The 1/52 Project Opens Applications For Fifth Year Of Designer Grant Program

Tony Award-winning set designer Beowulf Boritt, founder of The 1/52 Project, the OBIE Award winning financial grant program for early career designers, announced applications for the program’s fifth year are now open for the 2026 cycle.

Grant applications from early career designers will be accepted from February 2 until March 15, 2026. Applicants will be chosen based on talent, creativity, innovation, financial need, and potential for future excellence in the professional theatrical field.

For application criteria, please visit: https://www.oneeveryfiftytwo.org/criteria

To apply, please visit: https://www.oneeveryfiftytwo.org/apply

Semifinalists will be notified by early May 2026. Recipients will be notified after Labor Day 2026.

The program, open to all early-career designers, provides grants of up to $17,500 to encourage early career designers from historically excluded groups with the aim of strengthening the theater community by diversifying the stories we tell.

"I'm pleasantly shocked to be launching the 5th year of the 1/52 Project. The idea seemed almost unrealistically idealistic when we created it. But a half million dollars in donations later, with 35 talented recipients working in the industry, these grants are clearly helping answer a financial need for early career designers, and allowing the extraordinary generosity of the Broadway community to help meet that need,” said founder Beowulf Boritt.

Candidates of diverse backgrounds representing the full spectrum of theatrical activity, including those who have worked in non-traditional venues, are encouraged to apply to this program. The 1/52 Project considers all women as part of a historically excluded group. Candidates must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or hold employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant visas at the time of application. Candidates must have designed professionally for a minimum of three years. Candidates enrolled in, or on leave from, university or conservatory training program periods are not eligible.

The 1/52 Project was awarded a 2024 Obie Award Theatre Grant for their honorable work in helping to change the face of theater. To view the acceptance speech, please click here. 

The 1/52 Project has given out over $500,000 in grants in the past four years to 35 early career set, costume, lighting, sound, projections, hair, and makeup designers. 

The 2025 recipients, each of whom received grants up to $17,500, included Luis Garcia (Projection Designer), Mary YoungMi Lee (Hair & Wig Designer), Alex Meyer (Set Designer), Erica Lauren Maholmes (Lighting Designer), Germán Martínez (Sound Designer), Rodrigo Muñoz (Costume Designer), Earon Chew Nealy (Makeup Designer), Jacqueline (JQ) Reed (Projection Designer), Sasha Jin Schwartz (Scenic Designer), Cassie Janay Ann Williams (Hair & Wig Designer), Emily Duncan Wilson (Sound Designer), and Haydee Zelideth (Costume Designer).

The 1/52 Project, launched in January 2022, is primarily funded by designers with shows running on Broadway who are encouraged to donate one week every year of their weekly royalties to this fund. The project hopes to encourage early career designers from historically excluded groups, including all women, with the aim of diversifying and strengthening the Broadway design community.

Businesses who are part of the Broadway community have generously participated as community partners. In the past year these include Christie Lites, 4 Wall Entertainment, Hudson Scenic Studios, Global Scenic Services, The John Gore Organization, iWeiss, Masque Sound & Recording Corp., The Miranda Family Fund, The Morgan Fund, PRG, Proof Productions, the Rockwell Group, Rose Brand, and Showman Fabricators. 

Last year’s donor list featured: Mikhail Fiksel, Palmer Jankens, Barbara Cokorinos, Sam Ellis, David Barbour, Alexis Distler, Camilla Tassi, Cory Pattak, ML Geiger, Jim Bay, Barbara Whitman, Adam Honoré, Mike Lavoie & Carlee Briglia, Jeanette Oi Suk Yew, Beowulf Boritt, Abbie Strasler, Roger Gindi, Marcia Goldberg, Joe Tilford, Tony Meola, Sue Frost, Geoffrey Gund, Mimi Lien, Carl Mulert, Susannah & Cedric Bien-Gund, David Barbour, Brian McDevitt, Sarafina Bush, J Jared Janas, Bradlee Ward, Paloma Young, Anita Yavich, dots, Cody Spencer, Ken Posner, Kai Harada, John Lee Beatty, Julie Taymor, Paul Tate DePoo, Greg Barnes, Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer, Judith Daitsman, Susan Hilferty, Michelle Habeck, Allen Lee Hughes, Hana Kim, Justin Townsend, David Bengali, Tom Watson, Finn Ross, Jason Ardizzone-West, Jonathan Deans, David Zinn, Phillip Rosenber, Palmer Hefferan, Amith Chandrashaker, Gregg Barnes, Jenny & Jon Steingart, Daryl & Steven Roth, Paloma Young, Brett Banakis, Ben Stanton, Elaine McCarthy, Bradley King, David Brian Brown, Rachel Hauck, Ken Billington, Paul Tazewell, Alejo Vietti, Scott Lehrer, S. Katy Tucker, Jonathan Marc Sherman & Alexandra Shiva, Thomas Schumacher, Peter Nigrini, David Korins, Natasha Katz, and Derek McLane