NYC High School Students Will Get Discount Tickets to the Musical Hamilton

Hip-hop musical Hamilton chronicles the inspiring story of a poor orphan boy from the Caribbean who would one day grow up to become one of America’s founding fathers.

Now, high school students from across New York City will get the chance to become galvanized by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rousing biographical show about Alexander Hamilton, thanks to a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, a New York philanthropic organization.

According to The New York Times, the foundation and producers will fund a program to bring 20,000 New York City juniors—many of them from low-income families—to see matinees of Hamilton. They’ll also develop educational materials for students to understand the show—a website with copies of the primary documents on which the musical’s plot and lyrics are based, as well as information about Hamilton and other early American leaders. All students have to do is pay $10 per ticket—a substantial decrease from the usual sticker price which starts at $57, but are mostly selling in the triple digits. 

The program will begin in spring 2016 and run through the following year. According to Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin, its organizers think the show’s lyrically infused message will resonate with many New York City students.

“Here’s a story that talks about American history and the ideals of American democracy, and it features an immigrant who is impoverished initially and shows through perseverance and grit what he can achieve, in a vernacular that speaks to young people, written by a product of New York public education,” Rodin told the Times. “Could there possibly be a better combination in terms of speaking to students?”

[h/t The New York Times]