About the Project
The 52nd Street Project (The Project) is a non-profit arts education and mentoring organization dedicated to the young people (ages 9 – 18) who live in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. By collaborating with professional theater artists who volunteer their time and talent, the Project is able to offer year-round programming that is free for the participants.
The young people start with Playmaking, which teaches the basics of creating original work for the theater. At the end of the course, their new plays are presented free to the general public.
After Playmaking, all of the other Project programming becomes available, including arts expansion and theatrical performance, as well as academic mentoring programs. The Project offers employment opportunities to the teens, and a modest scholarship for any Project member continuing their education past high school.
Because all programs and productions are free, The Project relies on donations from individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies.
For further information, or direct inquiries, contact us.

Our Mission

The mission of The 52nd Street Project, a community-based arts organization, is to bring together kids from Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, starting at age nine and lasting through their teens, with theater professionals to create original theater offered free to the general public. By building on the core experience of accomplishment and collaboration, the Project fosters a sense of inclusion in a place where the children belong and where their creative work is the driving force. Through long-term mentoring relationships and exposure to diverse art forms (including Poetry, Photography, Theatrical Design, Dance, and Filmmaking), the Project seeks to expand the children’s means of expression and to improve their literacy, their life skills and their attitude towards learning.
Our History
The Project was founded in 1981 by actor/playwright Willie Reale in response to a deepening need to improve the quality of life for the kids of Hell’s Kitchen. He used his privileges as a company member of Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) to reach out to the children of the neighborhood by creating theatrical endeavors specifically for them. This was done with the cooperation and support of EST and its across-the-street-neighbor, the Police Athletic League’s Duncan Center. In 1994, Mr. Reale was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (informally known as “the genius grant”) for creating The 52nd Street Project.
For its first fifteen years, the Project relied on borrowed spaces in which to implement its programs. In 1996, the Project established The Clubhouse, a center where children could come after school. This led to the creation of our academic mentoring program Smart Partners in 1997. In 1998, the Project received the inaugural Coming Up Taller Award (so named after a quote from Founder Willie Reale) from the NEA and President’s Committee on the Arts. In 2010, the Project opened its current facility, which includes, for the first time in its history, its very own theater (Five Angels Theater) dedicated to the work of the kids of the neighborhood.
Past artist/volunteers have included Rose Byrne, Bill Camp, Bobby Cannavale, Zoe Chao, David Costabile, Billy Crudup, Crystal Dickinson, Peter Dinklage, Brandon Dirden, Edie Falco, Ray Fisher, Jim Gaffigan, Nancy Giles, Jonathan Groff, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Judy Kuhn, Kathleen Madigan, Roma Maffia, Mozhan Marnó, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Frances McDormand, Adrienne C. Moore, Michael Potts, Theresa Rebeck, Lili Taylor, Jessica Williams, Frank Wood and hundreds of others. Many return regularly, as they find the experience fulfilling and artistically stimulating.

Meet Our Staff
Our Board
Lisa Benavides-Nelson, volunteer
Rachel Chanoff, curator/producer, Director, The Office, performing arts and film
Cathy Dantchik (co-chair), Reade St. Productions
Carolyn C. DeSena, founder, WEforum Group
Louis P. Friedman (co-chair), Managing Partner, Flexis Capital LLC
Robert Goldberg, President, Yorke Construction
Stephen Graham (chairperson emeritus), Visiting Assistant Professor of Literature, Bard College
Annie Hausmann, Council President, Norwood, NJ; philanthropist; advocate
Natalie Hirsch, Artistic Director, The 52nd Street Project
Korey Jackson, actor, director, writer, and producer
Valerie Kay, Senior Vice President, Lending Club
Noël Mihalow (secretary), President, Prime Films
Carol Ochs, Executive Director, The 52nd Street Project
Margaret Odette, actor
Willie Reale, founder, The 52nd Street Project; writer, producer
Shirley Rumierk, actor, Project alum
José Soto, actor, Project alum
Wendy vanden Heuvel, actor, producer; piece by piece productions
Alexandra Vassilaros, writer, founder of Make Meaning Workshop, President of Vassilaros Coffee 2015-2023
Mark Whatley (treasurer), Senior Managing Director, Evercore

Our Supporters
The 52nd Street Project is proud to have merited the support of the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. We are supported by the Open Society Foundations, NYC & Company Foundation, and the Fund for the City of New York. The Project is a member of ART/NY.
The 52nd Street Project also gratefully acknowledges the support of the following foundations and corporations:

The Altman Foundation
BGC
Big Wood Foundation
BKSK Architects
Bloomberg
The Brenner Family Foundation
The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
CBS Corporation
Consolidated Edison
The Neil V. DeSena Foundation
The Dramatists Guild Fund
Dramatists Play Service
Eleanor, Adam & Mel Dubin Foundation
The Educational Foundation Of America
EIF
Flexis Capital LLC
Sidney E. Frank Foundation
Fund for the City of New York
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
Grant’s Financial Publishing, Inc.
The William and Mary Greve Foundation
Heisman Foundation
The Henlopen Foundation
Saul Horowitz, Jr. Fund
Hudson Scenic Studio
I. Weiss
Integra Realty
JKW Foundation
The Suzanne Nora Johnson & David G. Johnson Foundation
James MacDonald Foundation
Ann M. Martin Foundation
J.P. Morgan Charitable Trust
MTI
National Philanthropic Trust
Newmans Own
NYFA
PAR Plumbing Co., Inc.
Punchline Magazine
Jonathan Rose Companies
The Shubert Organization
Simon & Eisenberg
St. Vincent De Paul Foundation
Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust
Stranahan Foundation
The Surdna Foundation
Susquehanna Foundation, Corp.
Tax Pro Financial Network, Inc.
Theatre Communications Group, Inc.
Tiger Baron Foundation
United Real Estate Ventures, Inc.
Van Deusen Family Fund
John A. Vassilaros & Son, Inc.
Law Offices of Claudia Wagner
Watkins, Inc.
Whoop Inc.
Wiener Family Foundation
Yorke Construction Corp.
Financials
