Spark change, one artist at a time.
Rebecca Margolick and Dasol Kim in WE ARE NATURE: A Monarch’s Journey presented by NOoSPHERE Arts and Newton Creek Alliance in collaboration with CreateART. Photo by Effy Grey, 2021. NOoSPHERE Arts is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee.
Artists are the engines that drive social transformation. They are educators and community caretakers; they spark inspiration and joy. Adequately valuing the wellbeing of artists is long overdue. That’s why BAC launched the Brooklyn Empower Fund. Through the Fund, we’ll be pooling donations to make unrestricted grants to artists.
Our goal is to raise $30,000 to distribute unrestricted grants of $1,500 to 20 Brooklyn artists who are committed to advancing their communities through art programming. Any funding raised beyond that will go to support Brooklyn Arts Council, so we can keep supporting artists.
A gift of any size will directly impact the artists that make Brooklyn the best place to be.
Our Grantees' Events
Upcoming events hosted by our board members, grantees, fiscal sponsees, and partner organizations. Keep scrolling for a full, comprehensive list of what's top-of-mind this December.
LayeRhythm (On The Move) with STASIS
LayeRhythm is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee.
December 15 | 7:30 PM
Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center
Samuel B. & David Rose Building
165 West 65th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY
Presented in collaboration with Works & Process and 92NY, and community partner HI-ARTS
Embodying the continuum of concert and social dance, LayeRhythm led by Mai Lê Hô weaves a singular mix of freestyle dance, live music, and audience interaction, celebrating the vibrancy of street and club dance cultures. Spotlighting FlexN's STASIS, the evening will feature choreographed work from the company alongside improvisations by musicians, dancers and emcees, captivating young and old, theater and club goers.
THIS and THAT
The Bushwick Starr is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee.
Image via HERE’s website.
Through December 17
HERE
145 6th Ave, New York, NY
The Bushwick Starr and The Chocolate Factory Theater in partnership with HERE present The Institute of Useless Activity’s THIS and THAT. What is THIS? What is THAT? — THAT imagines the creation of the universe. Video equipment comes to life by the cranking of tripod knobs, zooming in and out, maneuvering visual feedback loops, dissolving images together and apart, creating an abstract video puppetry before our eyes. THIS is about people – their romantic sense of longing, loss, alienation and near miss. Hand shadow vignettes, inspired by Henry Moore sculptures, morph from one scene to another.
Created by Phil Soltanoff / Steven Wendt; Performed by Steven Wendt; Directed by Phil Soltanoff
Events & Workshops
Additional happenings hosted by our grantees and other organizations, collectives, and institutions.
Artist Meeting - Memory: Moving Toward Inclusivity
December 9 | 4 PM - 6 PM | Virtual
Artist Meetings are an ongoing workshop series developed for and by writers affiliated with Teachers & Writers Collaborative. There’s a powerful relationship between movement and memory. In “Memory Poetry” participants will take part in a lesson designed for 2nd and 3rd grade Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) classrooms. The lesson breaks down a prose poem by asking students to develop a movement-based performance of the work. Throughout the presentation, participants will be invited to reflect on their experiences in ICT or self-contained classrooms, brainstorm inclusive strategies, and, of, course, move!
BĀS: the Harmony Between Me and You (work-in-process)
Photo credit (left): JMA Photography
Photo credit (right): Julia Comita
December 14 & 16 | 7:30 PM
647 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY
Join BRIC for a work-in-process performance of BĀS by 2022/23 BRIClab Performing Arts residents Sugar Vendil and Janelle Lawrence. BĀS is a Black and Asian bridging project. It seeks to address racial tensions and foster mutual understanding, empathy, and healing through active listening and storytelling.
Embracing Our Sovereignty by Tomás Karmelo Amaya
On view through December 16
Wednesday – Sunday | 11 AM - 6 PM
145 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn
In partnership with Instagram Design, Photoville presents an immersive photographic exhibition that uses augmented reality to add new layers of storytelling to the work of artist Tomás Karmelo Amaya. Embracing Our Sovereignty is a series of photographs that offers a glimpse of Amaya’s Indigenous family, friends, and collaborators.
