SCRANTON — The Scranton Shakespeare Festival was approved for a $10,000 Challenge America Grant for its 2017 summer season of free, professional theater.

The funds are part of more than $30 million in grants recently approved by National Endowment for the Arts Chairman(NEA) Jane Chu, NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2017. The Challenge America category supports primarily small and mid-sized organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to under served populations, those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics or disability.

The Scranton Shakespeare Festival produces five shows in June and July. The productions vary from Shakespearean classical comedies and tragedies to Broadway musicals and world premieres. The organization is also developing its Young Theatre Maker’s Lab, which debuted last summer. The lab provides young, local artists an opportunity to create and perform a show of their creation.

For more information, visit scrantonshakes.com.

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For Abington Journal

Information provided by the Scranton Shakespeare Festival.