Welcome to the NYC Arts in Education COVID-19 Resource Page!

“During this unprecedented shut down of NYC DOE school sites, the Office of Arts and Special Projects worked with senior leaders at DOE to make accommodations to better support schools and our students’ arts education. For the time during which students are not in attendance at DOE school sites:

• The DOE will have limited administrative personnel available throughout the time when schools are not in attendance, including limited vendor payment staff. While payments may take longer than usual, vendors may submit invoices for services rendered to the school for certification and payment throughout this non-attendance time.
  • All supporting documentation rules still apply for payment of invoices. Most frequently, this may be rosters of students in attendance for sessions or other proof of completion of services. Schools may have this documentation, but vendors are encouraged to maintain their own rosters and proof of services rendered for quicker invoicing. Per DOE’s standard process, vendors submit invoices and associated documentation to the school that created the purchase order for certification and payment.

• All purchasing timelines and deadlines for this school year still apply. Each school and district may have slightly different procurement deadlines, but the deadline to create new encumbrances for the 2019-2020 school year is typically in April.
• DOE is only able to pay for services rendered and cannot pay encumbrances in full if full services are not rendered.
• DOE encourages schools and arts and cultural partner organizations with existing encumbered purchase orders for arts education services to be guided by the following:
  • Work together to determine how students’ arts learning aligned with the vision and intent of the original scope of services can be delivered remotely;
  • For partnerships with existing Purchase Orders (POs) that are able to continue services remotely, schools should note any changes to the original PO specifics due to the transition to remote instruction in the “Notes” section when certifying the services rendered in FAMIS. For example, “Remote delivery of arts education services during Covid-19 school non-attendance days.”
  • Schools may also encumber new POs for remote arts learning services during Covid-19 with partner organizations through the DOE procurement deadlines (see above – typically April).
  • For partnerships with existing POs that are unable to find ways to continue services remotely, partners should invoice for services rendered. DOE fiscal year funds, including the Office of Arts and Special Projects Arts Partnership Grant funds, do not roll and must be used for services provided within this fiscal year (07/01/2019-06/30/2020).

For questions about Arts Partnership Grants, please reach out to Audrey Cox, Director of Arts Partnerships at ACox16@schools.nyc.gov. For any other questions, please reach out to ArtsAndSpecialProjects@schools.nyc.gov.

Our students’ arts education and creative voice is more important than ever, and the Office of Arts and Special Projects remains committed to supporting the work of our deep and rich school arts partnerships. Thank you for your work on behalf of our students.”

“During this unprecedented shut down of NYC DOE school sites, the Office of Arts and Special Projects is working with senior leaders at the DOE to solidify updated guidance to arts partner vendors and Arts Partnership Grant recipients. We are waiting on final confirmation, but we want to be as transparent as possible as the DOE works through policy guidance during this time. We are anticipating flexibility with how arts partners may deliver services during this time of non-attendance, including potentially remote services. With increased flexibility, we hope that NYC students will be able to continue to benefit from the rich expertise of our incredible arts and cultural partners. The Office of Arts and Special Projects will follow-up when this guidance has been solidified

Please Note: The DOE is only able to pay for services rendered, and all standard procurement deadlines, invoicing procedures, and required documentation still apply. There will be no exceptions or exemptions to these procedures.”

“The DOE will maintain at least one person to process vendor payments during the schools shut down. All standard documentation rules apply, so vendors should send an invoice against their purchase order and request a roster or whatever other documentation is required by the school. The school will then send that for certification, processing, and payment. Vendors should do this now to the most prompt payment for services already rendered as school staff are in Wednesday and Thursday of this week. We expect further guidance about future services soon and will update partners when we have it.”

“Businesses with fewer than 100 employees can be eligible for an interest free loan for up to $75,000.” Click here for more information on NYC Assistance & Guidance for Businesses Impacted Due to Novel Coronavirus.