served as the venue for over 120 independent performances per year by local Austin theatre and dance companies and performers, with an annual audience total of roughly 16,000.

Foundation and Government Support

  • Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management Program
  • New England Foundation for the Arts
  • Creative Capital Foundation
  • The Multi Arts Production (MAP) Fund
  • The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
  • The Tony Randall Foundation
  • American Theatre Wing
  • Impact Austin
  • Austin Community Foundation
  • Meadows Foundation
  • Mid-America Arts Alliance
  • American Association of University Women
  • Tri-M Foundation

Rude Mechs is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department, and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.