In 2016, the NEA received an auspicious honor: a Special Tony Award for its “unwavering commitment to paving the road” between Broadway and cities throughout the country. Heather Hitchens, president of the American Theatre Wing, and Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, stated about the Special Tony Award: “Over the past 50 years, since its inception, the agency has funded 18 Tony Award-winning plays and 15 Tony Award-winning musicals, not to mention offering vital support to hundreds of theatre professionals. They are invaluable to our industry, and to our nation’s cultural legacy.”

The National Endowment for the Arts is the largest funder of nonprofit theater and musical theater in the country, supporting the field in myriad ways:

• Over five decades, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded more than $331 million in grants and millions more through national initiatives, all to support theater creation, performing, touring, and education.
• The NEA was directly responsible for the national infrastructure of American nonprofit theater, helping launch organizations such as the Theatre Development Fund in 1968, and strengthening networks in part through funding of Theatre Communications Group.
• The NEA makes a significant investment in the creation of new plays and musicals. Between 1996 and 2015, the NEA awarded more than $13 million to develop new plays.
• NEA-supported plays and musicals have transferred to Broadway, and toured throughout the United States, extending the life and commercial success of new work and connecting with wider audiences.
• NEA funding supports playwrights, directors, designers, actors, and composers, as well as lyricists-in-training programs through workshops, readings, and festivals that challenge and advance their craft.