Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Supports American Playwrights

Performing Arts is one of six core program areas of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Under the umbrella of Performing Arts, the Foundation’s theater program seeks to fund leading theaters of all sizes that contribute to the advancement or preservation of theater as an art form and which are characterized by distinctive and ambitious artistic programming, a commitment to artists, intellectual relevance and the capacity to engage audiences. Its goals are to help artistic leaders who are swimming upstream to continue to take artistic risks, to support processes that will improve the quality of work being produced and to support collaborations between organizations that develop, premiere, and mount second and third productions of a work. It also endeavors to support long-term commitments to artists by institutions. In addition to support for theaters, the program provides direct support to a handful of leading playwriting centers that are critical to the development of artists and new work. Finally, the Foundation’s efforts are not exclusively focused on new work. Recognizing that such activities as remounting difficult classical works, translations, and international collaborations are both important and challenging, the program also supports organizations that have a record of doing important and exemplary work in these areas.

The Royal Court shares the Foundation’s interest in supporting artists, particularly playwrights, and new work. From 2010, the Foundation will be supporting the Royal Court’s development programme for emerging and established American playwrights through a $400,000 three-year grant.