Regranting Opportunities

At Gilman, we require that prospective grantees have a minimum budget of $250,000 to be eligible for support. We know that this requirement excludes many vital organizations and artists within our performing arts community. In order to better serve them and ensure that they have the resources to thrive, we have developed several regranting programs. Through these programs, we partner with trusted organizations that have authentic relationships with their communities. We empower them to use their expertise to distribute Gilman dollars via localized or discipline-specific funding opportunities.  

Gilman also recognizes that many cultural workers in this part of the field are not organized as nonprofits—many potential applicants are individuals whose companies and ensembles are not legally incorporated in any way. Therefore, we work with intermediaries that can make grants to individuals, as well as fiscally sponsored organizations. To make funding available to a wider range of performing arts activity, we partner with the following organizations, and details on opportunities are provided below.

Regrant Partners

A.R.T/New York — New York City Small Theatres Fund

Two-year general operating support grants of $5,000-$10,000 annually
Application Timing: The 2024 deadline has passed. Check back in summer 2025 for future opportunities.

The New York City Small Theatres Fund, coordinated by Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York), will provide two-year general operating support grants to New York City-based theatre companies with annual budgets below $250,000. Grant awards will be between $5,000-$10,000 each year, and applications will open annually in the fall. By offering a two-year committed grant, this program will provide meaningful financial support for small theatres who typically do not have many options for accessing general operating support. The grant will support a wide range of theatrical aesthetics, methods of production, and artistic communities throughout the five boroughs who are engaging their artists and audiences in meaningful, exciting, and committed creation and production. Applicants to the Small Theatres Fund are NOT required to be members of A.R.T./New York.

Bronx Council on the Arts — Bronx Cultural Visions Fund

$10K for Concept Development or $20K for Production
Application Timing: Applications are now closed. Check back in June 2025 for future opportunities.

The Bronx Cultural Visions Fund (BCVF) seeks to support the development of new ideas and the production of new work in the performing arts, including but not limited to dance, music, theater, performance art, and multi-disciplinary performance work. Open to Bronx-based emerging and mid-career individual artists and organizations with budgets up to $250,000, BCVF awards are intended to have a meaningful impact on an artist’s career or an organization’s development. The BCVF represents a significant investment in The Bronx’s performing arts scene, and the Bronx Council of the Arts (BCA) will be developing long-term relationships with each grantee. BCA will remain actively engaged with applicants and grantees throughout the process, from the letter of intent through the realization of funded projects.

Brooklyn Arts Council — Creative Equations Fund: Justice, Equity & Sustainability + Performing Arts

$10K per grant
Application Timing: The 2024 deadline has passed. Check back in summer 2025 for future opportunities.

The Creative Equations Fund (CEF) is BAC’s latest regranting initiative to support Brooklyn’s cultural ecosystem with a focused investment strategy for creatives dedicated to arts for social justice.  This program aims to build the capacity of community-engaged artists, arts organizations, cultural entrepreneurs, and researchers who have devoted their creativity to working towards a more equitable, sustainable, just, and joyful Brooklyn. The Justice, Equity & Sustainability + Performing Arts funding stream provides $10,000 general operating support and/or project support grants for individual performing artists and organizations with annual operating budgets smaller than $250,000.

Chamber Music America — Artistic Projects

Grants range from $7,500 to $20,000 per grant.
Application Timing: The 2024 deadline has passed. Check back in summer 2025 for future opportunities.

Chamber Music America’s Artistic Projects program offers grant opportunities for small ensembles and presenters, with operating budgets under $250,000, to bring their creative ideas to completion and present them to audiences in the five boroughs of New York City. All projects should have a community impact focus— creating more community access to chamber music and fostering a sense of respect and appreciation for chamber music. CMA will fund projects during the grant period that may include new compositions, performances, recordings, and residencies. 

CUNY Dance Initiative — CDI Residency

Each CUNY college/partner arts organization will provide the selected choreographer/company with:

• Minimum of 25 hours of rehearsal space
• Minimum of $1,000 residency honorarium
• Opportunity to teach a master class/hold an open rehearsal or other engagement event
• A minimum performance fee of $3,000 (if applicable)
• Marketing and technical support for the performance (if applicable)

Application Timing: The 2025 deadline has passed. Check back in late 2025 for future opportunities.

The CUNY Dance Initiative is a program designed for local artists in New York City who need rehearsal and performance space. It offers access to 13 CUNY campuses throughout the five boroughs. The program is open to independent choreographers and professional dance companies representing various styles, from contemporary to classical and culturally specific forms. The residency offered to each choreographer or company is customized to their specific needs and the available facilities (studio or theater) at the host campus. The residency may include a master class or lecture-demonstration, a performance, or other opportunities for the campus community to get familiar with the artist’s work. Choreographers/companies may use the residency to create new work, rehearse existing repertory, or a combination of both.

Dance/NYC — Dance Advancement Fund

Two-year general operating support grants $6,000-$40,000 annually and goal-directed professional development
Application Timing: Applications are now closed. Check back in Fall 2026 for future opportunities.

The Dance Advancement Fund (DAF) at Dance/NYC was created to address the inequitable distribution of resources in the dance field and to advance the resilience and thriving of dance makers in the metropolitan New York City area with budgets between $25,000 and $250,000. The DAF is developed in alignment with Dance/NYC’s values of justice, equity, and inclusion and seeks to address the long-term impacts of systems of oppression as manifested through white supremacy and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and advance economic justice in the dance field by continuing to fill gaps in the availability of resources where they are most needed. Dance making organizations and groups are eligible to receive two-year general operating support grants of $6,000-$40,000 annually,  including ongoing professional development, from September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2026.

