New micro-grants are available for the City’s most under-resourced communities to provide free arts and culture performances in neighborhood parks, plazas and community gardens this summer and fall.

 

City Parks Foundation is a nonprofit whose mission is to make parks vibrant centers of community through sports, arts, community-building and environmental education programs. It organizes the citywide “SummerStage” program each year in conjunction with Capital One. Last summer, the program was made virtual. Together with a newly formed “Culture in Parks and Plazas Coalition,” City Parks Foundation announced on Thursday, May 6, the creation of the “Green Arts Live NYC fund.”

 

The fund is designed to equitably provide financial, consulting and production support to NYC artists, arts groups, cultural, and community-based organizations and volunteer stewardship groups in all New York City boroughs. It will be managed by City Parks Foundation, and will award grants of up to $3,000 to such individuals or groups who present free, family-friendly, performing arts programs or arts workshops in public green spaces and plazas.

 

Heather Lubov, executive director of City Parks Foundation, said this past year has highlighted just how essential parks are to the city’s health and welfare. “More than ever before, parks provided, and will continue to provide, respite as well as serve as hosts for free cultural expression,” she said. “This summer, as New York comes back to life, we will activate these important neighborhood centers while at the same time, provide support to local artists, cultural organizations and production teams, all of whom have been financially devastated by the pandemic. Our city’s parks, plazas and gardens will serve as safe, accessible performance spaces for every community.”

 

Priority for grants will be given to individual artists/ensembles and independent arts groups that may not be incorporated, volunteer-based, community park and plaza groups, and small, nonprofit community based arts organizations. In addition, priority will be given to programs and artists in neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19, along with organizations led by individuals that identify as BIPOC, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and/or immigrant populations.

 

The Culture in Parks and Plazas Coalition comprises teams from City Parks Foundation, Horticultural Society of New York, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts, NYC Department of Transportation, OpenCultureWORKS and Street Lab. The teams created the fund in order to activate and engage the green and public spaces of NYC with free live arts and cultural performances.

 

The fund is also supported by The New York Community Trust which, according to its website, is a community foundation for New York City “that connects past, present, and future generous New Yorkers with vital nonprofits working to make a healthy, equitable, and thriving community for all.”

 

Salem Tsegaye is program officer for arts and culture at the New York Community Trust and said after a difficult and isolating chapter in the city’s history, the program will enable New Yorkers to come together safely, as local artists and arts groups bring  green spaces and plazas to new life. “We are proud to support this dynamic coalition of groups and look forward to a spring and summer full of shared performances, discovery, and applause,” he said.

 

Con Edison’s “Arts Al Fresco,” series is also providing additional, financial support to the fund. Frances A. Resheske is Con Edison’s senior vice president of corporate affairs. She said the company’s long standing commitment to making the arts accessible to all New Yorkers is more important today than ever before. “As New York recovers from the pandemic, we are pleased to support local artists and cultural organizations in our ‘Arts Al Fresco’ series,” she said.  “These free public events will connect New Yorkers to vibrant performing artists at outdoor venues and open spaces in our customers’ communities.”

 

Norwood News recently reported that the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) has enhanced the application process for economic relief for operators of live venues, live performing arts organizations, museums and movie theaters, as well as live venue promoters, theatrical producers and talent representatives. The agency relaunched its Shuttered Venue Operators Grant application portal (SVOG) on Saturday, April 24, following the resolution of some technical issues encountered during its initial launch on April 8.

 

Grant applications to the Green Arts Live NYC fund can be submitted from Monday, May 10, through Friday, May 28, at 12:00 p.m. ET via the application portal. Award notifications will begin the week of June 21. All grant awarded projects must be completed no later than October 31, 2021. More information and grant guidelines are available at cityparksfoundation.org/green-arts.