K-12 Art & Design Classes at Pratt Institute
Pratt has three OST art and design classes running during the academic year. All programs provide valuable art and design instruction taught by Pratt faculty members for high school students looking to strengthen their skills and find a community of like-minded creative youth.
Design Initiatives for Community Empowerment (DICE)
Applications now open until classes are fully enrolled
Wednesdays | 4:30 - 6:30 PM
DICE is an after-school program that introduces students to the challenges of creative thinking and problem-solving through studio classes in design. Students investigate their communities through various design disciplines such as fashion design, architecture and urban design, and entrepreneurship.
Saturday Art School (SAS)
Enrollment Deadline: December 16 or until classes are fully enrolled
February 11 – April 29 | Saturdays | 10 AM - 12 PM
SAS students are encouraged to explore a variety of media, techniques, and approaches. This program continues to validate our belief that opportunities to learn art and design should be available to children of all ages.
Pratt Young Scholars
Enrollment Deadline: March 1
Pratt Young Scholars is a need-based, three-year scholarship program providing instruction in art and design with college preparation to motivated high school students. Through innovative and challenging studio experiences in the Institute’s youth programs, this scholarship provides students with the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue advanced studies in art and design.
Teaching Artistry for Social Impact with the International Teaching Artists Collaborative
December 15 | 4 PM | Zoom
Join NYC Arts in Education Rountable in collaboration with the International Teaching Artists Collaborative (ITAC), to learn about ITAC's pioneering free resource, Teaching Artistry for Social Impact, and a host of tools and strategies available to build your own social impact project. ITAC is the first global network of artists who work in schools and communities—they celebrate, support, and advance the wide range of TA practices around the world.
NY4CA 2023 Cultural Convening
January 18 | 4 PM | Zoom
On Wednesday, January 18th at 4pm, New Yorkers for Culture and Arts will host a gathering via zoom for our cultural community and NY City Council Members. This convening will be an opportunity for community members to connect with current city leadership to share issues facing us in the year ahead, and to discuss culture and arts initiatives specific to their district.
BRIC Podcast Intensive
February 16 - May 11 | Thursdays | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Deadline: January 6
The BRIC Podcast Intensive will guide you through all of the stages of starting a podcast. In this class, a group of 12 will be selected to write, produce, record, and edit a podcast episode on a topic or subject of their choice. The intensive will culminate with a special public listening event which will also air on BRIC’s podcast channels.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso’s 2023 State of the Borough Address
January 10 | 6:30 PM
The Theater at City Tech
275 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY
Save the date! Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso will provide an overview of his first year in office and set the stage for the work to come! This event is open to the public, so please feel free to share event details with other residents.
2023 NYC Open Streets
Deadline to launch on or before June 30: January 31
Deadline to launch on or after July 1: April 14
New York City's Open Streets program transforms streets into public space open to all. These transformations allow for a range of activities that promote economic development, support schools, and provide new ways for New Yorkers to enjoy cultural programming and build community.
Funding & Open Calls
Reliable funding opportunities from outside collectives and institutions.
Hudson Square BID: OPEN CALL for artists
Deadline: December 23 at 5 PM EST
Hudson Square BID is excited to announce an open call for NYC-based artists to design and paint a series of creative wayfinding artworks in the Hudson Square neighborhood. The selected artist or artist team will paint original artwork on 20” diameter fiberglass spheres to be installed in tree pits along the route between the heart of Hudson Square and Hudson River Park. The selected proposal for art will reflect the identity of Hudson Square and connect people, the neighborhood, and the waterfront. This project seeks to create meaningful landmarks in our built environment and reflect our diverse, creative community.
2023 GrowTogether T-Shirt Design Contest
Deadline: December 9
Submit up to three original designs based on the 2023 GreenThumb GrowTogether theme, Learning from the Land: Bounties of Wisdom from Community Garden by Friday, December 9, 2022! The winning artwork will appear on the 2023 GrowTogether t-shirts, worn by hundreds of gardeners all over the city. In addition to the 39th annual GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference, GreenThumb will be celebrating its 45th anniversary throughout 2023. The t-shirt will be shared with gardeners all season long.
