New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is pleased to partner with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre, to launch City Artist Corps Grants.
City Artist Corps Grants is part of City Artist Corps, a new $25 million recovery initiative designed to help artists who were both hard hit by the pandemic and who may have been left out of other local and federal funding opportunities.
City Artist Corps Grants are intended to support NYC-based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The program will distribute one-time $5,000 grants to over 3000 artists to help sustain their practice and engage the public across New York City’s five boroughs this summer beginning July. Artists working in any discipline are eligible to apply.
City Artist Corps Grants applications and grant announcements will roll out over the summer in various cycles. For all cycles, artists will be screened for eligibility and grant recipients will be selected by lottery.
City Artist Corps Grants are administered in partnership with re-grant and arts service organizations to support outreach, provide technical assistance for prospective applicants, and inform the grantee selection process in service of the city’s diverse cultural communities.
Partners include: Asian American Arts Alliance, A.R.T./New York, Black Public Media, Brooklyn Arts Council, Bronx Council on the Arts, Bronx Documentary Center, Dance/NYC, Firelight Media, Flushing Town Hall, Indie Theater Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), MakerSpace NYC, New Music USA, Poets & Writers, and Staten Island Arts.
All grant opportunities through City Artist Corps Grants will follow the same criteria:
- The proposed creative engagement activity:
- Must have an arts or creative focus
- Must be presented live and in person
- Artists with a disability and/or who are immunosuppressed for whom it is unsafe to engage in live in-person performance are welcome to apply for live digital creative engagement activities.
- Must occur in NYC (any of the five boroughs)
- Must be free to the public. Ticketed programs are eligible, but all tickets must be free.
- Can occur indoors or outdoors
- Artists may present more than one activity but can only receive one $5,000 grant
- It is strongly recommended that a portion of the grant be used to support artist fees, both for the applying artist and any other artist that are engaged to support the activity
- Artists can choose to partner with a venue or present on their own
- Must be documented with a minimum of 2 photographs taken during the activity (these photos will need to be shared with your final report along with attendance numbers once the activity is completed)
- Creative engagements do not need to feature new work; they can be restaging of preexisting works / shows / exhibitions.
- As long as the activities meets this criteria, City Artist Corps Grants can be used to supplement an already established activities set to happen in the summer in NYC between the dates of July 10 to October 31, 2021
Types of eligible creative engagement activities might include:
- A live music, dance, theatre, literary reading performance
- An in person art-making workshop with community members
- A public screening of a film or other media work
- An art exhibition in a community center or other public or private venue (including apartment gallery set-ups)
- A live art making experience, such as painting of a mural
- Already established or recurring creatively focused program that is planned to happen in the summer/fall
- All of the above can be scheduled independently or featured as part of an existing festival or program already scheduled for the summer
TO APPLY
Applicants will need to provide:
- Documentation of a current sustained artistic practice:
Documentation can be:- An up-to-date artist CV or resume listing creative activities (please ensure dates are listed).
OR
- A short artist biography up-to 300 words describing their practice and accomplishments from any time in the past 2 years. Where appropriate, please list dates and locations.
AND one of the following:
- Example of public engagement: one press link/news article from any time between 2019 to date of the artist’s creative activity. Activities might include, but are not limited to: exhibition/show press release, exhibition/show review that the artist participated in, or promotional material of an exhibition or show or other published online documentation of the artist’s creative practice.
- Recent work samples created within the last two years, 2019 to date. Applicants will be able to upload images, audio recordings, short video clips, or a PDF manuscript (excerpt only).
- Reference: A short letter of reference from a past curator, producer, literary manager, educational officer, or community arts organizer that has worked with the artist in a creative capacity within the past three years. Letters should be signed and dated and, on a letterhead or email with email address and date visible.
- An up-to-date artist CV or resume listing creative activities (please ensure dates are listed).
- Outline of City Artist Corps Grants project creative public engagement
- Proposed creative engagement outline 250 words on your proposed activity
- Proposed engagement Date
- How do you plan to promote your engagement to the general public?
AND an answer to a series of multichoice questions, identifying:
- Creative engagement location
- Estimated number of artists to be engaged
- Type of engagement
- Documentation of NYC residency: Applicants will need to submit official documentation confirming NYC residency from October, November or December 2020. The document must:
- Be an official document stating the applicant’s name, date, and NYC address;
- Can be, but not be limited to: utility bill, bank statement or bill, credit card statement, valid government ID listing NYC address issued in October, November or December 2020, residential lease, idNYC issued in OCT, NOV or DEC 2020, roommate agreement, rent receipt or proof or rent, studio lease or any other form of official documentation listing the above.
- Proof of age: Upload passport or state-issued ID, including idNYC
All questions should be directed to CACGrants@nyfa.org.
Application Cycle 2
Engagements from August 20 to October 31, 2021
Open: Tuesday, July 6 at 10:00AM
Close: Tuesday, July 20 at 10:00AM
Recipients notified: Monday, August 2
