Making Musicals Happen

T

he National Foundation for Musical Theatre believes extraordinary new musicals deserve the opportunity to find their way to the stage.

 

Creating a new musical is an ambitious undertaking. It takes imagination, collaboration, time, and resources—and often years of development before a work is ready to meet an audience.

 

Since 2022, the National Foundation for Musical Theatre has invested in the development of new musicals and the artists who create them. Through partnerships with leading musical theatre organizations, we have helped support dozens of new works at important moments in their development.

 

Today, we are taking the next step in that commitment.

 

Through the Peter J. Hengel Award for New Musical Theatre, NFMT hopes to make one meaningful investment each year in an extraordinary new work, beginning with the first award in 2027.

 

The $25,000 award gives a creative team flexible resources to move its musical forward—whether through writing time, readings, workshops, recordings, developmental productions, or whatever the work needs most.

 

Our role is simple: find exceptional new musicals, invest in their development, and help them move closer to the stage.

 

Making Musicals Happen

g

John Thew

President

History

YEAR 2018 - FOUNDED AS AMERICANS FOR QUALITY ARTS LEARNING
YEAR 2019 - AMERICANS FOR QUALITY ARTS LEARNING BEGINS PROVIDING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO TEACHERS OF THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
YEARS 2020 & 2021 - COVID PANDEMIC FORCES ORGANIZATION TO PAUSE OPERATIONS
YEAR 2022 - Refocused its mission exclusively on musical theatre and became the National Foundation for Musical Theatre.
YEAR 2022 - Began investing in the development of new musicals through partnerships with leading musical theatre organizations.
YEAR 2022 to 2025 - Supported the development of new works through the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals and the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.
YEAR 2026 — ESTABLISHED THE PETER J. HENGEL AWARD FOR NEW MUSICAL THEATRE, A $25,000 ANNUAL INVESTMENT IN ONE EXTRAORDINARY NEW MUSICAL. THE FIRST AWARD WILL BE PRESENTED IN 2027.