Regrants, Services to the Field

Lisa Johnson, Senior Program Officer (212) 741-7577
Deborah Lim, Program Officer (212) 741-7849

Multi-Arts Centers

Leanne Tintori Wells, Senior Program Officer
(212) 741-7013
Kara Yeargans, Program Officer (212) 620-7074

State and Local Partnerships (SLP) supports the growth and development of organizations operating at the regional, county, and local levels that advance local arts and cultural initiatives and offer comprehensive arts services essential to the state's continued cultural development.

SLP seeks to accomplish the following goals:

Strengthen the leadership role of local/regional arts organizations in encouraging local cultural development and increasing resources available for the arts.

Encourage greater participation in the arts through support of a wide range of local, regional, and statewide programs and services responding to assessed cultural needs and reaching the full diversity of each community served.

Enhance the professional capability of multi-arts organizations operating on the local level and arts service organizations promoting the development of the arts and providing arts services statewide.

SLP primarily supports multi-arts centers, local arts councils, and multi-arts service organizations. It places high priority on organizations that demonstrate a commitment to reach out to the full diversity of the communities they serve. SLP focuses on issues that affect organizational stability, professionalism, and effectiveness. Priority is given to professional staff development, catalytic projects that enhance the resources and visibility of the arts, and services that support individual artists.

New applicants to SLP are welcome to present requests in the Workshops, Services to the Field, and Administrative Salaries categories. New applicants are strongly advised to consult with SLP staff well before the registration deadline.

SLP also manages Decentralization (DEC), the Council's statewide regrant program. DEC provides support for community-based arts activities through a local decision-making grant process reflecting the unique character of each of the state's communities. Through the efforts of a network of local arts organizations, DEC is available to artists and organizations in each of the state's 62 counties.

Definitions

Local Arts Councils
SLP supports the provision of arts services by local arts councils, which may include such activities as local arts advocacy, regranting, arts marketing efforts, formal programs of technical and developmental assistance for artists and arts organizations, and information services for artists and the general public. Local arts councils demonstrate a commitment to providing access to service resources and information for artists and arts organizations across artistic disciplines. Support for local arts programming is provided only where there is a documented community need for such activity that does not duplicate existing activities in a community. In these cases, SLP requires a balance of programming and service offerings. Local arts councils with missions that are primarily programmatic, as opposed to service-directed, may not be eligible.

Multi-Arts Centers
A multi-arts center is an organization that owns or operates an accessible cultural facility. Eligible multi-arts centers are mission driven to provide a multi-disciplinary menu of arts and cultural activities and offer participatory community arts programs, presentations, and exhibitions along with a range of resources for individual artists. Programs must be regularly offered in three of the following areas: performing arts, visual arts, media arts, and literary arts. (Community music schools, including those with some multi-arts programs, are referred to the Community Music Schools category under Music.)

Multi-Arts Service Organizations
Multi-arts service organizations are mission driven to provide access to professional resources, information, and developmental and/or technical services for artists and arts organizations across the range of artistic disciplines. Single discipline service organizations are not eligible for support by SLP and should refer, instead, to the relevant NYSCA discipline.

Evaluative Criteria

Grant requests are evaluated in accordance with agency-wide criteria.

Artistic Evaluation

NYSCA must be able to evaluate an applicant's artistic quality on an ongoing basis. It is the responsibility of all current and prospective applicants to inform staff of public programs or events well in advance of the event date. This is required so that staff, advisory panelists, or auditors may attend and evaluate the events. Email notification is welcome at slp@nysca.org.