New Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award for Women Theatre Composers!

Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award, 2015 The Ziegfeld Club is proud to announce the inaugural     Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award! The winner will receive a $10,000 grant and professional mentorship by a prominent musical theater composer or lyricist.   The award will be given to an emerging female composer-lyricist, or team of composer and lyricist, who demonstrate financial need, professional initiative, and outstanding artistic promise in musical theater songwriting. Described by The New York Times as one of “New York’s pioneering feminist institutions,” and “Broadway’s best kept secret,” The Ziegfeld Club, Inc. is among the first not-for-profit organizations in the Broadway community. We were founded in 1936 by Billie Burke who formed our Club to “keep alive and cherish the memory of Florenz Ziegfeld” and to help women who had performed in her late husband’s world-famous Follies who had fallen on hard times later in life. Today, the Ziegfeld Club is expanding its legacy of helping women in musical theater by establishing the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award. Of the 11 new plays on Broadway during the 2014-15 season, one was written by a woman. Of the 10 new musicals, one had a book written by a woman. Fun Home was only the third Broadway musical in the last quarter-century to have its book, lyrics and music all by women. That’s one musical every eight years. During the 2013-14 Broadway season, 68 percent of the audience was female. All these numbers demonstrate an urgent need to support women in theatre now. At the Ziegfeld Club, we have been devoted to this mission since 1936. Now in the 21st century, one of the ways the Ziegfeld Club can fulfill its mission is through the establishment of the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award. The recipient of the 2015 Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award will be chosen by a selection committee of industry professionals, and will be presented at a reception in New York City hosted by the Ziegfeld Club in October 2015. The Ziegfeld Club wants to find talented, undiscovered women in musical theatre songwriting. Please help us spread the word about this incredible opportunity!   Applications are currently being accepted through July 26th, 2015. For more information on how to apply, please click here or contact info@theziegfeldclubinc.com. Copyright © 2015 The Ziegfeld Club Inc., All rights reserved. Photo credit: Billie Burke, circa 1919. Alfred Cheney Johnston, Courtesy of the Ziegfeld Club Archive. Our mailing address is: The Ziegfeld Club Inc. 593 Park Avenue New York, NY 10065 www.theziegfeldclubinc.com