The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is proud to host a second cycle of the Arts Educator Emergency Relief Fund. This fund will award one-time, unrestricted grants up to $1,000 to teaching artists and arts education administrators who are facing serious financial hardship due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The second cycle of this relief fund is made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with additional support from The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation. The goal of this fund is to provide critical assistance to New York City’s arts education community, which has been among the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The second cycle of the Arts Educator Emergency Relief Fund will distribute $330,000.
This fund was originally made possible by the generous support of the New York Community Trust, including funding from the NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund in the New York Community Trust, and the Booth Ferris Foundation.
The relief fund application is now closed. Click the button below to view application questions.
These unrestricted cash grants are intended to support teaching artists and arts education administrators with:
- Lost wages and earnings;
- Medical and healthcare expenses;
- Childcare and eldercare;
- Rent and mortgage payments;
- Food, utilities, and other living expenses.
Recipients for the award will be selected by a review panel based on a brief application until all funds have been exhausted within the award cycle. Additional award cycles may open as funding allows. Full application criteria can be found below under “Applicant Criteria”. Priority in grant selection will be given to applicants from communities most impacted by COVID-19 including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, immunosuppressed, low-income, non-gender conforming, genderqueer, transgender-identifying practitioners, and practitioners with disabilities. In support of our work to dismantle white supremacy within our organizations, schools, and communities, we are committing to granting at least $100,000 to Black arts education practitioners.
- Applications for August/September cycle have closed. A total of $333,500 was awarded to 337 arts education professional of 404 applications received. Learn More.
- The second cycle of the relief fund was open from Monday, March 15 at 12pm to Friday, March 26 at 11:59pm EDT. $330,000 will be distributed in this cycle.
IMPORTANT: Please review the application and FAQs below before completing your application.
If your question is not covered in the FAQs, please contact us at relief@nycaieroundtable.org. Due to the expected high volume of applications, we may not be able to respond to every question we receive. Thank you for your understanding.
If you are interested in donating to the fund to help expand its impact, please contact Kimberly Olsen at kolsen@nycaieroundtable.org or click the donate button button.
Applicant Criteria
To receive support from this fund, you must meet the following eligibility requirements:
1) Be an arts education practitioner as defined by one of the following:
- Teaching artist, teaching artist assistant, or teaching artist intern working with students in NYC public, private, and charter schools; colleges/universities; and/or NYC community groups such as senior centers, libraries, theaters, museums, religious institutions, prisons, veteran centers, or the like;
- Full-time, part-time, or intern arts administrator working in an Education and/or Community Engagement department within a non-profit organization or community-based organization;
- Full-time, part-time, or intern arts administrator working for an arts education non-profit organization.
Note: If you worked as an arts education practitioner at some point between September 2019 and the present, but are currently furloughed or laid off, you are eligible to apply for this grant.
2) Be based and/or working in the metro-New York City area defined as:
- 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn, and the Bronx;
- Long Island: Nassau and Suffolk County;
- Upstate NY: Westchester, Orange, and Rockland County;
- Northern New Jersey: Bergen, Hudson, Union, and Essex Counties.
3) Demonstrate employment in the field of arts education between September 2019 and present, via one of the following options:
- Copy of pay stub;
- Screenshot and URL showing your name listed among the education staff on a company’s website;
- Completion of a supplemental form with signature of current or past employer.
Note: NYC Arts in Education Roundtable reserves the right to contact employers to verify information provided in an application if deemed necessary.
4) Have reported at least 40% loss in income in 2020 OR reported an overall annual income of $30,000 or less in 2020, as a direct result of COVID-19 school closures and cancelled classes;
5) Be 18 years of age or older;
6) Cannot be a current employee, board member, or immediate family member of an employee or board member of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable;
Priority in grant selection will be given to applicants from communities most impacted by COVID-19 including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, immunosuppressed, low-income, non-gender conforming, genderqueer, transgender-identifying practitioners, and practitioners with disabilities. In support of our work to dismantle white supremacy within our organizations, schools, and communities, we are committing to granting at least $100,000 to Black arts education practitioners.
If awarded, you must be able to provide:
- W-9 with social security number (SSN), employer identification number (EIN), or an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)
- Bank Account Number and Routing Number
FAQs
Click the button below to view our FAQs.
Special Thanks
Cycle #2 of NYC Arts in Education Roundtable’s Arts Educator Emergency Relief fund is by made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with additional support from The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation.
Cycle #1 of NYC Arts in Education Roundtable’s Arts Educator Emergency Relief fund was funded by the generosity of the New York Community Trust and the Booth Ferris Foundation.
About the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable: The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable improves, advances, and advocates for arts education in New York City. We are a community of organizations and individuals that shares information, provides professional development, and communicates with the public to promote our work in schools and beyond. Founded in 1992, the Roundtable produces a major annual conference, Face to Face; monthly professional development programs; a destination website; and other activities, in addition to ongoing advocacy and communications efforts for over 1,000 individuals and member organizations.
The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable is committed to equity, inclusion, and justice. We acknowledge our complicity in the long history of systemic racism within our country and the institutions of power in our city. We will continue to work to dismantle white supremacy within our organizations, schools, and communities. Our work here is just beginning, but we know that this has been a fight for centuries.
For more information please visit: www.nycaieroundtable.org.