The Ziegfeld Club Names Recipients Of 2019 Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award And Liz Swados Inspiration Grant

The Ziegfeld Club, Inc., one of New York City's first performing arts charities to benefit women has announced that composer and lyricist Rona Siddiqui, whose autobiographical musical Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan will be workshopped at Playwrights Horizons this month, has been named the recipient of the fifth annual Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award (BBZA). Created to honor a female composer of musical theatre, the BBZA is a prestigious $10,000 cash grant. In addition, the recipient receives one year of artistic and professional mentorship from a prominent composer and a producer of musical theatre.

A talented musical theater composer whose musical One Good Day was recently selected as the ASCAP/DreamWorks Musical Theatre Workshop with Stephen Schwartz, Rona Siddiqui joins the ranks of previous Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award recipients Masi Asare (2015), Anna Jacobs (2016), Shaina Taub (2017) and Julianne Wick Davis (2018).

The 2019 recipient of the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award was selected by panelists that included Kirsten Childs, Rachel Sussman, César Alvarez, Natasha Sinha, Clara Luthas, Nikka Graff, John Margulis, EllaRose Chary, Shea Sullivan, , Nadav Wiesel, and Laurie Sanderson.

A reception will be held on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 4:30 pm to honor Ms. Siddiqui as the 2019 Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award recipient, and NYC based Elementary Music Educator Ayah Rifai as the 2019 recipient of The Liz Swados Inspiration Grant, a $5,000 cash grant for a distinguished female music educator in NYC given by The Ziegfeld Club and underwritten for four years by Academy Award-nominee actor Diane Lane.

Held at the New Amsterdam Theater (214 West 42nd Street), home the legendary Ziegfeld Follies from 1913-1927, the ceremony will feature a special musical presentation by Ms. Siddiqui, with New York Stage and Film Artistic Director Christopher Burney serving as this year's Key Note Speaker. In addition, the ceremony will offer a special display of original Ziegfeld Follies memorabilia.

For more information about The Ziegfeld Club, Inc, the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award and the Liz Swados Inspiration Grant please visit www.TheZiegfeldClubInc.com