Guidelines and Fact Sheet
The Indie Theater Fund 2021
Artist & Leadership Pay Grants and Venue Grants
FOR INDIE THEATER COMPANIES & VENUES
These grants are for indie theater companies, fiscally sponsored collectives/productions, and indie theater venues. Individual artists should keep their eyes open for our other grant programs.
What do you mean by “Artist & Leadership Pay Grant”? We mean just that. This is a grant to either pay the artists you work with — that can be your actors, your director, your designers, your stage manager. Anyone who contributes creatively to play development and productions OR it can be used to pay your organization’s leaders — that is, anyone who participates in the administration of your organization. We know these leaders are often (if not usually!) the same people who make the art. To us, that’s just another reason to acknowledge their (your!?) herculean efforts.
What do you mean by “Venue Grant”? This grant is meant for the indie venues in our theater ecosystem. After survey feedback from our participants we decided venues should have a separate bucket of funds. These venue funds should be used to pay historically excluded artists or leadership to work in, administrate or perform in your space. You can use these funds to subsidize a rental from an artist in your venue or to pay performers or administration directly.
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Read on for further guidelines regarding eligible artists/leaders and venues.
Is your process still radically transparent? Absolutely. From the get-go, the Fund has had no interest in being an arbiter of art or artists or in convening a traditional panel to adjudicate who gets funded. Our vision: keep rules for eligibility simple and ensure that participation feels neither onerous nor competitive. Everyone wants to pay artists; everyone gets a shot. Our grants are determined by old-fashioned lottery! Put your company’s name in that (very literal) hat!
What’s happening this year? For the first time ever, we are giving THIRTY $1,000 grants, to THIRTY deserving companies/venues, for a total of $30,000. Whoo-hoo! That’s funding over 50% more participants than we did just two years ago!
Of the 30 grants, 25 will go to companies or productions to be used to help you pay artists in your ensemble/production or others in leadership, management or administration of your company. 5 grants will go to indie theater venues in order to help you pay historically excluded artists working in your spaces.
The Indie Theater Fund has built a fundamental commitment to equity and inclusion into the values and culture of our organization. We want to see the work of diverse artists on stage, and we believe that diverse leadership in our participant organizations is essential to encouraging diverse and equitable practices.
To be eligible for either of our grants, companies or venues must commit to using their grant to pay artists or leaders of color and/or artists or leaders who have been historically excluded from funding based on gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, ability, economic disadvantage, refugee/immigration status or for other reasons you define.
How should you use your grant? We’re pretty flexible! Grant funds can be paid to one artist or leader or split between several; paid to artists working on one show/reading/workshop in your season or split between more than one; in other words, use as you see fit within the grant period.
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How Does The Application Process Work?
By Wednesday, December 1st: Scroll down for a link to a very simple application/fact sheet that gathers pertinent information about you, your company, and/or venue. This is how you raise your hand to say you want a grant, and our way of making sure you are eligible for it.
Please only complete ONE of the applications linked below. You can either apply for an Artist & Leadership Pay grant or a Venue grant, but NOT both!
Do not feel burdened by this application! It should take no more than 10 minutes to fill out. Feel free to use language from other grant applications and to keep it very simple.
Please submit the application/fact sheet using the appropriate Google Form linked below no later than 11:59PM on Wednesday, December 1st. If the Google form is not possible for you, please email hello@indietheaterfund.org to request the application/fact sheet in Word or to have your application taken over the phone. If you have any other accessibility needs, or to request it in any other format or language necessary, please email the address above.In addition to the application, we request a photo from a past performance or rehearsal for inclusion in a slide show and/or social media campaign featuring our participants. You can upload that through a link within the Google Form application.
After the submission period closes: Our staff and board will check that your proposal meets all eligibility requirements (that you have worked on or in three indie theater productions in NYC theaters with 99 seats or less; that you are producing a show in the next 12 months in a theater in NYC with 99 seats or less or online; that you are committed to using the grant to pay artists or leaders who reflect a historically excluded demographic; that you are a registered participant in the Fund). That’s it!
