Regranting Opportunities
Regranting is when a funder asks another organization to distribute grants on its behalf. We work with trusted partners to provide regranting opportunities to support performing arts organizations and projects that may not be otherwise eligible for a direct grant from Gilman.
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 deadline for 2023 funding has passed. Check back this summer/fall for information about 2024.
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: The deadline for 2022 has passed. Check back in summer 2023 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
Maximum of $10K per grant
Application Timing: The application cycle will open on July 17, 2023, and close on October 8, 2023.
The Creative Equations Fund at the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) is an investment strategy dedicated to arts for social justice. Inspired by artists’ work, peer-funded models, as well as a grassroots legacy of intersectional community empowerment, this initiative is driven by our values around justice, equity, and sustainability. The Justice, Equity & Sustainability + Performing Arts opportunity provides $10,000 each for individuals & small organizations. In addition to funds, BAC will add value to this award by offering optional capacity-building opportunities. Grantees in this category will have the option to participate in peer-to-peer sharing opportunities. BAC is launching the individuals and organizations track with a focus on performing artists and performing arts organizations with annual operating budgets of up to $250,000 and whose work is dedicated to social justice.
Chamber Music America — Artistic Projects
Maximum of $20K per grant
Application Timing: The application cycle will open on August 10, 2023, and close on October 5, 2023.
Artistic Projects, coordinated by Chamber Music America, was created to offer opportunities for small ensembles and presenters, with operating budgets under $250,000, to bring their innovative and creative ideas to completion and to compensate artists appropriately for their work. The projects funded through this program will represent the artistic visions, concepts, and priorities of the applicants, regardless of musical genre or style. Eligible projects may include performances, recordings, new compositions, and residencies, among other artist-generated ideas, from New York City-based ensembles and presenters.
Dance/NYC — Dance Advancement Fund
Two-year general operating support grants $2,500-$15,000 annually and goal-directed professional development
Application Timing: This is a two-year program. The next application will open in 2024.
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 $10,000 and $500,000. 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 $2,500-$15,000 annually and goal-directed professional development.
IndieSpace — The Little Venue that Could
Two-year general operating support grants of $10,000 annually
Application Timing: Applications are being accepted between May 15th and June 26th, 2023.
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: 2023 grantees announced. 2024 applications and guidelines will be available in early July.
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, 2023.
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.
The MAP Fund
Grant Size / Duration: 85+ grantees will receive a $25,000 project grant and a $5,000 unrestricted general operating grant.
Application Timing: TBA
The MAP Fund’s 2022 cycle will provide grants of $30,000 to 85+ new, live performance projects across all regions of the United States. Anyone may apply on behalf of an eligible project that connects with MAP’s mission to invest in artistic production as the critical foundation of imagining, and ultimately co-creating, a more equitable and vibrant society.
New Music USA — New Music Organization Fund
Average Grant of $7,000, Maximum Grant of $20,000
Application Timing: The 2023 deadline has passed. Check back in 2024 for future opportunities.
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: This deadline for 2022 has passed. Normally the deadline for this program is in December. Check back in the fall for updated information.
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. Our aim is to enable music creators to take the lead in the development of new and existing ideas and projects. We are also striving 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.
Staten Island Arts — Performing Arts Residency Cohort
$6K per grant
Application Timing: This deadline has passed. Check back in early 2024 for future opportunities.
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.