The Queens Arts Fund (QAF) — which supports small, local arts and culture nonprofits, individual artists, and artist collectives with grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 — is launching its Fiscal Year 2023 application cycle this coming Tuesday, November 8.
QAF’s mission is to provide project-based funding to artists and organizations to bolster the production of art and cultural activity in the New York borough of Queens. Last year, QAF awarded 34 grants to “small-budget” nonprofits based in Queens to aid in their efforts to put on diverse programming ranging from panel discussions to concert series and film screenings, and over 100 grants to artists.
“These projects will directly contribute to the cultural vibrancy of Queens while helping to support and uplift the organizations and artists who are investing and creating in the borough,” New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Executive Director Michael Royce said in a statement.
The Arts Access Grant allocates between $1,000 and $5,000 to nonprofits and unincorporated artist collectives. The New Work Grant offers $3,000 to artists based in Queens to produce unrealized or unexhibited work. Artists can apply individually, as part of a collective, or as part of an interdisciplinary collaboration.
To qualify for the grant, artists and organizations must publicly present their work in some way, either virtually or in person. Exhibitions, performances, workshops, and readings are some potential venues for the public presentation of work, and these events must be open to the general public.
This is the first year that the grant will be jointly administered by NYFA, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Queens Council on the Arts (QCA), with NYFA indicating in a release that the QCA would be taking “a year off to restructure and rebuild.”
Gotham Dance Theater, which received a QAF grant last year, applied it to the organization’s annual Summer Suite, an outdoor jazz and hip-hop dance medley that included free dance classes for participants. Marc Nuñez, director of Gotham Dance Theater, specified that the grant helped pay for dancers, choreographers, rehearsal space, and costumes and props.
Artist Sui Park also received a grant last cycle and used it towards a solo exhibition, Gift Box, which was on view at the Garage Art Center in Bayside, Queens, between September and early October this year.
“I strongly recommend that Queens-based artists apply for the grant,” Sui told Hyperallergic. “The grant covered all the costs of the materials, advertising, printing, installation, opening reception, workshop costs, and artist labor. More importantly, the grant helped introduce my work and share my art perspective and thoughts to my neighborhood in Queens.”
The application deadline is January 5, 2023.
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