The David Prize
$200,000
Deadline: December 12
The David Prize is a celebration of individuals and ideas to create a better, brighter New York City. Open to any individual working in the five boroughs, the Prize welcomes those with the grit and vision to change our communities, our culture and our future for good. Whether socially, economically, culturally, environmentally (or otherwise), awardees have a divergent and unique vision for how to make NYC a place where people yearn to live, and concrete ideas about how to achieve it.
LMCC 2023 Arts Center Residency
Benjamin Simon, Arts Center Residency 2021. Photo by Ian Douglas.
Deadline: December 13 at 5 PM EST
The Arts Center at Governors Island is home to year-round artist residency programs for artists working in any discipline. LMCC’s residency programs aim to meet the immediate studio space needs of the artist community we serve by converting unconventional, vacant spaces into work and process space for artists. LMCC’s residency programs are a vital part of our commitment to ensuring artists have free, collaborative space for creative development and production in New York City today and long into our shared futures.
Art in the Parks: Highland Park Art Grant
$25,000
Deadline: December 18
The Highland Park Art Grant will support the creation of one new, temporary artwork by a New York City-based emerging artist in Highland Park, Brooklyn. The resulting artwork will transform an area of the park into an art destination, with supporting events and programs. The grantee will receive an award of $25,000 to create their proposed artwork.
harvestworks’ New Works and Creative Residency Program
$5,000
Deadline: December 20
The New Works and Creative Residency Program is a national program that awards contemporary American artists and legal US residents creating tech-centered sound and visual artworks a $5,000 commission to produce and present a new artwork. The residencies will take place in New York City at the Harvestworks’ Technology, Engineering, Art and Music Lab (T.E.A.M).
NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship
INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival (Sponsored Project), led by Svea Schneider, INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival, July 2017, Photo Credit: Javier Gamboa.
Four Deadlines:
March 31 | June 30 | September 30 | December 31
NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship program supports artists across all disciplines by providing the tools to help you develop creative projects, build organizations, and craft sustainable careers. Fiscal sponsorship allows individual artists and emerging arts organizations raise funds using NYFA’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Many funders only give their financial support to non-profit organizations, and by having NYFA as a fiscal sponsor you are opening up possibilities to access funding and make your work.
Art Omi: Music Residency
Deadline: January 2 at 11:59 PM EST
Art Omi: Music invites ten to twelve musicians and composers from around the globe to come together for two and a half weeks each summer for a uniquely collaborative music making residency. Art Omi: Music encourages its participants to share ideas, perform each other’s works, and write music for one another, while exploring their own musical vision and broadening their artistic and cultural horizons.
Queens Arts Fund
$1,000 - $5,000
Deadline: January 5 at 5 PM EST
Applications are now open for the Queens Arts Fund (QAF), a program being administered this year by New York Foundation for the Arts which offers project-based grants to support the local production of artwork and cultural programs that highlight, engage, and bolster the diverse communities of Queens.
The Arts Access Grant ($1,000 - $5,000) supports Queens-based small-budget 501c3 nonprofit organizations or unincorporated artist collectives and their programming.
The New Work Grant ($3,000) goes to Queens-based individual artists, unincorporated artist collectives, or collaborations between multiple artists for projects that have not been produced or presented to an audience before.
Yaddo Residency
Deadline: January 5
For emerging and professional artists from all nations and backgrounds working in performing arts, literature, and visual art, this residency nurtures creative process at Yaddo's 400-acre retreat in Saratoga Springs, NY. Yaddo’s mission is to nurture the creative process at our 400-acre retreat in upstate, New York, protecting the essential privacy of artists and offering an opportunity to work without interruption in a supportive environment.
The AnkhLave Garden Project Fellowship at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Deadline: January 6
This program selects five BIPOC NYC-based artists to create site-specific work in a public space and a traditional gallery, in partnership with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The artists will receive an honorarium of $1,000 and will be reimbursed up to $1,000 in expenses. One of the five artists will be selected to receive up to $10,000 for the creation of an original treehouse.
Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO)
Up to $5,000
Deadline: January 9
Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) provides direct support to individual Bronx artists who create works in the literary, media, visual, and performing arts. BCA awards grants up to $5,000 to Bronx artists each year, based solely on artistic excellence.
Media Arts Assistance Fund
Up to $7,500
Deadline: January 15
NYSCA in partnership with Wave Farm present 2023 Media Arts Assistance Fund (MAAF). For individual artists, MAAF provides support for the completion and/or public presentation of new works in all genres of sound and moving image art, including emergent technology. Grant awards assist artists in completing new work, reaching public audiences, and advance artistic exploration and public engagement in the media arts.
MAXMachina 2023 Lab
Up to $7,500
Deadline: January 15
Media Art Xploration (MAX) invites storytellers, performers, and creative technologists to submit applications for projects that expand live performance through science and technology. MAX is looking for projects that expand live performance by using science and technology to explore the promise and the peril of our rapidly changing world.
National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Program
$5,000 - $20,000
Deadline: January 18
The NEA Big Read—a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest—broadens our understanding of our world, our neighbors, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience. Showcasing a diverse range of themes, voices, and perspectives, the NEA Big Read aims to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses, and new discoveries and connections in each community.
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship
Sangram Majumdar (Fellow in Painting ’18), Giacometti’s Shadow, 2018, oil on canvas’.
$8,000
Deadline: January 25 at 5 PM EST
The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is a $8,000 unrestricted cash grant available to artists living in New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located therein. This grant is awarded in 15 different disciplines over a three-year period (five categories a year). The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is not a project grant, but is intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, at all levels of their artistic development.
The Musicians Foundation Financial Assistance Grant
$500 - $3,000
Deadline: Rolling
The Musicians Foundation provides $500-$3,000 grants to U.S. musicians in any genre in a time of acute need due to personal, medical, dental, or family crisis; natural disaster; or other emergency situation. Musicians Foundation was formed to foster the interests and advance the condition and social welfare of professional musicians and to provide voluntary aid and assistance to professional musicians and their families in case of need.
Resources
National Arts Education Status Report 2019
The Arts Education Data Project (AEDP) provides the first-ever look at the status and condition of arts education in the U.S. using actual student participation data reported by school districts to their state education departments. The AEDP created the National Arts Education Status Report 2019 as a comprehensive look at access to and participation in arts education in the United States.
The status report determined that quality arts education programs continue to be limited or not available in many schools, despite arts education programs thriving in some communities.
NYFA Immigrant Artist Resource Center
Lily & Honglei, “The Stereotype” in Flushing Chinatown, NY, 2022. Photo by Korea Art Forum.
Founded to serve as a hub where immigrant artists can access resources, exchange ideas, collaborate, and amplify their voices in the American cultural landscape. Programming centers on helping immigrant artists with the development and presentation of their works and fostering communities and a sense of belonging while providing support for their overall well-being.
What We're Reading
Have you encountered an inspiring or engaging read related to the COVID-19 era lately? Tell us about it at webmaster@brooklynartscouncil.org.
Sophie Bress. “How Dance Artists are Addressing the U.S. Prison System in Their Work, Both Onstage and on the Inside,” Dance Magazine, November 2022.
Read
Natasha Gural. “Museums Must Retain Recently-Hired Employees To Maintain Diversity: Survey,” Forbes, November 2022.
Read
NYFA Staff. “Ask the Artists Part 3: What is the Most Valuable Career Advice You’ve Ever Received?,” NYFA Blog, November 2022.
Read
Etty Yaniv. “Linda Kuo & Dancers Unlimited,” Art Spiel, November 2022.
Dancers Unlimited is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee.
Read
Cover Image: Cuerpxs de Luz, writtern and performed by Araujo Arantxa, 2021 Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee. Photo by Wei Chao, 2019.
Empowering Artists. Empowering Communities.
The arts are a lifeline to sustain wonder, inspiration, healing, and a sense of community in our lives. Please join Brooklyn Arts Council in our mission to empower Brooklyn artists and arts organizations that bring life and joy into our home borough.