Peninsula Players Theatre Awarded Grants from The Shubert Foundation and the Wisconsin Arts Board

Peninsula Players Theatre has announced that it was awarded grants from The Shubert Foundation and the Wisconsin Arts Board, the state’s arts agency. Funds from the grants will support the theater’s continued development and presentation of its community outreach programming and high-quality theatrical productions. This is the eighth year in a row that Peninsula Players Theatre has received a Shubert Foundation grant. The company was also honored by being one of the highest-ranked arts organizations in the state by the Wisconsin Arts Board.

The Shubert Foundation is the nation's largest private foundation dedicated to unrestricted funding of not-for-profit theaters, with a secondary focus on dance. The Foundation was established in 1945 by Lee and J.J. Shubert in memory of their brother, Sam. It is the sole shareholder of The Shubert Organization, Inc., which currently owns and operates 17 Broadway theaters and six off-Broadway theaters. In 2023, The Shubert Foundation awarded a record total of $37.9 million to 635 not-for-profit arts organizations across the United States and $613 million since its inception.

“It is a great honor for us to be rewarded by The Shubert Foundation for our artistic excellence, service to our community and fiscal responsibility,” said Managing Director Brian Kelsey. “It is humbling to receive such generous support and recognition alongside some the nation’s leading arts organizations.”

The Wisconsin Arts Board’s Creation and Presentation Program, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, provides operational support to established not-for-profit arts organizations whose mission is to create or present ongoing programming that makes a significant impact on the cultural life of Wisconsin. 

“We are truly grateful for the ongoing support of the Wisconsin Arts Board,” said Kelsey. “Their dedication to and support of arts organizations is integral, as it fosters the arts, culture and heritage of our great state. Funds from the state enable us to continue to bring professional live theater to Door County audiences.” 

This year, the Wisconsin Arts Board celebrates 50 years of nurturing creativity, cultivating expression, promoting the arts, supporting the arts in education, stimulating community and economic development, and serving as a resource for people of every culture and heritage.

Peninsula Players Theatre is America’s oldest professional resident summer theater. In the past 88 years, the theater has become a Door County landmark and its’ cornerstone arts institution, attracting audience members and professional talent from across the country. The theater is unique for its diverse productions, continuing loyalty to a resident company and its beautiful setting on 16 wooded acres along the cedar-lined shores of Green Bay.