"This year we are delighted to be offering support to a record number of 488 performing arts organizations in locations all around the country," said Shubert Foundation president Michael I. Sovern. "Our longstanding practice of providing help in the form of general operating support remains unchanged. We are convinced that talented artists and administrators are best able to decide how to use the funds we grant."

The Shubert Foundation is the nation's largest private foundation dedicated to "unrestricted funding of not-for-profit theatres, dance companies, professional theatre training programs and related service agencies."

Ranging from $10,000-$325,000, the grants benefit a broad spectrum of arts organizations — large to small — that cover a wide range of locations around the country, from urban to rural. The Shubert Foundation is especially interested in providing support to professional resident theatres that develop and produce new American work.

“Every organization receiving a 2015 Foundation grant has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the performing arts,” said Foundation chairman Philip J. Smith. “We want to help lift some of the financial burden so that the companies we support are able to focus on producing thought-provoking, relevant work for the widest possible audience.”

Theatres given grants include Actors Theatre of Louisville ($200,000), Alabama Shakespeare Festival ($140,000), Alley Theater ($120,000), Alliance Theatre Company ($185,000), Brooklyn Academy of Music ($200,000), Deaf West Theatre ($10,000), Denver Theatre Center Company ($150,000), the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center ($85,000), the Goodman Theatre ($310,000), Hartford Stage Company ($200,000), Lincoln Center Theater ($325,000), Long Wharf Theatre ($200,000), Manhattan Theatre Club ($240,000), New York City Center ($120,000), The Old Globe ($175,000), Oregon Shakespeare Festival ($200,000), The Public Theatre ($230,000), Roundabout Theatre Company ($325,000), Seattle Repertory Theatre ($160,000), Signature Theatre Company ($220,000), South Coast Rep ($325,000) and Steppenwolf Theatre Company ($200,000), among dozens of others. Since its establishment in 1977 the Shubert Foundation grants program has awarded more than $360 million to not-for-profit arts organizations throughout the United States.

Additionally, the Foundation continued the Shubert Scholars Program, which was founded last year to award grants to leading colleges and universities to enable the institutions to offer scholarship assistance to students in graduate degree programs in theatre arts. The Shubert Foundation also continues its commitment to the Shubert Archive, which was created by the Foundation in 1976.

Further information about The Shubert Foundation and its grants program is available at ShubertFoundation.org.