Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants

This program provides one-time grants of up to $5,000 to professional dancers in need, who have a dire financial emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You must demonstrate an urgent and critical need for emergency support in order to apply.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is proud to partner with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to administer Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants, a new emergency grant program for professional dancers. Robert Rauschenberg was committed to assisting fellow artists in need of emergency aid, ultimately establishing the nonprofit foundation Change, Inc. in 1970. Recognizing the particularly extreme impact the pandemic has had on dancers, the Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants have been created.

This program provides one-time grants of up to $5,000 to professional dancers* in need,** who are in dire financial emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Dire financial emergencies“ include the lack or imminent endangerment of essentials such as housing, medicine/healthcare, utilities, and food. If you were displaced due to COVID-19, expenses to enable you to return to your working home base are eligible. You must demonstrate an urgent and critical need for emergency support in your application.

*Professional = You have recent and sustained activity as a paid dancer (in any stage/performance style, including aerial, ballet, hip-hop, jazz, modern, tap, and traditional/folk) over the last 3-4 years in public-facing performances. Inactivity, or online/streaming activity, during COVID is allowable. Self-produced online presentation and/or performances shared solely through Instagram or Facebook are not eligible.

**To be eligible to apply, your average adjusted gross income for the last two years you’ve filed tax returns must be no greater than $75,000 ($150,000 for joint filers).

You can request funding for eligible expenses for up to a three-month period, ranging from four months before the grant deadline through four months after the grant deadline. Eligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

• Housing (deposits, rent, utilities)
• Medical/dental/vision insurance premiums
• Medical/dental/vision/mental health care
• Food
• Transportation (car payments, insurance, ride shares/taxis, mass transit)
• Other essential expenses which you can specify

Ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

• Mortgage payments
• Expenses related to other family members – e.g. food, healthcare, child/parent-care
• Non-essential expenses
• While housing and utilities expenses may be requested for your general household, other eligible expenses may only be requested for your own individual purposes. Expenses can be already paid; can be owed; or can be coming up in the near future. If you receive a grant, you will be required to certify your use of the funds for the expenses itemized in your application, and provide copies of your tax returns for the last two years you have filed.

GRANT CYCLES
Cycle 1 will open on November 9, 2021, with a deadline of January 7, 2022. Funds may be requested for emergency expenses for up to a three-month period between September 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022.

Cycle 2 will open on March 1, 2022 with a deadline of April 1, 2022. Funds may be requested for emergency expenses for up to a three-month period between December 1, 2021 and July 31, 2022.

A third cycle will be implemented before June 2022.

They anticipate this will be a highly competitive grant program. In each cycle, $100,000, an estimated 20 grants, will be awarded. Please review their eligibility and application requirements to determine that you are eligible before applying. If you have questions, please contact the grants administrator at emergencyfunds@nyfa.org or 212-366-6900, ext. 239.

For more information and to apply (on or after Nov. 9), click here.