Frequently Asked Questions What is the history of The Shen Family Foundation? The Shen Family Foundation was started in 1994 by Ted Shen to serve as a vehicle for family charitable giving. During its early years, it provided unrestricted funding primarily to not-for-profit organizations in the fields of education and the arts. In 2002 it began concentrating its grant-making on supporting the works of exceptionally gifted and highly original musical theater composers.  At that time, it also began to support ballet initiatives related to the choreography of George Balanchine, and since 2014 has increasingly directed its funding to support the development of new ballet works by exceptionally gifted and highly original choreographers such as Alexei Ratmansky and Justin Peck. What are the major funding priorities of the Foundation? In the area of musical theater, in order to encourage originality, innovation and high artistic aspiration in musical composition, the Foundation directs most of its grants to selected not-for-profit organizations to support the development and production of the works of composers who have the potential to push the art form forward. Who can apply for a grant? Only organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code are eligible to receive grants from The Shen Family Foundation. Grants are generally restricted to providing funding support for not-for-profit theatrical productions of the works of qualifying musical theater composers, and are generally not made to provide unrestricted funds either for general operations or for special events such as fundraising galas or festivals. The Foundation is not able to process or respond to unsolicited grant requests. Can an individual apply for a direct grant? The Foundation cannot make grants directly to individuals for any purpose. What are some of the recent grants or projects funded by the Foundation? Please see the Grant Recipients, Signature Theatre and Yale Curriculum sections of this website. How does the Foundation select the composers whose works it will support? The Foundation's executive directors select composers of musical theater scores that are distinguished by exceptional originality, innovation and an advanced harmonic sensibility. While respectfully refraining from making or implying any value judgments, the Foundation is disinclined to consider composers whose work appears to be derived primarily from such genres as pop, rock or traditional musical theater pastiche. Does the Foundation plan to extend its support of educational programs beyond the Yale musical theater curriculum? While the Foundation has great admiration for the many educational outreach programs that introduce musical theater to new participants and audiences, its own educational support will remain focused solely on the Yale musical theater curriculum.