Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants 2025

The New York Foundation for the Arts is thrilled to announce the 2025 Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants.

Donor Name: New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)

State: All States

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 12/10/2024

Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000

Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned

Details:

This program provides one-time grants of up to $3,000 to professional dancers in need, who are in dire financial emergency. You must demonstrate an urgent and critical need for emergency support in your application, and live in the United States, the District of Columbia, a Tribal Nation, or a U.S. Territory. This program is made possible through the support of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

Eligible Expenses 

Eligible expenses include:

• Rental housing (deposits, rent)
• Utilities
• Food
• Medical/dental/mental healthcare and insurance premiums
• Transportation (car payments, insurance, ride shares/taxis, mass transit)
• NEW: Expenses essential to maintaining your abilities as a dancer (class fees, dance gear/shoes, physical therapy)
• NEW: Rehearsal/studio space rental for teaching or choreographing (including insurance/utilities)
• Other essential expenses which you can specify.

Eligibility Criteria 

There are three eligibility criteria in this program: Individual, Artistic, and Emergency. You need to meet all three areas, as of the cycle’s deadline, to apply.

• Individual Eligibility
  • Applicants must:
    • Be 21 years or older
    • Reside in the United States, the District of Columbia, a Tribal Nation, or a U.S. Territory
    • Be an artist in need, having an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or lower for an individual, or $150,000 for joint filers, averaged over the last two federal tax returns.
    • Not be enrolled in any degree-seeking program.
    • Demonstrate current and ongoing activity as a professional dancer.
    • Be experiencing a dire financial emergency, due to the loss or lack of recent/current live performance work, because of circumstances outside of your control. Common circumstances include cancelled performances, cutbacks or cancellations of dance engagement contracts, loss of touring opportunities, and ongoing shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact.
• Artistic Eligibility
  • Applicants must:
    • Be a professional dancer. You need to have been working as a paid, live dance performer for at least the last five years (since 2018), in any stage/performance style, including aerial, ballet, hip-hop, jazz, modern, tap and traditional/folk. You may apply if you perform in a variety of settings (for instance: ticketed stage performances, free street festivals and/or music videos), as long as you have performed in live, public-facing performances regularly since 2018 (at least one paid engagement annually).
      • You do not need to be a full-time dancer, or receive your primary income through your dance performance.
      • Inactivity, or online/streaming activity, during COVID, and during the last six months, is allowable.
      • Performances in educational/academic settings, social dance, competitive settings, clubs, exotic dance, commercials and industrials cannot be considered in this history of performing.
      • Self-produced online presentation, and/or performances shared solely through personal websites, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or other online platforms are not eligible.
• Emergency Eligibility
  • Applicants must:
    • Be experiencing a dire financial emergency that has occurred within approximately the last six months. This is defined as the lack or imminent endangerment of essentials such as housing, medicine/healthcare, utilities, food and/or transportation. Your expenses must be direct, out-of-pocket expenses for you individually.
    • The dire financial emergency needs to be the result of a loss or lack of current/recent (in the last six months) work as a paid dancer because of circumstances beyond your control. Common circumstances include canceled performances, cutbacks or cancellations of dance engagement contracts, loss of touring opportunities, and ongoing shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact.
    • The expenses for which you are requesting funds must be incurred and paid within the U.S. (including D.C., Tribal Nations and U.S Territories).
    • In each cycle, they can consider emergencies that have occurred within approximately the last six months. The earliest date for an eligible emergency is listed in the cycle’s information.

For more information, visit NYFA.