Two new scholarships named for Dito van Reigersberg, aka Martha Graham Cracker, will support Philly artists in drag, cabaret, and theater

Following the recent death of beloved artist Dito van Reigersberg — who performed as Philly’s legendary drag queen Martha Graham Cracker — his friends, family, and fans are working on two scholarship funds for the city’s artists and students in van Reigersberg’s honor.

Victor Fiorillo, the cabaret pianist who performed with van Reigersberg for years, has launched the Martha Graham Cracker Scholarship Fund to support drag and cabaret artists through microgrants, beginning this fall. Fiorillo is working with FringeArts, who will administer the funding, and the first phase will award three individuals or ensembles performing in the 2026 Fringe Festival with $500 in unrestricted funds.

He developed the idea in early August after seeing photos on social media remembering a Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret band fundraiser last year that celebrated the 40th anniversary of Philadelphia’s legendary Live Aid concert. Fiorillo and van Reigersberg raised more than $25,000 for Blood Cancer United (then called the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) to help others struggling with the kinds of cancer that affected van Reigersberg.

In less than a week, Fiorillo has raised nearly $11,000 with donations from van Reigersberg’s mom, Stephanie van Reigersberg, and longtime Martha fans, like Jose Pistola’s owner Casey Parker and Johnny Brenda’s owner William Reed. He initially raised $5,000 from friends and fans before opening the fund up to public donations through GoFundMe. Fiorillo said “it was just a no-brainer for people” to say yes.

“It’s not only about Martha, of course, it’s about furthering the cabaret and drag arts in Philadelphia … I think of it as paving the way for the next Martha — not that I think that Martha could ever be replaced, but that’s certainly the idea,” said Fiorillo, a reporter at Philadelphia Magazine who lives in West Philly.

“Dito and I both sort of came from privileged backgrounds. We had the money to pay musicians. We never struggled to make Martha a thing. We never had to bet the bank on it or take out a second mortgage. But having worked with so many artists over the years, we know how much some of them struggle.”

Applications for microgrants for 2026 are now open. Fiorillo added that he plans to work with a financial planner to ideally establish the fund long-term. The next phase of microgrants in 2027 will be open to drag and cabaret artists outside of the Fringe Festival as well.

Another scholarship fund memorializing van Reigersberg is in the works at Pig Iron Theatre Company, the experimental theater group and school that van Reigersberg cofounded.

Though still in early planning stages, the Dito van Reigersberg Legacy Fund would support artists and students in two ways: the first is establishing scholarships for Pig Iron graduate students to partially cover tuition costs; the second is through funding Pig Iron’s program The Island, which van Reigersberg co-developed.

The Island provides artist ensembles with studio space and production support to experiment and workshop performances without the pressure of delivering a final product. (Pig Iron artists have used the Island to eventually create full productions, like 2008’s OBIE Award-winning Chekov Lizardbrain.) The Legacy Fund would finance Pig Iron’s current Island program and invite collaborations with new artists. Additionally, the fund would establish an Island residency program for artists, either individually or as a group, to receive two weeks of dedicated time and space for ideation.

“I watched Dito open so many doors for so many emerging artists [especially] in the queer community, just [by] saying, ‘You belong and what you do is valuable.’ For us to be able to carry that on just feels like a gift,” said Pig Iron coartistic director Quinn Bauriedel.

Their goal, Bauriedel said, is to create “a board-designated legacy fund that would operate like an endowment, meaning there would be a principal and the interest would be spent every year on these two sources,” supporting graduate student scholarships and the Island programs.

Bauriedel hopes to raise between $1 million to $2 million in the coming years and begin offering the graduate student scholarships in fall 2027. Pig Iron will seek contributions for the fund from institutional and individual donors. He added that members of van Reigersberg’s family have agreed to serve on the selection committee for recipients.

“Running an experimental theater company and school is a precarious enterprise … I just have this strong feeling that now, Dito, in his next phase, is helping to save the whole enterprise,” said Bauriedel.

“He was always doing special things, and this is yet another one where he might help young artists … who just need to have somebody wrap their arms around them and say, ‘What you’re doing is important and meaningful, even if nobody quite understands it yet.’ Dito continuing to open that door is just beautiful.”