Hermanowski Family Foundation Initial Request Form<\/p>\n
Organization Name: First Stage
\nLegal Name (if Different): First Stage Milwaukee, Inc.
\nAlso Known As: First Stage, and previously as First Stage Children\u2019s Theater
\nMailing Address: 325 West Walnut Street
\nCity: Milwaukee
\nState: Wisconsin
\nPostal Code: 53212
\nMain Phone: 414-267-2929
\nMain Fax: 414-267-2930
\nOrganization Website: www.firststage.org
\nEmployer ID Number: 39-1634828
\nOrganization Tax Status: 501(c)(3) subclass 509(a)(2)<\/p>\n
Proposal Information<\/p>\n
Today’s Date: 03\/25\/2026
\nRequested Amount: $5,000<\/p>\n
Project Title: 2026-2027 Access for All
\nProject Description:<\/p>\n
While theater can play a significant and positive role in shaping a young person\u2019s academic achievement, career success, health, and wellbeing, many students throughout Southeastern Wisconsin have limited access to it\u2014due to the lack of arts specialists in schools, budget cuts, and the additional financial, transportation, and logistical challenges that unfortunately prevent them and their families from attending theater performances and enrolling in arts programs. <\/p>\n
Since 2004, First Stage has been removing barriers and ensuring access to our transformative theater experiences for Southeastern Wisconsin\u2019s historically under-resourced youth and families through our Access for All program. Funds would go to helping to remove barriers and ensure access in the following ways: <\/p>\n
Professional Theater Productions:
\n-Access for All families are eligible to purchase tickets for any production at a 70% discount
\n-We provide discounted tickets to our nonprofit partners (e.g., Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Club, La Casa de Esperanza, Penfield Montessori, Ronald McDonald House, and more)<\/p>\n
Theater Academy Classes:
\n-We provide financial aid awards of up to 85% coverage, healthy snacks, Academy t-shirts, and transportation, as needed. <\/p>\n
Theater in Education Workshops:
\n-We provide our Theater in Education programs, such as Field Trip Packages or Arts-Integrated Workshops, at highly subsidized rates to historically under-resourced schools.<\/p>\n
Through Access for All, First Stage provides theater experiences to about 15,000 young people and families annually for little or no cost to them. As schools and organizations are forced to spend less on the arts, First Stage fills our community\u2019s need for creativity, enrichment, and connection.<\/p>\n
Total Project Budget: $1,696,906<\/p>\n
Other Funding
\nSources For The Project (Committed & Potential): Burke Foundation – $160,000 committed; Partnership for the Arts & Humanities – $63,750 committed; UPAF – $23,015 potential; Johnson Controls – $27,540 potential; Bader Philanthropies – $50,000 potential; We Energies – $5,000 potential; Pieper Electric – $2,500 potential; Kopmeier Family Fund – $1,000 potential; Gene and Ruth Posner Foundation, Inc. – $1,000 potential<\/p>\n
Project Duration: July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027
\nGeographical Area Served: Southeastern Wisconsin\/Greater Milwaukee Area
\nAge Group To Be Served: Youth ages 3-18 and their families<\/p>\n
Contact Information<\/p>\n
Contact Prefix (Mr,Mrs etc.): N\/A
\nContact First Name: Abi
\nContact Last Name: Michalski
\nContact Title: Grants Manager
\nContact Phone: 414-267-2939
\nContact Email: grants@firststage.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hermanowski Family Foundation Initial Request Form Organization Name: First Stage Legal Name (if Different): First Stage Milwaukee, Inc. Also Known As: First Stage, and previously as First Stage Children\u2019s Theater Mailing Address: 325 West Walnut Street City: Milwaukee State: Wisconsin Postal Code: 53212 Main Phone: 414-267-2929 Main Fax: 414-267-2930 Organization Website: www.firststage.org Employer ID Number: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10695,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10694\/revisions\/10695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}