The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is one of the best resources for artists in New York State.  Established back in 1971 by NYSCA as an independent organization, NFA has one of the most highly organized operations, roviding information to artists through their NYFA Source database (which is free and online, and you really should use), to offering Fellowships and grants to artists.

The NFA Artists’ Fellowships are $7,000 cash awards made to individual originating artists living and working in the state of New York for unrestricted use. Grants are awarded in 16 artistic disciplines, with applications accepted in eight categories each year. Since the awards began in 1985, NYFA has awarded over $22 million to over 3,688 artists. In 2009, NYFA awarded 131 Fellowships to 134 artists, with six of them working in a collaboration.

This year’s categories for review are: Architecture/Environment Structures, Choreography, Fiction, Music/Sound, Painting, Photography, Playwriting/Screenwriting, and Video

The deadlines for NYFA’s 2009-2010 Artists’ Fellowships will be:

November 2, 2009
Fiction
Playwriting/Screenwriting
Photography

November 3, 2009
Painting
Music/Sound

November 4, 2009
Architecture/Environmental Structures
Choreography
Video

This is a fantastic grant opportunity for individual artists that should not be missed.  They are highly competitive, but the application process is one of the best out there.

To get an insight into their process and see how their panels work, NFA is holding a number of workshops around the state for applicants.  The closest workshop to us is in Woodstock on 21 September – noon – 4 p.  More information on the workshop itself can be found here.

Monday, September 21, 12:00pm-4:00pm
Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild
Theater at Byrdcliffe Colony
3 Upper Byrdcliffe Way
Woodstock, NY
Carla Smith (845) 679-2079
rsvp to http://woodstockbyrdcliffe.eventbrite.com

Check them out and good luck!

The Dutchess County Arts Counil and are available for Ulster and Dutchess artists and projects.  They are “designed to promote local community-based arts and culture in Dutchess & Ulster Counties. Last year these grants ranged from $500 to $2,000. The average 2009 award was approximately $1,300.”

For more information including guidelines and applications, see their web site.

While no grant recpitients are located in Orange County, four from the Hudson Valley were awarded grants to further their goals and to preserve jobs and activites during the current economic recession.  They are the New American Cultural Labatory in Highland Lake (Sullivan), Hudson Opera House in Hudson (Columbia), Copland House in Cortlandt Manor (Westchester) and the Rockland Center for the Arts in Nyack (Rockland).

More information about NEA’s role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act can be found here.

They’re looking for “innovative uses of new technologies towards audience development, communications, distribution, marketing, and network building” by the jazz community.  It’s really a fascinating opportunity whose shole aim is to change the jazz community and prepare it for future ways of reaching an audience.  For those interested in bridging the gap between the jazz community and how its current and potential audiances are interacting with music, you should look into this opportunity.

There are two grant opportunities at the moment – planning grants and implementing grants – and two rounds of grant awards.

Planning grants are based on ideas, to “fully develop the most interesting concepts being proposed; identify necessary resources, expertise, and partnerships (when applicable); and compile detailed financial plans for project implementation.”  They are only offering planning grants in this first round, and are willing to award up to $25,000 to help research ideas.

Implementation grants are based on actions.  These are to use “new technologies developed either through a Jazz.NEXT planning grant or conceived outside of the program, but deemed ready for immediate implementation.”  Implementation grants range from $10,000 to $75,000 and you can apply for them in either round of the grant process.

Nothing is more exciting then a group willing to stick their neck out there and try to foster a community of change.  If you think you have something credible to bring to the table, go to their web site for more information, and download their PDF of guidelines.

The first round has a deadline of NEXT WEEK (had I known about these earlier I would have posted, my apologies for the short notice).

(Albany, NY) The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area is pleased to announce the availability of $50,000 in matching grants for Hudson Valley Quadricentennial projects. Grants will range from $2,500 to $5,000. Applications can be requested by calling (518) 473-3835, by emailing the Greenway at hrvg@hudsongreenway.state.ny.us. Applications can be downloaded from the Greenway homepage at www.hudsongreenway.state.ny.us. All applications must be received July 14, 2009.

This grant program is intended to provide seed money to organizations for local Hudson Valley Quadricentennial projects, programs, and events that celebrate the legacies of Henry Hudson, Robert Fulton, and Samuel de Champlain, and showcase the Hudson River Valley region.

