National Alliance For Musical Theatre Unveils New Musical Grant Recipients

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced the 11 Award Recipients for the 2026/2027 Frank Young Fund for New Musicals Project Development & Production Grants and the 11 Award Recipients for the 2026/2027 Impact & Exploration Fund.

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals (FYFNM) is a major funding program supporting NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals. The Impact & Exploration Fund (I&EF) is designed to help NAMT member theatres pilot new capacity-building programs to advance their missions. Each recipient then contributes to a library of case studies from which other members can learn.

“Taken together, these grants support the field in two essential and vitally inter-connected ways: FYFNM helps fund the artistic work itself, while I&EF helps build organizational power so the art can soar,” says Betsy King Militello. “We are proud to invest in these member organizations as they develop ambitious new musicals, expand access and test new practices that strengthen their own communities and the field more broadly.”

2026/2027 Frank Young FUND FOR NEW MUSICALS GRANTS

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals, with generous funding from the ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, Hollywood Pantages and anonymous donors, has awarded each of the following member organizations $5,000 to $20,000 to support full productions:

Ars Nova Theater, Inc. for Where We Meet by Kate EberstadtMcCarter Theatre Center for A Beat of Our Own by Rehana Lew Mirza, Mike Lew & Sam WillmottNew London Barn Playhouse for WAKEMAN by Jenn GrinelsTheater Latté Da for MY ÁNTONIA by Kate Kilbane, Dan Moses & Noah BrodyTheaterWorksUSA with Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles for The Baby-sitters Club Musical by Mark Sonnenblick & Kate Wetherhead 

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals, with generous funding from the ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, Hollywood Pantages and anonymous donors has awarded each of the following member organizations $4,000 to $5,000 to support a workshop or reading:

• Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles for WEST: The Final Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Tara Moses, Andy Mientus, Wade Fernandez & Jackson Teeley 
• New York Theatre Barn for ANDY, KEITH & JEAN-MICHEL by Matthew Puckett
• Philadelphia Theatre Company for La Guagua 47: An American Musical by Alba Martinez 
• Prospect Musicals for Yukon, Ho! by Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd & Regina Strayhorn
• Theater Latté Da for She's Come Undone by Michael Holland, Darrah Cloud & David Simpatico
• Zachary Scott Theatre Center for Campfire: Theater for the Very Young by Nat Miller & Christina Freeman

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals is overseen by NAMT New Works Director Frankie Dailey, and the recommended Grant Recipients for the Production and Project Development Grants are selected by a distinguished panel of industry leaders. The panelists for the 2026/2027 cycle were Stacie Boord, CEO, Shadowbox Live (OH); Florencia Cuenca, Co-Founder & Director, The Familia Org (NY); Adam Gwon, Writer/Composer (NY); Branden Huldeen, Artistic Producer & Associate Artistic Director, Barrington Stage Company (MA); Cody Lassen, Producer, Cody Lassen & Associates (NY); Robert Meffe, Head of MFA Musical Theatre Program, San Diego State University (CA); and Laura Peete, Foundation Director, SDC Foundation (NY).

Recipients of Writers Residency Grants, also part of the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals, will be announced later this year.