TheFrontOffice Foundation Announces $25,000 Grant For Mid-Career Female-Identifying Theater Director

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: TheFrontOffice Foundation, the charitable arm of director/producer Wendy C. Goldberg’s TheFrontOffice entertainment company, announced today that it will award a $25,000+ mid-career grant to a female identifying theater director, one of the largest financial awards given to an individual director.The grant will be both merit- and need-based, and honor both the recipient as well as shine a spotlight on gender inequities in theater.Applications will be accepted from October 1-31, with the award announcement expected by December.The selection committee will be led by Wendy Goldberg, Patricia McGregor, Robert O’Hara, Lisa Peterson and Chay Yew, and leading funders for the grant include directors Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown), Tamilla Woodard, Lear DeBessonet (Into The Woods), Wendy C.

Goldberg and TheFrontOffice, Lila Neugebaur and individual donors Peggy J. Koenig and Jerry and Roz Meyer.“This is not a pipeline issue,” said Chavkin in a statement. “This grant is simply about recognizing an artist already thriving in her/their career, which sadly may not translate to financial stability.

Hopefully this award both sheds light on that challenging reality, encourages more hiring of people who haven’t yet made their Broadway debut in the commercial sphere, and helps inspire new necessary funding for mid-career directors.

It’s an honor to stand with these treasured colleagues in supporting this grant.”Said FrontOffice’s Goldberg, “Just prior to the pandemic, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers released a study entitled ‘On The Edge,’ where we finally learned the truth to what we all already anecdotally knew: once a female director hits what should be the height of her/their career, they instead drop off and