We are currently not accepting additional applications for this grant program.

This timing has been established in order to secure funding to fulfill 100% of eligible grant requests. Please check back here, and follow @DGFound on all social media platforms, for the latest updates.

If you are seeking financial support for COVID-19 related expenses, including medical costs, insurance costs, and grocery bills, you can immediately apply for an Emergency Grant.

If you are seeking financial support for rent payments and other housing expenses accrued during the pandemic, you can immediately apply for a Housing Assistance Grant.

Steven Schwartzberg Grants

for Mental Health & Wellness

Writers are the beating heart of theater, whom we rely upon to take us on journeys and inspire us to think through the stories they create for the stage. During these unprecedented times, DGF has created the Steven Schwartzberg Grants to provide financial support for mental health and wellness services for theater writers. These funds are unrestricted, for the writer to choose what services best meet their individual needs.

The Steven Schwartzberg Grants for Mental Health & Wellness were founded by Harris Schwartzberg and family.

Am I eligible for a Steven Schwartzberg Grant for Mental Health & Wellness?

Before applying, please review the following eligibility requirements (applicants must meet two or more of the following requirements):
  • I have written two or more completed works for the American theater within the past 10 years and I was at least 18 years old at the time the work was written.
  • I am currently enrolled in or have graduated from a degree program in dramatic writing or musical theater (creative or nonfiction writing programs are not eligible).
  • I am a member or have participated in one or more writer’s associations (e.g. LA Alliance of Playwrights, the Dramatists Guild, the Playwright’s Center).
  • My work has been professionally developed, workshopped, or produced.
  • My work has been presented for paying audience
  • I have been commissioned or paid to write a play.
DGF defines a play or musical as:
  • A work that is at least 10-minutes in length when performed.
  • A solo-performed work that is at least 30-minutes in length when performed and comprised primarily of words, and/or words and music (DGF cannot support stand-up comedy at this time).
  • A piece comprised primarily of words, and/or words and music (this does not include orchestrations, underscoring, choreography based work, etc).
  • Script, lyrics, music, libretto for a piece of dramatic writing or musical theater storytelling that is intended for the theater.

Additional Resources

The Steven Schwartzberg Grants for Mental Health & Wellness program serves playwrights, composers, lyricists and librettists in the theatrical genre. DGF is part of a community of organizations supporting writers and artists at this time. If you are not eligible for this grant, please see the following links to find the organization that can best assist you.

If you are primarily:

a musician/composer (other than musical theater), please click here and here

a novelist/nonfiction/fiction writer, please click here

a screenwriter, please click here

an actor or performance artist, please click here

a journalist, please click here

a director, please click here or here

For additional resources, please click here.

 

DGF serves all dramatists based in the United States, regardless of their immigration status.

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