THE SHUBERT FOUNDATION GIVES RECORD $37.9 MILLION IN ANNUAL AWARDS TO 635 ARTS ORGANIZATIONS NATIONWIDE
NEW YORK (July 13, 2023) – The Shubert Foundation announced today a record $37.9 million in unrestricted grants to 635 not-for-profit theatres, dance companies, academic theatre training programs and related service agencies across the country. As the nation’s leading provider of unrestricted funding for the performing arts, grants benefit a broad spectrum of theatre and dance organizations—from large to small, from urban to rural. Long committed to a fully open-door policy, The Shubert Foundation further increased access to theatre and dance companies across the country by revising requirements for those organizations with the smallest budgets.
“The increase in both our funding and the number of our grantees comes at a critical time for performing arts organizations across the country,” said Diana Phillips, President of The Shubert Foundation.
“Unfortunately, many of them continue to be faced with huge challenges—skyrocketing costs, still-hesitant audiences and the end of federal relief funding being key among them. As the need and the merit have never been greater, we are particularly pleased we can expand our funding to a broader range of theatre and dance companies than ever before."
“Principles of equity, diversity and inclusion have long been central to the Foundation’s decision making, as helped by our open-door policy for all applicants. Coupled with the recent lowering of barriers to the smallest companies, this has expanded our reach to companies that focus on bringing professional theatre and dance to underserved populations,” said Chairman Robert E. Wankel.
The Shubert Foundation leads the field in providing general operating support to 471 professional resident theatres and 110 dance companies developing and producing new work across the United States. As always, funds are unrestricted, empowering organizations to utilize their awards as they see fit. In addition to funding theatre and dance companies nationally, The Shubert Foundation is the largest funder of theatre education for the NYC Public Schools, with a gift of $645,000 this year. The Shubert Scholars Program provides another $1.2M in scholarships to students in university theatre arts programs to help alleviate student debt for early-career artists, and recently established endowed scholarship programs at Spelman and Morehouse Colleges.
The Shubert Foundation was established in 1945 by Lee and J.J. Shubert, in memory of their brother Sam. Today, the Foundation is the nation’s largest funder of unrestricted aid for not-for-profit theatre and dance companies. Since the establishment of The Shubert Foundation grants program in 1977, more than $613 million has been awarded to not-for-profit arts organizations throughout the United States. For more information, visit https://shubertfoundation.org.
The Foundation also continues to expand the Shubert Archive. Created in 1976, the Archive contains more than a century’s worth of production designs, scripts, sheet music, publicity materials, photographs, correspondence, business records and architectural plans. The collection is available to researchers, writers, historians and theatre professionals. For more information, visit https://shubertarchive.org.
The Shubert Foundation, Inc.
Board of Directors
Robert E. Wankel, Chairman
Diana Phillips, President
Laura Forese
Wyche Fowler, Jr.
Pamela Newkirk
Richard J. Poccia
Lee J. Seidler
Stuart Subotnick
Executive Director
Vicki Reiss
Senior Program Director
Amy Dorfman Wine
Program Director
Rebecca Hewett