CNY Arts has started taking applications for its 2024 Grants for Regional Arts and Culture Engagement (GRACE). Formerly known as the Decentralization (DEC) Grant Cycle program, GRACE will offering funding more than half a million dollars to individual artists and non-profit organizations located in Onondaga, Oneida, Cortland, Madison, Herkimer and Oswego counties.
CNY Arts said this year’s grants will prioritize inclusivity, emphasizing on demographic and geographic diversity and projects that engage artists and audiences from historically marginalized communities. CNY Arts Executive director Steven Butler says at least a quarter of the funding will go towards what he describes as “underserved populations.”
“These can be ethnic minorities, inner city neighborhoods where poverty is extreme in some cases," Butler said. "As well as the underserved rural communities, where there is also poverty and a lack of resources and access to the arts."
The funding can be used for a range of purposes, including artist fees, marketing, equipment rentals and purchases, capacity building initiatives and project materials.
Butler says the grants support local artists while boosting communities’ heritage and morale.
“The arts in general can be reparative, and I guess in that way they are therapeutic. They do help people to have catharsis. Sometimes, just going to performance and laughing. You know, laughter really is the best medicine,” said Butler.
The grants are funded by a special New York State Senate initiative and administered through the New York State Council on the Arts. There are three tiers: $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the category and qualifications.
The deadline for applications the GRACE program is November 15. The awards will be announced shortly before Christmas after a competitive, peer-reviewed panel process consisting of creatives, community leaders, educators and arts administrators.
The funding can be used to implement proposed projects throughout 2024.