Applications will be evaluated by the Grant Committee according to the following criteria, based on the information provided in your application. The decisions of the Grant Committee are final and may not be appealed.

• A major focus on the 2009 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial or its legacy. If not, the project is automatically disqualified.
• Provides a lasting presence for future generations.
• Preserves, interprets, or provides education about a significant resource or event. (bonus for each additional resource or event interpreted)
• Does not duplicate another project in the region or state.
• Demonstrates a need for the project.
• Encourages participation by communities and/or non-profits.
• Associates with other celebration events.
• Has a potential to serve a wide audience (over 1,000 individuals) from many different communities.

For more information, see their web site.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the New York State Cultural Data Project (New York State CDP), a powerful management tool for arts and cultural organizations. This unique system will, at no cost, allow arts managers and artistic leaders to understand and analyze their organization’s financial performance through easy-to-run reports. By participating in the New York State CDP, you will be part of a successful and growing project that will allow researchers and the arts community as a whole to better articulate and provide evidence for the sector’s assets and needs, as well as its contributions to the state and the country. By completing the online form annually, you will also be able to generate reports to be submitted to grantmakers with the click of a button.

After four years of planning, the CDP was first launched in Pennsylvania in 2004 and has grown to include Maryland, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York.

The CDP will provide nonprofit arts and cultural organizations with the best tools to easily track trends in performance and benchmark against others. Organizations can quickly and effortlessly produce reports that will help them make their case for support to funders, board members and policymakers. After entering historical financial and operational data into a standardized online form at the end of each fiscal year, organizations can rely on technology to reformat the data to match the needs of different funders. The report needed as one part of the grant application process to participating funders can be generated instantly, greatly reducing the time required to provide the same information to multiple funders.

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There will be a regional workshop in September showcasing this system, when we have more information of course we will post it.

NYSCA has been awarded $399,900 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to administer American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds in New York State.

These funds are to be used exclusively for the preservation of specific positions that are threatened due to the economic downturn.

Given that the funds available are limited, NYSCA will target the funding to support cultural organizations with service and support-oriented positions-at-risk that serve a broad range of artists and cultural organizations. By preserving jobs that are service and support-oriented, NYSCA will touch the maximum number of artists and arts organizations possible.

The application and guidelines for NYSCA’s Economic Recovery program are now available at www.nysca.org.

In 1996 the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund announced a new award, the Howard Chapnick Grant, to encourage and support leadership in fields ancillary to photojournalism, such as editing research, education and management. The Grant was established to honor the memory of Howard Chapnick, and acknowledge the value of his enormous contribution to photography.

The annual $5,000 grant may be used to finance any of a range of qualified undertakings, which might include a program of further education, research, a special long-term sabbatical project, or an internship to work with a noteworthy group or individual. According to the Fund’s Board of Trustees, special consideration will be given to projects that promote social change and/or serve significant concerns of photojournalism. The grant is not intended to be used for the production of photographs, which will continue to be funded by the main grant of the Smith Fund.

For more information, please visit their web site.

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W. Eugene Grant in Humanistic Photography

The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s concerned photography and dedicated compassion exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.

For more information, please visit their web site.

Examples of eligible projects for this grant program include: historic structure reports for public buildings; historic landscape reports for municipal parks; and cultural resource surveys of downtowns and residential neighborhoods.

In 2009, the Preservation League especially encourages projects that advance the preservation of architecture and landscapes of the recent past, preserving historic bridges and transportation corridors including rural roads, canals, and related structures.

Project should also focus on preserving and continuing to use historic municipal buildings and supporting Main Street revitalization.

ELIGIBILITY: Municipalities and not-for-profit organizations.
FUNDING: A total of $96,400 is available, with individual grants likely to range between $3,000 and $10,000 each.
DEADLINE: May 4, 2009.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the League’s regional directors of Technical and Grant Programs: Eastern New York, including New York City and Long Island, Erin Tobin, 518-462-5658, or Central and Western New York, including Southern Tier, Tania Werbizky, 607-272-6510; or visit the Preservation League of New York State’s Web site: www.preservenys.org. Also, Art in Crisis at www.artsincrisis.org