In evaluating applications, the Council employs a multi-step process involving NYSCA staff, advisory panels, a committee of Council members, and the full Council.

Staff Analysis

NYSCA Program staff reviews applications in relation to the Council's general and program-specific criteria. Whenever appropriate, staff meets with representatives of the organization, visits facilities, attends programs, or otherwise attempts to become familiar with the organization and its work. Staff analysis may be supplemented by reports from program auditors and field representatives who have expertise in a particular art form. The staff review includes a funding recommendation for consideration by advisory panels and the Council. Some NYSCA categories are competitive, and not subject to staff analysis.

Advisory Panels

Application materials and staff (or auditor/field representative) reviews are presented to an advisory panel composed of diverse individuals with specific expertise in the area of that artistic discipline or field, drawn from communities throughout the state. The advisory panel evaluates each request according to Council-wide and Program-specific criteria, and makes a funding recommendation. You can nominate advisory panelists by completing and sending in this Panel Nomination Form.

Council Grant Committee

Staff and panel recommendations are presented to a committee of Council members. This committee makes its recommendations to the full Council based on its discussions with staff and panel recommendations. Council Grant Committee meetings are open to the public.

The Council

At four public meetings each year, the Council members review funding recommendations and vote to approve the grants. Upon Council approval of a grant, a contract is issued to that organization.

We recognize that each organization's mission and circumstances vary depending on factors such as its resources, geographic location, and the demographic composition of the community served. In reviewing applications, the Council looks for evidence that the applicant's programs, policies, staff and board composition, and operations demonstrate genuine commitment to diversity in relation to programming, artists, and/or audiences as expressed by the organization's mission and goals.

Appeals Process

An applicant may appeal the Council's funding decision. The applicant should first consult with the appropriate Program staff to review the considerations that went into the Council's decision. If, after such a consultation, the applicant wishes to pursue an appeal, such an appeal must be made in writing to the office of the executive director. This letter must be received within 21 calendar days of the date of the notification letter of a Council decision. If the applicant has not been able to consult with the appropriate staff member within the time limitation, a written request must still be submitted within the 21-day time period.

Thereafter, the applicant will receive a written response and the appeal will be assigned to an Appeals Panel. In that response, a deadline for the submission of all material supporting the appeal will be established. No deadline date will be set earlier than seven days from the date of the letter. Failure to meet any deadline date in the appeals process will result in the loss of the right to appeal.

The appeals panel evaluates the review process by which the decision was made. The appeals process is not intended to impose different aesthetic choices over the Council's original choices and decisions.

An applicant may appeal all or some of the Council's decision. Dissatisfaction with the denial of a grant or with the amount of the grant is an insufficient reason for appeal; you must cite one or more of the following grounds:

Nonpresentation of information
Information known to the Council staff prior to the Council's decision that was not presented and that might have altered the decision.

Misrepresentation of information
Information known to the Council staff prior to the Council's decision that was changed in its presentation and that, if presented differently, might have altered the decision.

Improper procedure
Contention by the applicant that: 1) the review of the funding request by the appropriate advisory panel was biased; 2) the decision by the Council was arbitrary and capricious.

If the appeal request is successful, the decision will be reconsidered by the appropriate Program, panel, or Council committee and then by the Council, except when an appeal is upheld based on the lack of impartiality by an advisory panel. In that case, the decision will be reconsidered directly by the appropriate Council committee and then by the Council.