LMCC announces all-Manhattan grant programs

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council - Grants

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) is pleased to announce its 2013 grant cycle. Each year, LMCC offers three grant programs to support arts and arts education programming in Manhattan: The Fund for Creative Communities (The Fund), Manhattan Community Arts Fund (MCAF) and Creative Curricula (CC). Together, the programs provide over $500,000 annually to support over 200 projects and enliven communities from Inwood to the Battery. These grants support both individual artists and nonprofit organizations to develop and lead arts projects in their Manhattan communities.

The Fund and MCAF grants are funded by New York State and New York City to help Manhattan-based artists and organizations cultivate new community-based projects and programming. Both grants award up to $5,000 to grantees and enable arts projects to reach public audiences. Past projects have included film festivals, mural projects, children's theater, chamber music, capoeira training and performance, art in community gardens, Chinese opera concerts in community centers and site-specific dance performances. The Fund’s support focuses on small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations seeking to develop and sustain arts programming in Manhattan, and MCAF supports individual artists and small nonprofit organizations that often have little access to government funding. In many cases, MCAF is the first grant the recipient has been awarded and acts as leverage for an artist or organization seeking funding in the future.

Creative Curricula is an arts-education grant funded by the New York State Council on the Arts to support new and emerging arts-based programming in Manhattan’s public school classrooms. For the 2013 grant cycle Creative Curricula has increased the amount of funding available for projects and has also expanded the range of projects eligible for funding. Grants are now available for up to $5,000.

“When people think of the arts in Manhattan, museums and large-scale institutions may first come to mind; but there are literally hundreds of incredible arts programs happening in every neighborhood—in parks, plazas, schools, theaters, galleries and community centers,” says Kay Takeda, Director of Grants & Services at LMCC. “LMCC’s grant programs are designed to encourage and sustain these activities and to seed new ideas for arts projects and programs. Access to arts and culture is an essential part of what makes this city so livable, and so vibrant every day.”

Information Sessions

LMCC will offer a schedule of 14 grant information sessions in which prospective applicants can meet with LMCC staff and learn more about the application process and program requirements. Attendance at one of these sessions is a requirement for all new applicants, all Creative Curricula applicants and for any Fund and MCAF applicants who have not attended a session since 2009. Sessions begin in July and continue into early September, and will take place at various locations including El Museo del Barrio, Artists Space, St. Peter’s Church, Joe’s Pub and HERE Arts Center. There will be a session in Mandarin Chinese on July 18 at 4pm at Chatham Branch Library and a Spanish-translated session on August 22 at 6pm at Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance.

Complete program information and application forms are available on LMCC’s website, www.LMCC.net/grants.

About LMCC

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has been a leading voice for arts and culture Downtown and throughout New York City for nearly 40 years, producing cultural events and promoting the arts through grants, services, advocacy, and cultural development programs. www.LMCC.net.

LMCC's Manhattan Arts Grant Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; and Wells Fargo.