Emergency Grants

It is vital to support writers in times of need so that they can get back to doing what they do best. DGF provides emergency financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists in dire need of funds due to severe hardship or unexpected illness.

If you are a writer in need, we can help.

Writers for the American Theater, please submit the following application:

Applications will be processed based on severity of need.

For paper applications, please see below.

For emergencies unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic, please email applications@dgf.org.

Am I eligible for a DGF Emergency Grant?

DGF is part of a community of organizations supporting writers and artists at this time. 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

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.

Paper Applications

Click here to download a paper application.

DO NOT SEND TO THE DGF OFFICE, as our staff is working remotely. Please email paper applications and supplemental materials to applications@dgf.org, or mail paper applications to the address below. Please note that paper applications will be delayed in processing.

Claire Hackett

Dramatists Guild Foundation

417 Myrtle Ave

Suite 34

Brooklyn, NY 11205

“I applied to the Foundation when I was in real and totally unromantic trouble. Help arrived speedily and quietly in the form of a grant, which allowed me to pay my rent. The Foundation does not dole out statues and plaques; it gives people help when people need help.”

WILL ENO,
Playwright and Emergency Grant Recipient,
The Realistic Joneses, Middletown

George Bailey Fund

The George Bailey Fund has been established to benefit the participants of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. The fund is open to first and second-year workshop members and will provide financial assistance for unforeseen expenses that go beyond the normal day-to-day cost of living and can hinder the pursuit of the craft.

Apply Online

The name of the fund was inspired by a scene in It’s A Wonderful Life, which stems from an assignment given during the workshop. In the scene, George Bailey gives his friends and neighbors what they need to tide them over financially, which is exactly what the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, hopes the fund will achieve. As someone who has participated in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, the donor has seen firsthand how unexpected expenses can interfere with the creative process needed to succeed in the program and wanted to offer financial support to those in need during the early stages of their careers.

Grants of up to $500 per person will be awarded during each workshop term, September through August, and eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

All applications will be managed by The Dramatists Guild Foundation. BMI’s Director of Jazz & Musical Theatre Patrick Cook and workshop administrator Frederick Freyer will determine the eligibility for grants.

All applicants’ personal information will be kept strictly confidential.

“I really appreciate that the Dramatists Guild Foundation considered my proposal and the conferral of the Emergency Grant. Puerto Rico was significantly damaged by Hurricane Maria. Most of my work is voluntary and is meant for marginalized communities. I have access to these communities through creative writing workshops and dramatic art programs that have become an outlet for individual and collective sorrow. We have developed stronger communities able to express their inner voices through the arts and have given them tools to deconstruct their past and construct a brighter future. I really appreciate this opportunity and feel blessed to know that artists in the world are supporting each other.”

María Teresa Marichal Lugo,

Playwright