Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) is a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters at all stages of their careers. We sponsor educational programs; provide awards, grants, and stipends; offer free space to create new works; and give emergency aid to writers in need. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow.
The Hansberry-Lilly Award The Lillys’ Lorraine Hansberry Initiative, under the leadership and vision of Julia Jordan and Lynn Nottage, has generously developed this opportunity to honor the great American Lorraine Hansberry and ensure the next generation of women and or non-binary playwrights of color is able to follow in her footsteps, regardless of their economic situation.
One Hansberry-Lilly awardee will be given a stipend of $25,000 each year of their graduate education in playwriting. The award is a need-based scholarship to both acknowledge and combat the financial disparities between races and between genders. The awardees must be newly accepted to or currently enrolled in one of the designated MFA programs. The funds awarded are to be used to support cost-of-living expenses that are not otherwise covered by other scholarships, subsidized tuition, or fellowship monies. The Hansberry-Lilly Award was specifically created to ensure that our awardees have protected time to actually write, time to develop relationships with peer collaborators, and time to nurture relationships with mentors that will endure through their careers.
Persons Wishing to Apply Must:
- Be a person of color
- Be a woman or female-identifying
- Be a first-year/newly accepted into one of these graduate dramatic writing programs: Brooklyn College, Brown, Columbia University, Julliard, NYU-Tisch School of the Arts, Northwestern, Yale, University of California at San Diego, and Hunter College.
DGF offers Crisis Relief Grants to professional theater writers who experienced a recent, unexpected, and substantially disruptive emergency or disaster.
To qualify for a Crisis Relief Grant, applicants must be theater writers who are 18 years of age or older. They must be living and working in the U.S. or U.S. Territories. They must have less than $15,000 in their combined bank accounts.
For questions, contact grants@dgf.org or call 212-391-8384 x1007
If you are assisting an artist in an emergency situation and you wish to apply on their behalf, please email or call before beginning the application.
Currently accepting applications on a rolling basis until December 14, 2026.
2027 applications will open on January 4, 2027.
DGF serves all dramatists based in the United States, regardless of their immigration status.
DGF offers $500 Bridge Grants to professional theater writers facing non-emergency challenges that pull focus away from their creative practice. Whether you are a little short on a monthly utility bill or medication payment, need to pay for childcare while in production or residency, or have a few weeks between paying gigs, Bridge Grants allow writers to smooth over those difficult patches.
To qualify for a Bridge Grant, applicants must be theater writers who are 18 years of age or older. They must be living and working in the U.S. or U.S. Territories. They must have not previously received a DGF Bridge Grant. They must have less than $15,000 in their combined bank accounts.
Please check our grants webpage for more information on who is eligible for support.
For questions, contact grants@dgf.org or call 212-391-8384 x1007
Currently accepting applications on a rolling basis until December 14, 2026.