Arts Alive Grants: Westchester & Rockland Counties (US)

This funding opportunity helps to ensure that residents throughout the region have access to the arts in their communities, particularly in areas where access is limited:

• Artistic/Programmatic Excellence
• Impact and Benefits to the Community
• Managerial/Fiscal Oversight and Viability
• Equity, Diversity, Accessibility and Inclusiveness

Priorities

• An essential priority of the 2025 Arts Alive funding cycle is to engage new, first-time applicants with limited funds available, ArtsWestchester identifies the following additional priorities:
  • Emerging cultural organizations
  • Projects that reach under-resourced Westchester or Rockland communities (those that may be marginalized due to geography, race, economic status, gender, sexual preference, age, religion or disability)
  • Projects that reflect cultural traditions or contemporary expressions of a particular heritage/nationality/ethnicity

Categories

• There are two distinct Arts Alive funding opportunities available to both Counties: Community Impact and Individual Artist. Matching funds are not required in either of the following categories:
  • Arts Alive Community Impact Grant: constitutes the largest component of the Arts Alive funding category. These grants support accessible, open to the public, community-based arts and cultural projects developed by cultural groups and organizations, individual artists, and collectives; and other types of nonprofit organizations that offer arts activities as part of their on-going operations may also apply.
  • Arts Alive Individual Artist Grant – Creation of New Work: grants primarily support the creation and subsequent presentation of new/original work by professional artists. The project should also reflect and engage a segment of the community. Activities such as an exhibition or performance of the new work that is open to the public, and/or the inclusion of community involvement in the development and creative process are engagement examples. While public engagement is an important component of this category, the primary emphasis is on the artists creation of new work.

Funding Information

• Arts Alive Community Impact: Grant amount: $1,000-$7,500
• Arts Alive Individual Artist Grant – Creation of New Work: Grant amount: $1,000-$3,000

Eligible Expenses

• Activities/projects of local arts organizations
• Artist fees
• Marketing/publicity costs
• Administrative expenses directly related to the project
• Supplies and materials needed for the execution of the program/project
• Project-related expendable equipment, software, project-related subscriptions – up to $1,000
• Planning and preparation expenses for a proposed event.

Ineligible Expenses

• New York State agencies and departments (including SUNY schools)
• Public universities, colleges; and public, private, or parochial secondary and elementary schools
• Municipalities or arms of local government
• Artists who are employed by ArtsWestchester or are members of ArtsWestchester’s Board of Directors
• Student projects
• Unincorporated applicants without an eligible sponsor or partner organization (Exception: Individual Artist category)
• Non-incorporated chapters of organizations whose “parent” is incorporated outside of the Westchester or Rockland area
• Start-up or seed funding for the establishment of a new organization
• General operating expenses (e.g. Office supplies, rental of office space)
• At-risk/social service programs when the focus is primarily for rehabilitative, worship or therapeutic purposes
• Acquisition of works of art
• Contingency funds
• Permanent equipment exceeding $1,000
• Capital improvements
• Creation of textbooks or classroom material
• Lobbying expenses
• Programs in which children are used as professional artists (paid a fee)
• Regrants by applicants to fund other activities
• Cash prizes, juried shows, fellowships, scholarships and other awards to students

Eligibility Criteria

• All individual applicants, artists, and organizational representatives must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application.
• Organizations may apply for Community Impact grants. Eligible organizations must:
  • Be designated as a New York State not-for-profit, based in Westchester or Rockland and whose primary area of service is within Westchester or Rockland.
  • Be governed by an active board of trustees that meets regularly or be able to demonstrate that it is working toward establishing such a board
  • Conduct all activities in a way that does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.
• The following organization types are eligible:
  • A group that is incorporated in New York State as a not-for-profit corporation (a “domestic not-for-profit corporation”), and registered with the Charities Bureau
  • A group that is incorporated in another state as a not-for-profit corporation, registered in New York State (as a “foreign not-for-profit corporation”), with its primary location in NYS (or the relevant regrant region), and registered with the Charities Bureau
  • An individual or group of individuals working together (without a corporate entity of any kind) and that have a fiscal sponsor that is one of the above two eligible types
• Artists: Artists may apply for either of the 2025 Arts Alive funding opportunities – Community Impact or Creation of New Work. In both categories, the Artist is the grantee if funding is awarded.

Ineligibility Criteria

• No other types are eligible. That includes the following:
  • A group that is formed/incorporated as a limited liability company (LLC), business corporation, or limited liability partnership (LLP) in New York State
  • A group that is formed/incorporated as a limited liability company (LLC), business corporation, or limited liability partnership (LLP) in another state and registered to do business in New York State
  • A group in either of the two types above that is seeking to apply with an eligible fiscal sponsor
  • A group that is seeking to apply as an individual or group of individuals but the project also publicly functions in a limited liability company (LLC), business corporation, or limited liability partnership (LLP).

Application Requirements

• Individual Artist:
  • Sample of your professional work
  • Sample of work produced by students or workshop participants with whom you have worked (as appropriate)
  • Concise description of the work submitted: its context and approach
• Cultural Organizations:
  • Sample of past productions, exhibitions, events, etc.
  • Sample of work students produced through their participation in your organization’s education program
  • Concise description of the work submitted: its context and approach
• Work samples should represent work from the last three years:
  • Visual Arts Projects: no more than 10 labeled images in JPEG format, be sure to include title, date created, size, and medium (up to 10MB).
  • Performing Arts, Film Media, or Other Time-Based Projects: Video and audio clips uploaded or included as a web-links hosted on external sites should be no more than 3 minutes, and time stamped to the correct chapter or time (Up to 250MB).
• Literary Projects: No more than 20 pages to be uploaded as jpegs with application (up to 10MB).

For more information, visit ArtsWestchester.