5th Avenue Awarded NEA Grant

In the second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2015, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will make a $30,000 award to The 5th Avenue Theatre to support a musical in the company's 2016/17 season. The NEA will make 1,023 awards totaling $74.3 million nationwide in this funding round. Through its grant-making to thousands of nonprofits each year, the NEA promotes opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity.

"Grants like these are so important to regional non-profit arts organizations like The 5th," said Managing Director Bernadine C. Griffin. "Not only do these funds directly support the activities onstage, they enable us to extend our community engagement and education outreach programs-and that helps us build an active audience with a strong cultural investment in The 5th."

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, "The NEA is committed to advancing learning, fueling creativity, and celebrating the arts in cities and towns across the United States. Funding these new projects represents an investment in both local communities and our nation's creative vitality."

The 5th will utilize the grant funds to support a new production of the classic musical, Man of La Mancha, currently slated for the 2016/17 season. The 5th will use the funds to support the high quality production and to expand and enrich its education programs surrounding that show including Spotlight Night, Show Talks with Albert Evans, Fridays at The 5th and a Second Sunday Talk Back.

The 5th has received numerous NEA grants in the past, including a recent $50,000 grant to support the production of Paint Your Wagon in the spring of 2016. Pulitzer Prize nominee Jon Marans has been commissioned to write the book for this fresh, gritty adventure about a group of disparate people from all over the world who leave everything they know and risk their lives to strike it rich in the great California Gold Rush.