The Large Capital Improvement Grants for Arts and Culture will support arts and cultural nonprofits across the state undertaking impactful, large-scale capital improvements.
Donor Name: New York State Council on the Arts
State: New York
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/13/2026
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
Arts and cultural organizations offer programming that provides benefits to their communities and makes a substantial contribution to the New York State economy. The capacity of these organizations to maintain their facilities and make strategic capital improvements is central to their ability to deliver on their missions, contribute economic benefit to their local areas, and provide their communities with vital arts programming in a safe and accessible environment. Through its Large Capital Improvement
Grants for Arts and Culture, NYSCA makes strategic investments in those facilities to advance the following goals:
- Attract visitors to the state and ensure that New York State’s residents and visitors have access to arts and cultural experiences
- Sustain and grow the arts’ role as a critical sector of New York’s economy
- Advance the arts sector’s commitment to environmental sustainability, health, and safety
- Provide capital investments that contribute to local community development efforts and
- maintain New York’s globally recognized role as a creative engine.
Program Priorities
Applicants must demonstrate how the project will support NYSCA Capital program priorities, including any of the following:
- Community Development. Contribute to local workforce development and/or expansion, tourism growth, and/or placemaking and downtown revitalization. (Required for all Large Capital Projects)
- Accessibility. Make improvements that meet or exceed accessibility standards to create an inclusive environment for artists and participants of all abilities.
- ARTISTRY. Enable arts and cultural programming that is more creatively compelling for artists and audiences alike.
- Environmental Sustainability. Demonstrate environmental stewardship and/or sustainable building practices, improve energy efficiency, and mitigate the negative effects of climate change on the organization’s ability to operate.
- Health and Safety. Address known health and safety deficiencies and adhere to new public health guidelines and requirements.
- Inclusivity and Cultural Development. Improve facilities at organizations that employ inclusive practices and programming; expand access to cultural offerings in rural areas or communities that have historically been underserved.
- Organizational Health. Make capital investments that reduce operating costs and/or provide new opportunities for revenue generation that will improve the health of the organization.
- Structural and Historical Improvements. Address issues of building stabilization and historic preservation.
Funding Information
- Grant Award Amount: $2 million–$10 million
- Applicants request a specific amount within this range and must support their request with documentation in the application
- Award amount may not exceed 50% of total project cost, and no more than 50% of total project may be funded by NYS sources, including what is requested from NYSCA at the time of application
- No operating budget size restriction—ORGANIZATIONS OF ANY SIZE MAY APPLY (including those with budgets of $2 million or less)
- Applicant may not request an amount lower than $2 million
- Minimum Total Project Cost: $4 million
- Applicants must propose a project in advanced stages of development (defined as ready to commence construction within 12 months) with an estimated total cost of at least $4 million. There is no maximum total project cost.
Grant Period
July 1, 2026–June 30, 2029 (3 years, extensions of up to 2 years considered).
Eligible Costs
The purpose of this program is to fund capital expenditures which are defined as: funds spent to purchase/upgrade physical, non-consumable fixed assets that increase the value and extend the IRS estimated useful life of a piece of real property in order to maintain or increase the scope of operations. These include:
- New construction
- Renovation, refurbishment, or expansion of leasehold improvements
- Purchase and installation of fixed capital equipment/capitally eligible equipment systems
- Soft costs of up to 15% of total grant amount, including, but not limited to:
- Design services, such as architect and engineer fees
- Contingency of up to 10% of the grant amount
- Furniture, fixtures, equipment (FF&E), and initial outfitting for new spaces, as well as renovations resulting in a change of use of the space (this is only an eligible cost if the project is new construction or adaptive re-use of an existing space that changes its purpose, resulting in a new certificate of occupancy); total NYSCA-funded portion must be capped at 2% of the project’s total hard costs
- Construction management fees directly related to managing the construction (excludes project management tasks), and not to exceed 12% of total project cost
- General Conditions not to exceed 15% of total project cost
- For other soft costs, please contact Capital Projects staff to discuss eligibility.
Eligibility Criteria
- The applicant must be a nonprofit organization with a primary mission to support arts and culture, either incorporated in or registered to do business in New York State, with a project location in New York State, and recognized as tax-exempt under the Internal Revenue Code as a 501(c)(3).
- Arts organizations that operate autonomously but are embedded in universities or other non-arts 501(c)(3) organizations located in New York State may contact NYSCA to determine whether they are eligible.
For more information, visit NYSCA.