By Wednesday, December 8th: You will be notified via email that your application is complete and you are, in fact, eligible for a grant and will be included in the lottery. Then…
Tuesday, December 14th! We throw a big party at which we pull the names of THIRTY applicant companies/venues out of the hat and recipients take home their grant checks! Our goal for this year is to host this event as a hybrid night including both an in-person event at Judson Memorial Church and an online event, happening simultaneously. Fund participants and attendees will have the option to participate in the event in whichever way feels the most comfortable, either in-person or online. This night will also serve as a mini fundraiser for the fund. A suggested, but completely voluntary, donation/tithe of $5 at the door that includes food and drinks! This money will go toward continuing some of the amazing new programs we’ve launched this year including our Mental Health grants, The Big Learn, CSF, and Community Resources Lotteries.
For the in-person event, we will be following all NYC and CDC Covid-19 guidelines and attendees will be expected to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask when not actively eating or drinking. Please note that the in-person component of the event is subject to change based on a variety of factors surrounding the current global health pandemic. Updates about this will be made regularly as we learn more.
This happy event creates an opportunity for all of us to get to know more members of our community, and maybe even make some productive connections. As leadership in your org, consider coming to the event yourself and bring other company and board members. Stay tuned.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT you or a colleague representing your company or venue must be present, either virtually or in-person when the names are pulled to win one of the thirty $1,000 grants. You may only represent ONE company at the event. Names will be called three times. If someone is not present to respond, we will pull another organization’s name for that grant. Checks will be cut that night and you’ll be on your way to paying artists and leaders!
Mark your calendar now: The party is Tuesday December 14th! The in-person event will take place at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square S, New York, NY 10012, the virtual party will take place via Zoom, digital invitation and link to come. Send one person or come as a company. Bring friends! It’s always an awesome night.
Be in touch with us anywhere down the line if you have any questions at all. We are here! We will be offering technical assistance throughout the application period. If you need any help filling out the application, please email hello@indietheaterfund.org
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A few important notes/reminders:
- To be eligible, you must plan to produce at least one show, reading or workshop in the 12 months following the give (December 2021 to December 2022).
- You or someone from your company MUST BE PRESENT AT THE GIVE EVENT ON DECEMBER 14th TO RECEIVE A GRANT (In-person or virtually). NAMES WILL BE READ THREE TIMES. IF NO ONE REPRESENTING THE COMPANY IS PRESENT, WE WILL NEED TO PULL A NEW NAME FROM THE BUCKET. REPRESENTATIVES CAN ONLY PICK UP A GRANT FOR ONE COMPANY OR VENUE, THEREFORE EACH COMPANY/VENUE MUST HAVE ITS OWN REP PRESENT.
- Checks will be cut to companies, venues or fiscal sponsors, not directly to artists.
- You must have a bank account set up in the name of the company or venue which is accepting the grant check or be working with a fiscal sponsor that can receive the funds.
- Grant money can be used by you to pay one artist/leader or split between artists/leaders; paid to artists working on one show/reading/workshop in your season or split between them; use however you see fit within the one-year grant period.
- A report that simply documents how grant funds were disbursed is required by the end of the one-year grant period. This will let us know how many artists and leaders were served by the thirty grants, and help us in our funding to help you!
- Recipients may be asked to participate in marketing videos or photos and will be asked for quotes on the impact of this funding.
- You must be an Indie Theater Fund participant to receive a grant. If you are not one already, become one here: http://www.indietheaterfund.org/become-a-fund-participant/
Please do not fill out this participant registration if you’ve registered for the Fund in the past. CHECK HERE ON OUR WEBSITE TO SEE IF YOUR COMPANY/VENUE IS ALREADY REGISTERED: http://www.indietheaterfund.org/member-companies/member-companies-and-venues-2/
If you have any questions at all please email hello@indietheaterfund.org
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LINK TO APPLY VIA GOOGLE FORM:
Please only complete ONE of the applications linked below. You can either apply for an Artist & Leadership Pay grant or a Venue grant, but NOT both!
Artist & Leadership Pay Grant Application (Fill out if you are an indie theater company/fiscally sponsored production): https://forms.gle/xsCHKAYeZvFjea9FA
Venue Grant Application (Fill out if you operate an indie venue): https://forms.gle/nY9G6NZf6AbaZHhL6
