NBC Announces Musical Theater Program For Schools Needing Arts Education

NBC is funding an initiative to create musical theater programs in U.S. schools in need of arts education.

The effort to launch stand-alone musical theater programs will begin this month with a pilot group of 20 schools nationwide. NBC is joined on the Make a Musical project by iTheatrics, which adapts musicals for student productions and provides tools for teacher training. The nonprofit iTheatrics' Junior Theater Project aims to begin another 180 programs this fall, building toward a 2014 goal of 1,000 school programs reaching 1 million students, NBC said. Schools may apply for the fall program at the website makeamusical.org starting Jan 6.

The Make a Musical project has another goal: NBC said it "celebrates" the network's upcoming series "Smash," a Broadway-set drama that premieres Feb. 6 and stars Debra Messing, Katharine McPhee ("American Idol") and Anjelica Huston. Its executive producers include Steven Spielberg.