Applicant Criteria

The applicant must:

• Be a current resident of New York City (5 boroughs) and have maintained residency since January 2020
• Be an artist with a demonstrated sustained, ongoing creative practice in any creative discipline
• Provide documentation of their creative practice from anytime in the past 2 years (2019 and/or 2020).
• Apply with a creative public engagement activity that meets the above criteria 
  • Applicants can apply with an activity that is yet to be confirmed (in terms of presentation date and location)
• Be able to provide a W-9 with a Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) or EIN (after selection)
• Be 21 years or older on of before June 8, 2021

Applicants can be past recipients of any of NYFA’s grant programs, including 2020/2021 COVID-19 Emergency Grants.

Applicants cannot:

• Be enrolled in a degree-seeking program
• Be an employee of NYFA, the City Of New York, or any partnering organization supporting the City Artist Corps Grants program
  • This includes board members of these organizations or an immediate family member to any of those listed.

Creative Engagement Activity Criteria

The proposed creative engagement activity can occur indoors or outdoors and must:

• Have an arts or creative focus
• 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. 
• Occur in any of the five boroughs of NYC
• Be free to the public
  • Ticketed programs are eligible, but all tickets must be free
• 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

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 between the dates of July 10 to October 31, 2021.

Creative engagements do not need to feature new work; they can be restaging of preexisting works/shows/exhibitions. Artists can choose to partner with a venue or present on their own.

Artists can only apply once in each Cycle and can only receive one grant through the City Artist Corps Grants program.  A family member, friend or a support person may apply on behalf of an artist who is unable to complete the application on their own.

After reviewing applications for completeness and eligibility, qualifying applicants will be selected for funding via a lottery process. 

All eligible public engagement activities (with flexible activity dates) that are not selected in Cycle 1 will automatically be placed into the upcoming cycle lottery for selection. The applicant will not need to complete a new application form. 

Creative engagement activities need to be completed by Sunday, October 31, 2021. Artists may present more than one activity but can only receive one $5,000 grant.

Application Cycle 1: Engagements from July 10 to October 31, 2021

• Open: Tuesday, June 8 at 10 AM
• Close: Tuesday, June 22 at 10 AM
• Recipients notified: Friday, July 2

Application Cycle 2: Engagements from August 20 to October 31, 2021

• Open: Tuesday, July 6 at 10 AM
• Close: Tuesday, July 20 at 10 AM
• Recipients notified: Monday, August 2

Application Cycle 3: Engagements from September 3 to October 31

• Open: Tuesday, July 27, at 10 AM
• Close: Tuesday, August 10 at 10 AM
• Recipients notified: Wednesday, August 25