The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation are pleased to announce a special round of $50,000 grants for the creation and production of major new contemporary plays by young California playwrights. These new works will be commissioned and premiered by Bay Area performing arts organizations and created by California playwrights of great promise who are age 35 or younger at the time of application.

These grants are part of a three-year $900,000 initiative by the Gerbode and Hewlett Foundations to support Bay Area performing artists and arts organizations at a time when funding has been increasingly difficult to come by. In 2005 the initiative funded six $50,000 commissions for emerging choreographers. In 2007 the initiative will fund commissions for emerging young composers. Details on the 2007 commissioning initiative will be announced in spring of 2007.

The 2006 program will grant up to six awards of $50,000 to nonprofit performing arts presenting organizations or multi-disciplinary presenting organizations (such as performing arts centers, festivals, community arts facilities, theater producers, and community centers) that are based in the counties of San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Contra Costa, San Mateo, or Santa Clara.

All applications and requested attachments must arrive at the Gerbode Foundation office no later than 4:00 p.m., Thursday, August 24, 2006. No late applications will be eligible. The application must be printed on 8.5" x 11" paper, single sided, and mailed in with the required submission materials. Applications will NOT be accepted electronically. An advisory panel of experts in the field will review the proposals, and final selections will be made by the Gerbode Foundation. Grantees will be announced in early January 2007.

The 2006 Emerging Playwright Awards Guidelines and Application are available for viewing online using Adobe's Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Adobe Web site.

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