EXCLUSIVE: The 1/52 Project, a new financial grant program founded by Tony Award-winning set designer Beowulf Boritt, has selected the first seven early-career designer recipients to benefit from $100,000 in grants. Each of the inaugural recipients will receive grants up to $15,000, with applicants chosen based on talent, creativity, innovation, and potential for future excellence in the professional theatrical field.
The 2022 recipients are Brittany Bland, projection designer; Everett Elton Bradman, sound designer; Stefania Bulbarella, projection designer; Jessica Alexandra Cancino, set designer; Frank Cazares, costume designer; Jordan McCree, sound designer; and Jingyi Johanna Pan, costume designer.
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“I know I am extraordinarily lucky to be able to make a living as a theatre designer, much less to have the opportunity to do it on Broadway,” said Boritt. “Part of that luck was being born a middle-class white boy. The goal of The 1/52 Project is to give a little encouragement to a talented group of early career designers for whom doors may open less easily.”
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Boritt continued, “In supporting them, we hope to strengthen and diversify the profession. I’m immensely grateful for the generosity of the Broadway community for funding the idea and the hard work of the 1/52 Grant Committee for the impossible task of choosing from a large group of very talented applicants.”
The recipients will be honored at a reception on Wednesday, October 5 at 5:30 PM at the West Bank Café-Beechman Theatre in Manhattan, sponsored by Hudson Scenic Studio. Depending on specialization, some recipients will also receive a year’s subscription to Vectorworks or Lightwright, donated by those companies.
The 1/52 Project, launched in January, is primarily funded by designers with shows running on Broadway who are encouraged to donate one week every year of their weekly royalties to this fund, thus the name 1/52 Project. The project hopes to encourage early career designers from historically excluded groups with the aim of diversifying and strengthening the Broadway design community.
The current donor list features John Lee Beatty, Wendy Goldberg, Tony Meola, Nevin Steinberg, Kenneth Posner, Tony Meola, Lindsay Jones, Gregg Barnes, David Zinn, Takeshi Kata, Jennifer Tipton, Peter Nigrini, Jeff Croiter, David Rockwell, Paul Tazewell, Paloma Young, Kumiko Yoshii, Scott Pinkney, Jim Bay, JJ Janas, Philip Rosenberg, Bradley King, Michael Wolk, Susan L. Schulman, Alex Volckhausen, Michael Krass, Jason Cina, Brian Ronan, Roger Gindi and Gregory Victor, Christopher Akerlind, Derek McLane, Marcia Goldberg, Abbie Strassler, Rachel Hauck, Kimberly Powers, Jeff Sugg, Susan Hilferty, Kimie Nishikawa, Eugene Lee, Jessica Paz, David Korins, Elaine J McCarthy, Ken Posner, Ken Billington, Paul Smithyman, Scott Pask, Scott Lehrer, Christine Jones, Jane Cox, Beowulf Boritt, Toni-Leslie James, Donald Holder, Kai Harada, Drew Levy, Jenny and Jon Steingart, Brian Macdevitt, Tom Schumacher, and Natasha Katz. The Project acknowledges especially generous donations from Paul Tazewell, Nevin Steinberg, Brian McDevitt, David Korins, Gregg Barnes, and Thomas Schumacher.
The grant criteria were created by and adjudicated by a committee of BIPOC professional designers: costume designer Dede Ayite; projection designer David Bengali; set designer Wilson Chin; lighting designer Alan C. Edwards; sound designer Kai Harada; set designer Kimie Nishikawa; costume designer Paul Tazewell; costume designer Alejo Vietti: and costume designer Anita Yavich. The 1/52 Project is partnered with TheFrontOffice Foundation, the charitable arm of TheFrontOffice entertainment development company.