Princess Grace Award

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA is a national foundation in the United States which is dedicated to identifying and assisting emerging talent in theater, dance, and film by awarding grants in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships. It was named after the Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco. Currently, John F. Lehman, Jr. is at the helm, Albert II, Prince of Monaco, serves as Vice-Chairman, and Toby Boshak, who has been with the Foundation for fourteen years, is the Executive Director. The organization's goals are helping emerging artists. The Foundation’s Trustees share Princess Grace’s dedication to supporting the arts and they believe, as she did, that cultivation and training of emerging talent is essential to ensure sustained excellence in the arts.

Over the past 28 years, the Foundation has awarded over $8 million to nearly 500 theater, dance, and film artists nationwide. It continues to fund its inaugural disciplines and has expanded its grants program to include playwriting and choreography grants within the theater and dance categories.

In keeping with the Princess Grace Foundation’s mission to identify and celebrate talented emerging artists, the Arts Advisory Board (AAB) created Special Project Awards to provide Princess Grace Awards winners with funds for project-specific ventures. The AAB funds projects that offer unique, consequential artistic opportunities at a critical juncture in an artist’s career. Since 2003, fifty-nine Special Project Awards have been granted. In 2010, the AAB conferred seven Special Project Awards: three in Theater, one in Dance, and three in Film.

In 2008, the AAB formed a partnership with Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) to provide further support for Princess Grace Awards winners. The Works in Progress Residency provides a cash award of around $25,000 and residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, in support of the multimedia and interdisciplinary artistic pursuits of Princess Grace Awards winners. The Residency enables these artists to explore, experiment, and push the boundaries of their work in an environment that focuses on process over product. In 2010, three artists received BAC Residencies: two in Theater and one in Dance.

In 2009, the AAB formed a partnership with Steppenwolf Theatre Company to provide further support for its Theater Awards winners. The goal of this alliance is to provide a Princess Grace Theater Awards winner with an opportunity to learn from a more established Awards winner by serving as a Co-Assistant Director on a production scheduled as a part of the Steppenwolf season. The partnership has paired Alex Torra with Anna D. Shapiro on a production of UP! in 2009 and plans to pair another director with Tina Landau on a production of Hot L Baltimore in 2011.

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