Mission
Since 2012, Broadway For All (BFA) has been on a mission to make Broadway truly for ALL. Broadway For All is a Manhattan-based national organization that equips young artists and professionals with the programming, community, and vision to build a more inclusive and powerful arts industry.
What We Do
Broadway for All (BFA) shapes the next generation of advocates for radical inclusivity and anti-racism through engagement with the performing arts. We bring together young artists with entertainment industry trailblazers to develop socially conscious leaders and passionate creators. Through BFA’s programming, students from disparate socio-economic and cultural backgrounds share their passion for the arts while exchanging ideas and expanding their worldview.
How we do it:
Our flagship Summer Conservatory (with tracks in Musical Theater, Drama, Playwriting, Musical Theatre Writing and TV & Film Production).
BFA 365, coaching alumni applying to arts high schools and colleges.
Access For All, providing access to historically excluded communities for experiences in theater and arts entertainment.
The House, a new lab production program focused on bringing together seasoned professionals, Broadway for All alums, and artists from the local community to present new works by heretofore unproduced playwrights.
Core Values
In all of our programming we strive to keep our Core Values and encourage our students to take these ideas with them after they leave BFA. They are:
Artistry
Professionalism
Compassion
Possibility
Accountability
We lead by a philosophy that these values, plus opportunity, are the key to success not just in the entertainment industry, but anywhere.
Meet The Team
Big Impact
Our students’ accomplishments include:
● Broadway and national touring debuts in The King and I, Matilda, and Finding Neverland
● Filming the pilot of Showtime’s Billions
● College acceptance to Berklee College of Music (for Voice)
● College acceptance to SUNY Purchase (for Dramatic Writing)
● Regional theatre debut in Elf at the Papermill Playhouse
● Invitations to audition for top NYC casting directors and networks
● Admission into the Tribeca Film Institute
● Work with Pulse Music and Producer Cannon Map
Broadway For All Honorees
BFA Founding Hero Award Winner
Fred Zollo
BFA Core Values Award Winners
Kristolyn Lloyd
Jana Shea
Heidi Schreck
Board of Directors
Greg Brink
Adpearance
Osh Ashruf (Ghanimah)
Columbia University
Isha Gulati
Expedia
Andrew Whitehouse
Copperfield Advisory
Advisory Board
Chris Ashley
Teach For America
Keith Beauchamp
Filmmaker & Activist
Carly Callahan
Seaview
David Cromer
Director & Actor
Jennifer Friedland
Clear Day Productions
Kelley Girod
Apollo Theater/The Fire This Time Fest
Tracie Hall
American Library Association
Kelley Lindquist
Artspace Projects
Kristolyn Lloyd
Actor & Director
Ayanna Prescod
Situation
Ciara Renée
Actor
Susan Rose
Rose Productions
Charlene Rue
Brooklyn Public Library
Tony Shalhoub
Actor
Jana Shea
Broadstream
Fred Zollo
Frederick Zollo Co.
History
Broadway For All (BFA) began its life as a project of Harvard University’s Presidential Public Service Fellowship in 2012 with the goal of increasing the diversity of the American stage and screen to reflect the diversity of America. To achieve this goal, founder Osh Ashruf (Ghanimah) created a 6-week summer conservatory in New York City taught by working professionals in NYC’s theater and film world that brought together arts students from all racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. So that no student was turned away for financial reasons, this conservatory was provided to all students at no cost, no matter their background.
After that first conservatory, the families of our students banded together to raise the necessary funds to allow us to return for the next summer. Subsequently, BFA has held a summer conservatory every year while remaining entirely donor-funded.
Since our beginning, we have broadened our scope to become an organization and a movement centralized around radical inclusivity and diversity. In striving towards that goal, we provide opportunities for performing arts experiences that bring together young artists from different backgrounds to share their passion with each other.
With recent efforts, we’ve expanded beyond our conservatory with two new initiatives: BFA 365 and Access For All. Through BFA 365, we provide one-on-one coaching sessions to aspiring young artists to prepare them for performing arts high school and college conservatory auditions. This program is designed to level the playing field for students who cannot access expensive audition coaches. Access For All is a ticket distribution initiative and our fastest growing program. Our Access For All partnerships with Broadway producers have sent over a thousand students to their first shows including Be More Chill, The Prom, and Moulin Rouge!.
As our programs strive to shape artists that are as compassionate as they are talented, we could not be more excited for what the future holds for Broadway For All. Looking ahead, we are growing beyond New York City, with Access For All partnerships and conservatories in other U.S. cities, to bring access to world-class training and professional theater to even more students.