The Shubert Foundation, under the leadership of president Diana Phillips and chairman Robert E. Wankel, announced its 2023 grant recipients. The Foundation provided a record $37.9 million in unrestricted grants to 635 nonprofit theaters, dance companies, academic theater training programs and related service agencies across the country.
Included among this year’s recipients are several nonprofits that produce Broadway shows, including Lincoln Center Theater (which received a $325,000 grant), Manhattan Theatre Club (recipient of a $275,000 grant), Roundabout Theatre Company (which also secured a $275,000 grant) and Second Stage Theater (beneficiary of a $225,000 grant). The American Theater Wing, a producer of the Tony Awards, also garnered $30,000 from the foundation.
In addition, many Off-Broadway nonprofit theaters and organizations, such as New York City Center and New York Theatre Workshop, also received funds.
Since its grants program began in 1977, the Shubert Foundation has awarded more than $613 million to organizations across the country.
“The increase in both our funding and the number of our grantees comes at a critical time for performing arts organizations across the country,” Phillips said in a statement. “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 has never been greater, we are particularly pleased we can expand our funding to a broader range of theater and dance companies than ever before."
Regarding the increase in grant recipients, Wankel noted, “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 theater and dance to underserved populations.”
