(see press releases and announcements here)
by Rob Weinert-Kendt
July 15, 2025
“Using in-ear technology that feeds them recorded audio, actors sit on a simple stage and enact recent interviews about folks’ interactions with the U.S. immigration system: a longtime Afghan refugee who volunteered to become a translator during the U.S. war in her home country; a Mexican banker turned Vermont farm worker; a Ukrainian woman trying to get a foothold in America, where people may be ‘nice, but they’re not friends.'”
Read the full article in American Theatre!
by Laura Collins-Hughes
June 6, 2025
“The Verbatim Salon– In this free monthly documentary theater series, actors deliver monologues made from interviews with immigrants speaking about their lives in the United States. Presented by The American Playwriting Foundation, in collaboration with the director Scott Illingworth, the unadorned performances have an extraordinary immediacy, with the actors channeling the words from interview recordings that they listen to on earphones as they speak. The audience is gently invited to discuss each monologue afterward, but our listening feels like just as much of a civic exercise.”
Read the full article in The New York Times!
by Andrew Gans
September 24, 2024
“Philadelphia playwright and poet Dave Harris (Tambo & Bones, Exception to the Rule) has been named the winner of the 2024 Relentless Award for his play MANAKIN. Presented by the American Playwriting Foundation and Building for the Arts, Harris will receive a $50,000 prize as well as developmental opportunities to be announced.”
Read the full article in Playbill!
by Ashley Lee
August 12, 2023
‘One of the things that happens with creativity in almost anybody is that muscles atrophy, and there’s a cost to these kinds of actions, not just in a financial sense,” says Billy Crudup, who will take the stage at New York City’s Theatre Row later this year for a benefit performance alongside Wayne Brady, Vincent D’Onofrio, Gina Gershon, Walton Goggins, Natasha Lyonne, Sam Rockwell, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Schreiber and Yul Vazquez.'”
Read the full article in the LA Times!
by Rachel Sherman
December 22, 2022
“Shayok Misha Chowdhury and Laura Grill Jaye have won the 2022 Relentless Musical Award for their new work, “How the White Girl Got Her Spots and Other 90s Trivia,” the American Playwriting Foundation announced on Thursday. It is the first Relentless Award to go to a musical.”
Read the full article in The New York Times!
By Logan Cullwell-Block
December 8, 2022
“Building for the Arts has named former Classical Theatre of Harlem Managing Director David J. Roberts as its new president. Roberts will succeed Wendy Rowden, who is leaving the position December 13 following an eight-year tenure. Rowden will continue to serve on BFA’s Board of Directors.”
Read the full article in Playbill!
by Angie Martoccio
September 8, 2021
“An award of $65,000 will be presented to an unproduced musical in honor of Adam Schlesinger, the songwriter and Fountains of Wayne co-founder who died from complications related to Covid-19 last year. The award stems from a merger between the non-profit Building for the Arts and the American Playwriting Foundation, the latter of which is known for the annual Relentless Award presented to an unproduced play in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman.”
Read the full article in Rolling Stone!
by Charles Passy
July 10, 2019
“Theatre Row, a program run by the nonprofit Building for the Arts, is planning to launch the Kitchen Sink Residency this fall. The initiative will bring five companies to Theatre Row’s home at 410 W. 42nd St., which incorporates five theatres of varying sizes plus a studio and rehearsal space, for a two-year period.”
Read the full article in The Wall Street Journal!
August 28, 2016
“I want to see children do better in school. I want to see children have better lives. But I don’t want to belittle that I’m also seeking the joy of music for everybody. I think it’s a right. I think it’s as important as anything else that they could ever have in their lives. I want all children to have this.”
Watch the segment on CBS Sunday Morning!
August 12, 2025
Theatre Row, the nonprofit-focused multi-theater anchor of Building for the Arts (BFA), today announced the productions that will be in residence at the venue in Fall 2025.
Read the full press release here!
July 9, 2025
Building for the Arts (BFA) today announces that three accomplished leaders and storytellers have joined its board: philanthropy practitioner, performing arts leader, and visionary Stephanie Ybarra; playwright, film producer, and director Dan Klores; and theater producer, MothWorks instructor, and corporate social responsibility leader Denzell Jobson.
Read the full press release here!
March 18, 2024
“Building for the Arts (David J. Roberts, President), the non-profit organization that programs and administers Theatre Row, Music and the Brain, and the American Playwriting Foundation, announced today that it will offer subsidized, affordable rehearsal space to artists and companies at its Theatre Row Rehearsal Studios, located in NYC’s Theatre District.”
Read the full press release here!
August 31, 2023
Dr. Horowitz of Columbia University’s Center for Arts Education Research has just wrapped up an extensive, three-year study on the impact of Music and the Brain, and we’re thrilled with the results! The study shows that students who participated in the Music and the Brain program experienced growth in not only music ability, but also in academic and social-emotional learning. We’re very grateful to Dr. Horowitz for helping us prove scientifically what we’ve always known to be true- that music is a vital part of education (and that our unique method is engaging and effective for students of all ages!)
Read the study’s executive summary here!
March 1, 2022
For almost 25 years, we have dedicated ourselves to equitably bringing music into classrooms all over the country. Our mission has stayed the same, even as our curriculum has grown over time. When Covid-19 hit, forcing our teachers and students to adapt to at-home learning, we adapted too, creating Music and the Brain All Access, a state-of-the-art online learning system that gives students the power of music whether they’re in school, at home, or both. We are so proud of this platform, and we are thrilled to announce that it has been recognized for Innovation by both Fast Company and the Anthem Awards!
February 5, 2022
This year, Music and the Brain has reached an incredible milestone: 25 years of strengthening young minds through the language of music! We celebrated the occasion in November with an incredible event at Theatre Row, where we heard speeches from some of our Music and the Brain teachers and performances from All Star Students. You can see some of the highlights here.
May 19, 2020
“When schools across the country shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, music teachers who make up the nationwide Music and the Brain community reached out for help. Within mere days, Music and the Brain, under the leadership of its Director, Lisala Beatty, launched Music and the Brain @Home, a brand-new online learning platform that allows teachers to extend the proven in-school program to at-home learning.”
Read the full press release here!