Leanne Tintori Wells, Director (212) 741-2227
Arian Blanco, Associate (212) 741-7824

The Presenting Program aims to develop, nurture, and strengthen presenters of the live professional performing arts through grants and services.

The Program's goals are to

encourage the presentation of a rich range of innovative and culturally diverse performances of professional standards and artistic excellence

encourage the development of new presenters in regions of the state with a scarcity of professional performing arts activity or an absence of a particular performing art form

encourage the understanding and appreciation of performing artists and their work by diverse audiences of all ages  

advance the presenting field in areas of planning, programming, marketing, and management through dialogues, technical assistance, and use of new technologies.

The Program supports organizations that engage, present, pay, and promote professional performing artists. The Program considers requests from presenters for projects that explore new directions involving performing artists and the Internet and new technological stagecraft. The Program encourages such co-presentation efforts in which two or more partners share in the expenses and income.

The Presenting Program gives priority to programs or activities that present contemporary and new commissioned works. The Program also encourages work by American artists, particularly the presentation of lesser-known artists, women artists, or artists of color, and programs that seek to develop better-informed, more diverse audiences.

The Program takes into consideration the challenges faced by presenters that operate in economically depressed communities, as well as presenters that own and/or operate theatrical facilities.

New applicants to the Program are welcomed and are strongly advised to consult with Program staff well before the March registration deadline. Generally, first-time grants do not exceed $5,000.

Other NYSCA Opportunities for Presenters

Presenters of traditional folk arts performances are advised to review the Folk Arts Program guidelines for a comparison of eligibility and evaluative criteria. Presenters interested in commissioning new work by New York State artists should refer to the Individual Artists and Dance Program guidelines.

Presenters of media-based technology projects should refer to the Electronic Media and Film and Visual Arts Programs guidelines for a comparison of eligibility and evaluative criteria.

Artistic Evaluation

The Council must be able to evaluate the applicant's artistic quality on an ongoing basis. In addition to your written application, a NYSCA representative may attend and evaluate your events.  

Artistic audits are conducted by a Council consultant who is expert in the particular field and whose report of the event becomes part of the evaluation process.

In the New Presenter Development category, an artistic audit is not required prior to applying.

To schedule an artistic audit, you must inform the Program of your events at least four weeks in advance. When requesting an artistic audit, please include name of the event, date/time, location, contact person, phone, email, etc.

Eligibility for New Applicants

New applicants to a Council program and those applicants returning after an absence of more than two years are required to have two artistic audits before the application deadline to be eligible for funding.

However, it is advantageous for new applicants to have at least one artistic audit before the March registration deadline. Toward that end, new applicants are strongly advised to consult with the appropriate Council program staff well before that date. This consultation provides a valuable interaction between staff and applicant which will help guide you in developing your NYSCA application. We encourage advance planning to ensure that we are able to respond appropriately to your artistic audit request.

No artistic audits can be assigned until an organization has entered its profile into our system. Click here for instructions.

Eligibility Requirements

The Program considers for support only those organizations that are committed to paying artists a specified, guaranteed fee. Guaranteed fees accompanied by share-of-gate arrangements are acceptable.

The following activities are not eligible: single and two-day festivals (unless incorporated within a larger presenting season), competitions, contests, talent showcases, parades, poetry readings (unless incorporated within a performance context), staged readings, magic shows, lectures, in-school classroom projects, master classes, or workshops not directly associated with presentations or public residency activity.

Also ineligible are requests from organizations for presentation of their own work or work of their staff or board members, even when the project includes guest artists.

Evaluative Criteria

Grant requests in this Program are evaluated in accordance with the relevant agency-wide criteria.