The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement provides grants for arts events and programming in any discipline anywhere in the borough of Manhattan.
Donor Name: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
State: New York
Borough: Manhattan
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/12/2023
Size of the Grant: $4,000 and $12,000
Grant Duration: 1 year
Details:
Creative Engagement is designed to support Manhattan-based artists, arts groups and community-focused organizations in accessing public and private funds to share arts activities with the public. The program is comprised of three funds: City funds, provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Greater New York Arts Development Fund, State funds, provided by the New York State Council on the Arts’ (NYSCA) Statewide Community Regrants program, and funds provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation. Funding is intended for artists and organizations that are not able to apply directly to these agencies for arts funding.
Creative Engagement often provides the first grant an applicant receives, which can help leverage additional support. The program is accompanied by technical assistance to applicants, and networking and promotional opportunities for funded projects.
Creative Engagement supports individual artists, arts groups and organizations of diverse disciplines, practices, cultural backgrounds, and career stages to implement arts projects that provide audiences opportunities to attend and/or participate in arts events and programming in neighborhoods from Inwood to the Battery.
Funding is provided for projects in the performing, literary, media, and visual arts, ranging from folk/traditional forms to contemporary and socially-engaged artistic practices. Supported activities include concerts, performances, public art, exhibitions, screenings, festivals, workshops, readings, and more.
The program encourages artistic presentations that respond to the current needs of the local communities and amplify the cultural breadth and identity of the city. Funding priority will be given to projects that engage artists with deep connections to the community in which they are presented and elevate the cultural activity and aspirations of the community involved as well as applicants whose work is rooted in the lived experience of Manhattan’s Black, Indigenous, and immigrant communities.
Funding Information
- The grant program LMCC will award over $500,000 for projects serving communities from Inwood to the Battery taking place between January 1–December 31, 2024
- Creative Engagement awards grants between $4,000 and $12,000.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants must meet the Core Eligibility Requirements in addition to the City, State and/or Howard Gilman Foundation funding requirements.
- Nonprofit Organizations: Creative Engagement supports nonprofit organizations that meet the following Core Eligibility Requirements:
- Organizations must be based in Manhattan.
- Organizations must have proof of nonprofit status.
- Organizations must have a core artistic mission and/or history of arts programming.
- Applicants may not be directly applying to LMCC’s Creative Learning program for the same fiscal year.
- Applicants may not be directly applying for DCLA (GNYADF) or NYSCA (Statewide Community Regrants) funds in another county/borough for the same fiscal year.
- First-time applicants are required to attend an information session webinar for Creative Engagement before applying. Returning applicants are required to attend an information session webinar OR watch a recorded information session webinar for Creative Engagement before applying.
- In addition, to access City funding:
- Organizations may not be directly receiving funds from the New York City Department of
- Cultural Affairs (DCLA) for the same fiscal year.
- Organizations must have operating budgets under $100,000 for two of the last three completed fiscal years.
- Organizations may not be New York City agencies or departments.
- To access State funding:
- Organizations may not be directly applying for funds from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) for a grant for the same fiscal year, regardless of funding status.
- Organizations may not be directly applying to A.R.T./New York’s Opportunity to Create program for the same fiscal year.
- Organizations may not be New York State agencies or departments.
- To access Howard Gilman Foundation funding:
- Organizations may not be directly receiving funds from the Howard Gilman Foundation for the same fiscal year.
- Organizations must apply with a performing arts project (dance, theater, music and multidisciplinary performing arts).
- Organizations must have operating budgets under $250,000 for two of the last three completed fiscal years.
- Individual Artists and Collectives:
- Creative Engagement supports individual artists, as well as collectives, project-based collaborations, and unincorporated groups that meet the following Core Eligibility Requirements:
- Individual artists must be based in Manhattan.
- Individual artists may not apply or receive funds on behalf of any organization.
- Collectives must designate a lead artist (director, or equivalent), who meets all eligibility requirements for individual artists, to apply as an individual on its behalf.
- Applicants must be 18 years of age at the time of submission and may not be enrolled in a full-time undergraduate degree program.
- Applicants may not be directly applying to LMCC’s Creative Learning program for the same fiscal year.
- Applicants may not be directly applying for DCLA (GNYADF) or NYSCA (Statewide Community Regrants) funds in another county/borough for the same fiscal year.
- First-time applicants are required to attend an information session webinar for Creative Engagement before applying. Returning applicants are required to attend an information session webinar OR watch a recorded information session webinar for Creative
- Engagement before applying.
- To access City funding:
- Individual artists and collectives need only meet the above Core Eligibility Requirements.
- To access State funding:
- Individuals and collectives need to be collaborating with a nonprofit Partner Organization to realize the proposed project. If desired, the Partner Organization may also act as the artist’s fiscal sponsor. The Partner Organization must:
- Be a primary project collaborator and contribute resources, monetary, or otherwise, such as facilities, materials, or access to participants or audiences, to demonstrate a true partnership for the project.
- Be based in Manhattan.
- Provide proof of nonprofit status.
- Provide a letter of commitment describing the organization’s role and planned contributions to the project.
- Not be directly applying to New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) for a grant for the same fiscal year.
- Not be a New York State agency or department.
- Individuals and collectives may not be directly applying to New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) for a grant for the same fiscal year, regardless of funding status.
- Individuals and collectives may not be directly applying to A.R.T./New York’s Opportunity to Create program for the same fiscal year.
- To access Howard Gilman Foundation funding:
- Individuals and collectives must apply with a performing arts project (dance, theater, music and multidisciplinary performing arts).
For more information, visit LMCC.
