The Broadway Collective Project NextGen 2025

My name is Robert Hartwell and I need your help. 

8 years ago I started The Broadway Collective with a mission to train the next generation of Broadway artists. After our summer program last year I looked around and nearly all of our students were white. I was doing us all a disservice. That's not how we learn and that's not how we evolve. 

I'm from a single parent household in North Carolina. The only way I made it to NYC was scholarship support. People financially showed up for me to make my arts education possible. 

This year we will audition students for our diversity + inclusion scholarship award: Project Next Gen. We will choose 10 students to fully fund to our 2025 summer program Gathered NYC. 

I have always believed that when you jump in life the net will always appear. I'm now hoping that you will be that net for these 10 students.

Our award recipients, will travel to NYC this summer for master classes with Tony Award-winning performers, meetings with Managers and Casting Directors, tickets to Broadway shows, backstage tours, dinner with cast members, plus airfare, hotel accommodation, and meals (for both student and a parent/chaperone)—all included.

Our mission with Project Next Gen is to make arts education accessible to everyone—regardless of ethnicity, gender identity, or economic situation—and bring more diversity and inclusivity to the future of Broadway and beyond -- but we need your help.

We need your help to bring these 10 students to NYC!

“Right now, there are too many young underserved students of color who dream of working on Broadway—but many of these kids don’t have access to the arts education they need. Their school might not have a theatre program due to budget cuts. Their neighborhood might not have a dance studio.This puts that child at a huge educational disadvantage especially when it’s time to audition for competive BFA programs - they are behind. With your help, we are determined to change this.” Robert Hartwell, Founder