New York State Council on the Arts Funding Update

The New York State Council on the Arts provided the following bulletin that addresses:

• Federal Recovery Act – Overview
• Allocation for State Arts Agencies
• NEA Competitive Grants
• Additional Opportunities

1. Federal Recovery Act - Overview

As you may know, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. The Recovery Act includes a $50 million allocation for the National Endowment for the Arts to be administered in two ways:

• 60% of the allocation will be available directly through the NEA as one-time grants to eligible arts and cultural organizations (see “NEA Competitive Grants” below).
• 40% of the allocation will be administered by State Arts Agencies, including NYSCA, through subgranting programs to eligible nonprofit organizations projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts.

Organizations may apply for federal stimulus funds to as many agencies and organizations as they are eligible (NEA, NYSCA, designated regional funders, etc.). However, organizations may receive funding from only one source.

Detailed information about funding from the NEA follows. Please review the information carefully, particularly information about NEA competitive grants, which are due APRIL 2, 2009.

Click here to learn more about the Recovery Act.

2. Allocation for State Arts Agencies
The Federal Recovery Act includes an allocation to State Arts Agencies for subgranting programs to eligible nonprofit organizations projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts. The NEA has announced that funded projects must address two areas: salary support and contractual fees.

It is projected that NYSCA will receive approximately $400,000. NYSCA is currently developing a process for the distribution of these funds, which must first be approved by the NEA. NYSCA expects to announce guidelines in April with a grant deadline of late May. These guidelines will be posted on NYSCA's website and eblast as soon as they are available.

3. NEA Competitive Grants
All applicants must be previous NEA award recipients from the past four years. All grants are non-matching and will be awarded for the amount requested. Organizations may request a grant amount of $25,000 or $50,000. Each organization is limited to one application. More information can be found at http://www.nea.gov/recovery

Organizations are required to submit their applications electronically through Grants.gov, the federal government's online application system. The Grants.gov system must receive your application no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on April 2, 2009.

The NEA strongly recommends that you submit at least 10 days in advance of the deadline to give yourself ample time to resolve any problems that you might encounter.

4. Additional Opportunities
New York State Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Cabinet

To manage the development of State and local infrastructure projects financed through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Governor Paterson has created the New York State Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Cabinet. The home page for the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Cabinet (http://economicrecovery.ny.gov/index.htm) contains valuable information about how the American Recovery and Reinvestment act will impact New York State.

NYSCA strongly encourages interested organizations to utilize the online tools available on the Economic Recovery homepage, including the Submit Proposals section. Click here or visit http://economicrecovery.ny.gov/index.htm to learn more. You can also join the Economic Recovery mailing list by clicking on “Get Updates”.

Federal Grant Opportunities
Other federal agencies, including the National Park Service, Housing and Urban Development, and others, are expected to announce funding opportunities in the days and weeks ahead for which arts and cultural organizations may be eligible. Interested organizations should visit www.grants.gov for a directory of recently announced opportunities and up to date informational about recovery act opportunities.

All applications for federal grants, including NEA competitive grants, are processed though www.grants.gov.