Grants for Theaters

Writers Alliance Grants

DGF’s new Writers Alliance Grants demonstrate our enhanced efforts to get funds directly in the hands of writers while continuing a tradition of supporting nonprofit theaters with fair and equitable practices. Applications for the 2019 Writers Alliance Grants are closed.

In addition to funding new work, DGF has partnered with the Dramatists Guild of America to change the national conversation about how writers are treated by the institutions that produce their work.

Writers Alliance Grants are awarded both to nonprofit theaters and to writers in celebration of working relationships that align deeply with DGF core values. The writer is one whose work pushes boundaries and shows tremendous promise. The theater, which is either currently or slated to work with that writer, is one that holds itself to superlative ethical standards in supporting the livelihoods and careers of writers.

Applicants will be scored on their contracts with writers and the artistic merit of the project for which they are requesting funding.

“Kristiana Rae Colón is one of the most original and needed voices of our generation. She came to Sideshow early on in the commissioning process with the idea for Tilikum, and our entire ensemble of artists immediately said ‘Yes, that is what we want to produce.’ We are so grateful to the Dramatists Guild Foundation for supporting this playwright and Sideshow’s ability to carry out the vision of her bold new work.”
Jonathan L. Green,
Artistic Director, Sideshow Theatre Company

How to Apply

Applicants must:

  • Be a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
    Organizations operating under fiscal sponsors such as Fractured Atlas are no longer eligible
  • Have a minimum of three years demonstrated production history
  • Be a producing company
    Development centers are no longer eligible
  • Be in good standing with DGF concerning submission of final reports for any grants previously given
  • Demonstrate a commitment to gender and ethnic diversity among the writers produced

Application Process

Applicants will be required to complete an application form and submit the following supplemental materials:

  • Board member list with affiliations
  • 3 years of production history
  • Executed contract for the production for which funding is being requested OR executed contract for a production of similar size and scope from the past year
    May or may not include a DG Contract Amendment (see below)
  • Most recent Board-approved organizational budget
  • Productions budget for the project for which the theater is seeking funding

Applicants will be scored on their contracts with writers and the artistic merit of the project for which they are requesting funding. Eligibility is restricted to producing organizations registered as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, not operating under a fiscal sponsor. Institutions must have a minimum of three years of production history. All funds given to theaters must go specifically toward the production expenses of the writer(s) they are producing, and applications must be specific to both the production and the writer(s). Applications will be judged on artistic merit and the quality of the contract with the writer(s) being produced. Contracts will be evaluated based on the Dramatists Bill of Rights, as outlined by the Dramatists Guild of America.

Applicants will be required to complete a brief form and submit the following supplemental materials:
– IRS determination letter
– Board member list
– 3 years of production history
– Contract with writer OR signed DG contract waiver
– Most recent Board-approved budget

Applicants will be provided the option to submit the contract they have drafted with the writer being produced or a signed contract Amendment from the Dramatists Guild of America, stating that their contracts are in keeping with all DG contract guidelines. The DG Contract Amendment reflects best practices in the industry culled from hundreds of theater contracts seen each year.

To view the DG Contract Amendment, click here.

For all questions regarding contracts or the DG Contract Amendment, please contact Associate Executive of Business Affairs at the Dramatists Guild of America, David Faux, at 212-398-9366. For all other questions regarding the Writers Alliance Grant application, please email info@dgf.org or call the Dramatists Guild Foundation at 212-391-8384.

All awardees will be required to submit the executed contract for the project for which they received funding once it has been signed by all parties. If this contract is not found to be in keeping with all DG contract guidelines, their awards will be revoked.

Recipients of the DGF Writers Alliance Grant will not be eligible to apply for five years following the year they are awarded. 

APPLICATIONS FOR THE WRITERS ALLIANCE GRANTS WILL OPEN ON OCTOBER 1 AND CLOSE NOVEMBER 2 at 5pm Pacific

“Indicting the status quo through the lens of a specific theatrical aesthetic in a wildly imaginative new play created by members of our Artistic Company is one of the most Kitchen Dog things I can think of and it thrills me to no end that the Dramatists Guild Foundation is supporting this project.”
Tina Parker,
Co-Artistic Director, Kitchen Dog Theater