The Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund: New York State Edition

Dance/NYC is pleased to invite individual dance makers residing in New York State to submit applications for awards through the Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund: New York State Edition (CRF:NYS). Made possible by the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the purpose of this Fund is to continue Dance/NYC’s existing relief efforts and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak on individual dance makers and small-budget dance making organizations and groups, particularly financial losses incurred due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and the social restriction measures implemented to contain the spread of the virus. Selected individual dance makers will receive relief support grant awards of $1,500. Dance/NYC anticipates awarding up to 100 grants, totaling $150,000.

The deadline for the CRF:NYS Tier I (for Individual Dance Makers) application is April 20, 2022, 6:00 p.m. EST, though it may be closed sooner if 1,500 applications are received prior to this date.

Program Overview
This Fund is an extension of Dance/NYC’s Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund (Dance.NYC/COVID-19/Relief-Fund/2020), which was created in 2020 to mitigate the growing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on individual freelance dance workers and small-budget organizations based in the metropolitan New York City area and New Jersey between March 2020 and August 2020. The 2020 Fund prioritized supporting communities most impacted by COVID-19 including: African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA), disabled, immigrant, and women-identifying, transgender, gender nonconforming and/or non-binary dance workers, as well as those at high risk including elderly and immunosuppressed dance workers. In total, the 2020 Fund provided 1,082 awards to 734 unique freelance individuals and relief grants to 125 different organizations totaling $1,000,500 across the grant period.

Similar to the 2020 Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund, the Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund: New York State Edition will be disbursed through a two-tier funding model, allowing for the allocation of funds to be responsive to the unique needs of individual dance makers and organizations/groups, whose income is reliant primarily on in-person activities such as performances, classes, live events, and who often have less access to unemployment protection, savings and/or cash reserves, and multiple sources of funding.

CRF:NYS will prioritize supporting communities most impacted by COVID-19 including: low-income, ALAANA, disabled, immigrant, elderly, immunosuppressed, and women-identifying, transgender, gender nonconforming and/or non-binary artists; artists that are parents, guardians, or primary care providers; and artists living in zip codes disproportionately affected by COVID-19 deaths and cases. Individuals and organizations headquartered in the metropolitan NYC area are welcome to apply, but priority will be given to individuals and organizations that are based in counties outside of the five boroughs of NYC. Current and past grantee individuals and organizations of Dance/NYC’s regranting programs as well as individuals and organizations who have not previously been funded by Dance/NYC are encouraged to apply. Recipients of NYSCA’s FY21 and FY22 Statewide Community Regrant Partners program, in addition to applicants who were not awarded with a FY22 NYSCA grant, are also invited to apply. Additional information about eligibility and application requirements is available on Dance.NYC.

Application Instructions

Interested individual dance makers (dancers, dance performers, and choreographers) will have the opportunity to apply for funds through an accessible online application form on Submittable.com. Before completing the application form, they will be asked to complete a series of questions to determine baseline eligibility for the grant program. If eligible, applicants will be prompted to complete the application. The application consists of six (6) sections in which applicants will be asked to provide contact, banking, and demographic information, and also respond to questions related to how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their artistic work, income, and personal life over time. Dance/NYC estimates applicants may need approximately 2-3 hours to complete their application if they have the required information readily available.