About the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music

Chartered in 1962 as a not-for-profit private foundation, the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music preserves and perpetuates the legacies of composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) and his actress-singer wife Lotte Lenya (1898-1981). Based in New York City, the Foundation encourages appreciation of Weill’s music through support of performances, recordings, and scholarship, while nurturing talent more generally in the creation, performance, and study of musical theater. Through its Grants Program, the KWF funds projects and productions involving the work of both Kurt Weill and Marc Blitzstein in a number of categories, including both professional and amateur performance. As counterparts to the Grants Program, Collaborative Initiatives foster partnerships to realize projects that advance the strategic goals of the Foundation. The Foundation produces the annual Lotte Lenya Singing Competition and awards the Weill-Lenya Artist Sponsorships, the Julius Rudel/Kurt Weill Conducting Fellowship, and the Harold Prince/Kurt Weill Directing Fellowship. To date, the KWF has prepared and co-published twelve volumes of the Kurt Weill Edition and maintains the Weill-Lenya Research Center. It awards biennially the Kurt Weill Prizes for scholarship about music theater. The Foundation’s ongoing communications include its semi-annual Kurt Weill Newsletter, monthly E-News, and lively presence on multiple social media platforms. Since 2012, the Foundation has also administered the musical and literary estate of Marc Blitzstein. The Foundation's five-member staff happily assists individuals and institutions in response to inquiries about licensing, casting, performing materials, historical and biographical information, and other resources. Overseen and energized by a distinguished and diverse fourteen-member board of trustees, the Foundation functions imaginatively and responsibly as the heir, custodian, and administrator of the rights of Weill, Lenya, and Blitzstein.