# The STAGE Act: Federal Grants for Nonprofit Theaters

The STAGE Act creates a new federal grant program that gives money directly to nonprofit professional theaters across the country. The Department of Commerce would distribute up to $1 billion per year (from 2024 through 2028) to help these theaters pay their bills, keep workers employed, and improve their facilities.

To qualify for these grants, theaters must be legitimate nonprofits that have been producing live theater for at least three years. They also need to prove they've either lost money recently or primarily serve communities that don't have much access to the arts—whether due to geography, income level, race, ethnicity, or disability. Importantly, theaters must pay their actors and crew members at prevailing wage rates (the standard compensation for similar work) and can't have any recent violations of labor laws, workplace safety rules, or employment discrimination laws. The bill also requires theaters to stay neutral if their employees try to unionize and to maintain existing union contracts.

The money can be used for a variety of purposes: paying actors and crew, covering rent and utilities, building sets and costumes, fixing up theater buildings (with special attention to making them accessible for people with disabilities), marketing shows, and training workers. Smaller theaters with less than $30 million in combined revenue and assets can even use grants to build or buy new facilities. Individual grants are capped at either 20 percent of a theater's annual budget or $16 million, whichever is smaller. At least half of all available funding must go to theaters that primarily focus on theatrical productions rather than other performing arts.