Cultural Solidarity Fund

The Cultural Solidarity Fund application will open for one week from February 26th at 9 AM to March 5th at 9 PM.

Please check back to access the application.

The Cultural Solidarity Fund will open with $75,000 distributing an initial 150 $500 relief micro-grants to artists and cultural workers based in New York City. The CSF is working towards creating an application process that is quick and easy. There will be no narrative sections of this application that need to be prepared. All questions will be practical in nature. While $500 is not a huge amount of money, we hope that this streamlined process can make these grants accessible to any artist or cultural worker in need.

Requirements

• Applicants must be 18 years of age or older, immigrants are welcome to apply.
• Geography: This fund is only open to current residents of New York City’s five boroughs as of April 1, 2020: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.
• Discipline/Role (Artists and Cultural Workers in the live arts as well as in the visual arts): The CSF is open to Actors, Administrators, Choreographers, Custodians, Curators, Dancers, Designers, Directors, Drivers, Dramaturgs, Front of House, Guards, Janitors, Installers, Musicians, Playwrights, Production Managers, Receptionists, Technical Crew and Art Handlers, Stage Managers, Teaching Artists, Technicians, Ushers, Visual Artists and anybody working in any capacity in the arts/cultural non-profit or community-based sector.
• Work History: This fund is for Artists and Cultural Workers in the live arts and visual arts who work in the non-profit or grassroots art/cultural sector in New York City.
• Need: The CSF aims to direct funds specifically to artists and cultural workers in most urgent need of assistance with rent, groceries, medical expenses and other essential services. (At this time we ask that you do not apply for a microgrant through the Cultural
• Solidarity Fund to use for your creative work to ensure that those who will benefit most from the CSF can access the funds.) If you know an artist or cultural worker in need of assistance, please direct them to apply for this Fund. It is by supporting one another and considering the needs of others that we can create a more equitable web of support for our fellow artists and cultural workers.
• Priority: Although all eligible artists and cultural works are welcome and encouraged to apply, priority will be given to those who self identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), immigrant, undocumented, and/or disabled/deaf as it is documented that COVID-19 has impacted these communities most severely.

All eligible applications will be vetted by a panel that includes representatives from the coalition of cultural/arts organizations who came together to build the Cultural Solidarity Fund as well as leadership from the Indie Theater Fund, using the following criteria:

• Urgency of need.
• An applicant’s identification as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color), immigrant, undocumented, or disabled/deaf.
• A resident in one of the five NYC boroughs on April 1, 2020. We understand some artists may be quarantined outside of their NYC home.
• Based on the Fund’s available resources within the multiple pools of reserved funds (see below, How Is The Pie Cut and Why)
• All applicants will receive confirmation that their application was received and is being reviewed by March 10th, 2021.
• The first round of funding will be announced by March 19th, 2021.
• AS/IF additional funds are received, a new round of grants and/or lottery will be announced weekly.

Application Instructions

The Fund will open for one week from February 26th at 9 AM to March 5th at 9 PM.