Flushing Town Hall — GO Queens Grant—
General Operating Support Grant for Queens-based Arts Organizations

Twenty-five general operating support grants of $10,000 to Queens-based arts and culture nonprofit organizations with annual operating budgets under $250,000.
Application Timing: The deadline for 2024 has passed. Please check back in November 2025 for future opportunities.

The Flushing Town Hall GO Queens Grant program will fund Queens-based arts and culture organizations to support their mission and work in the community. Flushing Town Hall (FTH) will award twenty-five $10,000 grants to Queens-based arts and culture nonprofit organizations with annual operating budgets under $250,000.  These unrestricted funds can be used for General Operating Support (GOS) to help the granted organization grow. Some funds may be used for 2024 programs, at the discretion of the applying organization.

IndieSpace — The Little Venue that Could

Two-year general operating support grants of $10,000 annually
Application Timing: This opportunity has now closed.

The Little Venue That Could regrant program was created to provide unrestricted general operating support to New York City-based indie theater and dance performance venues with expense budgets under $750,000. Due to size, fiscal structure, staffing arrangements, and unconventional leasing and ownership structures, these homes for artists are often excluded from city, state, and federal funding and may not meet financial thresholds or stated priorities of private foundations in order to get significant support. Despite this historical absence of consistent financial support and the growing affordability crisis in NYC, small-budget indie theater and dance venues continue to play a critical role in the creative ecosystem by providing artists with affordable performance and presenting space. Selected grantees will receive unrestricted grants of $10,000 per year for two consecutive fiscal years and life-long access to IndieSpace’s free Advisory and Consulting Program, which provides access to real estate experts, information, and other resources. 

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council — Creative Engagement

150+ grantees will receive funding up to $8,000 for projects and general operating support
Application Timing: The 2024 deadline has passed. Please check back in Spring of 2025 for future opportunities.

Creative Engagement is an arts funding program that provides seed grants to individual artists and nonprofit organizations for projects and activities that offer Manhattan communities diverse artistic experiences. Each year, the program supports over 150 arts projects in Manhattan, including concerts, performances, public art, exhibitions, screenings, festivals, workshops, readings and more. Through this grant program LMCC will award over $500,000 for projects serving communities from Inwood to the Battery taking place between January 1–December 31, 2025.

The program funding is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Greater New York Arts Development Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts’ (NYSCA) Statewide Community Regrants and the Howard Gilman Foundation.

New Music USA — New Music Organization Fund

Average Grant of $7,000, Maximum Grant of $20,000
Application Timing: The 2025 Organization Fund application deadline was March 27, 2025. The next application cycle will open in spring 2026.  

The New Music Organization Fund offers grants to music organizations, performance groups, dance organizations, festivals, presenters, and venues who need support to sustain their programming of new music, nurturing of music creators, and other services.  This program is for outstanding organizations which work regularly with, and support the development of, music creators and artists and offer a crucial resource to their community.  The main criteria for this fund are: artistry, impact, need, equity and inclusion. 

New Music USA — New Music Creator Fund

50 to 60 awards of up to $5,000 each (with the average grant being $3,000) 
Application timing: The deadline for 2024 has passed. Check back in November 2025 for future opportunities.

The New Music Creator Fund offers grants to individual music creators who need support to get to the next stage of their creative practice. The program will support costs which relate to collaboration with other artists and practitioners. Individual performers may also apply as long as their collaborator is a music creator. The aim is to enable music creators to take the lead in the development of new and existing ideas and projects. The program also strives to stimulate creativity and collaboration between music creators and other artists from any discipline or background and to build community in response to the restrictions we have all been facing.

Opera America — NYC Opera Grants: Support for Small-Budget Companies

Two-year grants of $5,000-$15,000 annually to support targeted administrative areas or specific projects
Application Timing: This opportunity is now closed.

NYC Opera Grants: Support for Small-Budget Organizations at OPERA America provides funding to the broadest community of opera organizations throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYC Opera Grants provides flexible operating support to help opera organizations with budgets under $250,000 innovate, produce, and engage audiences and their communities. They help organizations in specific strategic areas, such as marketing, fundraising, or production, or with specific projects. Applicants must be New York City-based 501(c)3 organizations or fiscally sponsored organizations with operating budgets under $250,000. Eligible organizations must engage primarily with opera and are not required to be OPERA America members.

Staten Island Arts — Performing Arts Residency Cohort

$6K per grant
Application Timing: The 2025 deadline will be available in the Fall of 2025..

The Performing Arts Residency Cohort (PARC) at Staten Island Arts is designed to support the creative practices of Staten Island’s vibrant performing arts community. This new opportunity aims to bring more support and sustainability to the creative process for performing artists and creates more space for cross-disciplinary collaboration and learnings across the fields of dance, theater, and music without an explicit focus on outcomes. PARC provides $6,000 to each individual artist in the program and Staten Island Arts will provide 1:1 support in the areas of professional development and capacity building. Grantees in this category will participate in peer mentorship gatherings over the course of a 6-month engagement and will have the option to explore and experience each other’s creative work. Eligible artists may be at any stage of their career in the fields of dance, theater, or music, and must be residents of Staten Island.