Theatre Writer Opportunities for January 2026
Residencies, residencies, and more residencies.
Sair here! Bringing you the latest on January 2026 opportunities for theatre writers. The theme of this month is residencies. Seems like a whole lot of them have January deadlines. So let’s take a look at the awards, residencies, submissions, residencies, development opportunities, and residencies coming up this month for all us playwrights, musical theatre writers, and other theatre artists.
Funding
Grant to help artist-mothers with young children continue their creative practice, awarding $25,000 to be used for childcare.
Open to New York City-based artists with children under the age of three.
Deadline: January 2nd
Grant program supporting artists who create community care projects to engage Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) and other communities of color in NYC.
Awards of $1,500
Deadline: January 8th
An unrestricted $8,000 cash grant for individual artists living in New York State.
This year’s categories: Craft/Traditional Arts, Photography, Drawing/Printmaking/Book Arts, Film/Video/New Media, Mixed-Media, Painting, and Sculpture.
Free to apply
Deadline: January 27th
Development
International Theatre Festival WALIZKA
For this festival in Poland, theatre companies and theatrical groups are invited to submit shows matching the theme. 12-14 shows from this open call will be selected for the festival.
Theme is “Bridges of Understanding”
Participants are responsible for production/travel/lodging, but will receive $3,000 per performance and up to $4,000 in prizes.
Deadline: January 15th
New Works Collaboration Catalog (NWCC) – Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance
This is not a typical development opportunity, but rather a way to get your work in front of theatre educators, opening doors for collaboration in an educational setting. Seems like a great fit for TYA or other family-friendly shows.
Deadline: January 15th
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark is commissioning 13 original works for the public (think murals, interactive performances, etc.)
Theme is “Stories in Sound, Movement, and Community”
Open to individual artists or artist collectives based in New Jersey or New York.
Awards between $7,500-$25,000
Deadline: January 19th
What are you looking for in a residency? Some of them are fully funded and provide travel, meals, and stipends. Some of them have high residency fees and you’re still expected to fund your own travel and food. Most of them fall somewhere in between those two extremes - partial subsidies, need-based fellowships, and more can complicate the process significantly. To make sure your energy is going where it needs to go, ask yourself what your priorities are. You may choose not to apply for anything with a residency fee, which is totally valid. But, something to consider: if you find one on the cheaper side which is located in a state or country you’d be interested in visiting anyway, an artist retreat can be a partially (or fully) subsidized way to travel the world.
Residencies
Cultivate’s La Baldi Residency
A multidisciplinary 2-4-week artist residency in Tuscany, Italy, to develop projects and engage with the local community.
Typical fee is $440 per week, but 2 residencies are fully funded each year.
Travel Advisory: Italy is Level 2 – Exercise Increased Caution due to terrorism.
Deadline: January 2nd (for a funded residency)
Artist–Scientist Ideas Summit & Fellowship
A new annual Art and Science fellowship at UC Santa Barbara’s NCEAS, bringing one visual artist and one musician/composer to Santa Barbara for a week of dialogue with environmental scientists.
This year’s theme is “Extinction and Persistence”
Travel and lodging provided, along with $10,000
Deadline: February 1st
Bechdel Project “Room of One’s Own” Residency
A residency for emerging feminist playwrights and theatre makers, offered by the Bechdel Project.
$5,000 in funding, plus access to writers retreats in Brooklyn and Germany.
Deadline: February 6th
There were too many good residencies this month to pick only 3-5, so I’ve highlighted a few extra…
Honorable Mentions: this feminist residency in France, this subsidized fellowship to Japan, and this retreat in Minnesota, which has an ASL-centric Deaf Artists Residency!
And now, The List - my comprehensive compendium of all upcoming opportunities for which theatre writers are eligible. As always, THANK YOU to everyone who subscribes - every dollar of your subscription fee goes toward the production of new, original work.
Please enjoy this expanded collection of 80+ opportunities:
