South Dakota Shakespeare Festival Receives Endowment for the Arts Grant for Juvenile Justice Program

The South Dakota Shakespeare Festival has been awarded $22,000 to enact their Staging a Difference with Shakespeare curriculum at the Minnehaha Juvenile Detention Center from the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

The South Dakota Shakespeare Festival was one of seven nonprofits that provides theatre education for students in juvenile justice settings to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“We are incredibly grateful for the funding from the National Endowment for the Arts,” said Dennis Nelsen, president of the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors. “This grant allows us to enhance our juvenile justice program but doesn’t overall support our festival activities. It’s the generous support of our community that sustains the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival year after year. We invite you to join us in keeping Shakespeare alive in South Dakota by donating to the festival.”

Established over 10 years ago, the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival offers free Shakespeare performances and workshops throughout the state of South Dakota, while fulfilling its mission to engage, connect and inspire communities by exploring the shared human experience.

As part of its educational programming, the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival has partnered with the Minnehaha County Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Sioux Falls since 2017, providing youth in custody an opportunity to experience professional theatre, engage in creative problem solving and develop positive peer connections.

Rebecca Bailey, South Dakota Shakespeare Festival executive director and project coordinator, leads the partnership – now called Staging a Difference with Shakespeare.

“Staging a Difference with Shakespeare uses acting and Shakespeare’s characters, language and stories as a meeting place for incarcerated youth,” said Bailey. “This funding is a gift to South Dakota, shaping the work the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival has already started. We have always been focused on how Shakespeare needs to be accessible to everyone, and now this funding expands access to a community that has rarely experienced live theatre. With researched and innovative programming, we will reach incarcerated youth from 14 counties in South Dakota.”

In addition to Staging a Difference, the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival’s programming includes four days of professionally produced full-length Shakespeare performances in Vermillion’s Prentis Park and other educational programming for youth and adults.

Through its productions, programs and community outreach, the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival engages 1,500 adults and 600 youth in Southeast South Dakota and beyond. In 2025, the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival collaborated with the Prairie Repertory Theatre, expanding its reach to new counties in Southeast South Dakota.

To learn more about the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival, visit www.sdshakespearefestival.org.