The Allen Lee Hughes BIPOC Fellowship Program

We pride ourselves on being a workplace that puts the health and safety of our staff and guest artists first.

It is now increasingly clear that the best way we can protect our workplace and our employees moving forward is with COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines have been proven to protect against serious illness from the novel coronavirus, as well as lessen the rates of transmission. Vaccines provide stronger, longer, and better protection against infection from the novel coronavirus than the antibodies a person produces after they’ve been infected with COVID-19. It is for all these reasons, plus the legal requirement by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s General Duty clause to provide each worker “employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm,” that we are implementing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for our workplace. 

In general, people are considered fully vaccinated:

• 2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or
• 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine

The application process is from February 2023, through March 17, 2023, interviews will be held in March-April and offers will be made by mid-May. 

The 2023-2024 Allen Lee Hughes BIPOC Fellowship season is from September 5, 2023 to May 24, 2024.

Upload a cover letter about yourself, your skills and what you want to get out of the fellowship; you should also submit a copy of your resume and the contact information for 2-3 references. Fellowships that require a writing sample as part of the application include: Community Programs, Development, General and Company Management, Graphic Design, Marketing and Media, and School Programs.

For references you should submit the names, positions, and contact information (email and phone number) for 2-3 people who have worked with you and observed your abilities. They could be a professor, the supervisor of a job, someone you have worked under in a theater or other organization, but they should not be a friend or relative. (Be sure to contact your proposed references for permission to use them for the purpose.)

A writing sample should be about 2 pages that you have written that show your skills. The sample could be part of an essay, an analysis or research paper, an article, a study guide, a theater review, a press release, a grant proposal, etc., no more than 2 pages long and ideally something related to the fellowship you are pursuing.

Fellows must be over 18, but there is not an upper age limit. While most fellows tend to be in their 20s-30s, we have also had older fellows that have been career-changers.

While a degree could be helpful, no theater or other degree is required to be an Allen Lee Hughes BIPOC Fellow. Our fellowships are crafted for those aiming at a career in professional theater. Please share any skills or experiences you may have that would allow you to succeed as a fellow at Arena Stage in your resume and cover letter. All relevant administrative, creative, educational and work experience will be considered.

Arena Stage requires that everyone who enters the building have proof of vaccination against COVID-19, including staff, artists, audiences, vendors and students. In order to participate in the fellowship program you must be able to show proof that you are fully vaccinated before the fellowship start date. You also must abide by any masking or other Arena Stage health protocols that are in effect during the fellowship.

A stipend is money that is provided to help you with your living expenses during the fellowship. A stipend is not wages or salary. Fellows are issued their stipends weekly at a rate of $600 per week. The weekly stipend is taxable. Arena Stage will withhold taxes, making the take home most likely between $450-$480 per week, depending on the fellow's state of residence.

Fellows have the option to be covered by Arena Stage’s health insurance, if they wish, at a small cost to the fellow that varies depending on the level of coverage they select. Note that insurance coverage doesn’t start until the fellow has worked for 45 days.

Unfortunately, Arena Stage does not provide housing for fellows. Former fellows have found housing and/or roommates through Craig’s List and Facebook groups like Washington D.C.- Housing, Apartments, Rooms, Sublets and (Q) POC Housing in D.C. When selecting housing, please consider location, commute time and cost, and rent cost.

No, we have no designated fellow parking. Parking in Southwest D.C. can be hard to find and expensive if you find it. There are some options around the theater, but many people find that their best transportation choice to be the Metro or the bus system. The Green Line serves the Waterfront metro station, which is about a block from the theater. Learn more about Metro here

Most fellowships will average 40 hours a week over the course of the fellowship, but the hours per week may be affected by the fellowship department. For example, the Lighting Fellow will work more than 40 hours a week during technical rehearsals but will be given time off in other weeks to balance those additional hours. The approximated 40 hours/weekly does not include on-stage opportunities or allow for additional outside work to be conducted during assigned fellowship hours.

The fellowships are fulltime. Any additional work would need to be approved by your supervisor to ensure that it doesn’t conflict with your fellowship.

Fellows are eligible for 10 paid holidays per year: New Year's Day, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. In addition, Fellows receive two weeks of paid leave (80 hours). This leave encompasses vacation, sick and personal time and must be approved by the Fellow’s supervisor in advance.

There are three layers of mentorship provided for fellows. Their primary mentor is their supervisor, who has regularly scheduled mentor meetings every or every other week with the fellow—in addition to their daily contact in a supervisory capacity. Each fellow also has a senior staff mentor that they meet with at least once a month, which gives access to the highest level of organizational leadership. In addition, there is team mentorship from the fellow’s department as a whole.

The Training Programs Manager will provide education sessions to the entire fellow cohort about twice a month. These will include sessions with leaders of different departments at Arena Stage, so each fellow gets an overview of the whole organization; meetings with guest artists that are visiting Arena Stage; and workshops on various aspects of pursuing a career in the theater such as cover letters and resumes, financial literacy in the context of theater, networking and more. There will be opportunities to meet fellows or interns from other arts organizations, complimentary tickets to Arena Stage productions (as well as ticket offers from other local theaters) and group social events.

Fellowships are planned to be in person for the 2023-2024 season. This information is subject to change for all but production fellowships.

Yes. Be sure to submit a customized cover letter with each application. 

We do not. For information about Arena Stage’s Pre-Professional devised theater program, Voices of Now, click here. 

Arena Stage does not offer high school internships or fellowships.

U. S. citizens and green card holders are eligible to apply for the fellowship.

Double check to see if your question is answered elsewhere on the Fellowship page, or in the individual fellowship descriptions. If not, you may email additional questions to fellows@arenastage.org.

A lighting designer and teacher of lighting design, Allen Lee Hughes has a B.A. from Catholic University and a M.F.A. from New York University. He received the USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design for 2003. He is the recipient of the 1997 Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration, two Washington Helen Hayes Awards and four Tony nominations. Broadway credits include A Soldier’s Play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Clybourne Park, Having Our Say, Mule Bone, Once on This Island, K2, Strange Interlude, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Quilters. His work has been seen at major theaters throughout the country, including Seattle Rep, New York Shakespeare Festival, Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare Theater, Goodman and Lincoln Center Theater. His dance designs include works for American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Ballet Tech, Hartford Ballet and Pilobolus Dance Theatre. Allen teaches at New York University and is very proud to have the Arena Stage fellows program named in his honor.