Hearkening back to the success of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act—a federally-funded initiative that supported artists’ projects in New York State and across the country from 1974 to 1981—artists and arts advocates have called for a workforce program to address the recent under- and unemployment of artists.* CRNY’s Artist Employment Program will fund employment with salaries and benefits for up to 300 artists and their organizational partners—thus demonstrating the importance of artists as key workers within the labor force.

By supporting artists working in collaboration with community-based organizations, AEP will offer a pathway to transforming relationships between artists and organizations. Equitable relationships encourage creative solutions, expansive thinking, and new methods of engagement while building capacity and stability for all involved. CRNY believes such partnerships can also support and enrich communities, demonstrating the power of artists as agents of social change and the importance of their labor to New York State’s social and economic vitality.

Building off vital relief programs that put artists back to work amidst the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, AEP seeks to support artists and organizations within historically marginalized communities—as well as artists who face systemic barriers to employment.

Collaborations between artists and community-based organizations can take many forms. These collaborations do not need to be new relationships or involve new work. An artist may work as an artist-in-residence, teaching artist, artist organizer, documentarian, or creative consultant, for instance. Organizational partners may be arts and cultural organizations, government entities, or non-arts community-based organizations.

* https://www.artistsallianceinc.org/art-work-how-the-government-funded-ceta-jobs-program-put-artists-to-work/

Goals

The Artist Employment Program seeks ecosystem-level change and has three primary stakeholders: artists, community-based organizations, and communities. CRNY has identified the following goals for each of these stakeholders:

Artists

• To provide financial stability for artists, especially under- and unemployed artists across New York State, given the catastrophic impact of the pandemic on artists’ livelihoods and incomes.
• To provide salaried employment that is in line with artists’ skills and expertise while allowing artists to deepen their artistic practice.
• To help artists grow in their understanding and capacity to work with organizations and communities.
• To foster a collective infrastructure to maximize artists’ influence within funding and policy systems.

Community-Based Organizations

• To support the financial recovery and stability of community-based organizations, both arts and non-arts, that suffered tremendous financial strain and loss because of the pandemic.
• To deepen organizations’ ability to work for and with communities and constituents.
• To develop new models for mutually beneficial collaborations between artists and organizations.

Communities

• To create partnerships that support and enrich communities and meet community needs and desires.
• To increase the visibility and understanding of artists as workers; communities will be able to witness artists’ labor and processes.

How This Program Was Designed

In the fall of 2021, Creatives Rebuild New York convened a Think Tank—a diverse coalition of New York State artists, scholars, strategists, and activists with wide-ranging identities and lived experiences. Through bi-monthly facilitated digital meetings, this group determined the overall direction of both the Guaranteed Income for Artists and Artist Employment Programs.

Compensation

Participating artists will receive a salary of $65,000 per year (commensurate with median income in New York State) plus benefits and dedicated time to focus on their practice.

Participating organizations will be awarded funds to support their employment of artists. This support will range between $25,000 and $100,000 per organization, annually; the amount each organization receives will depend on the number of artists employed and the impact on the organizational budget.

Benefits

AEP funding will support employment benefits—such as medical, dental, vision, and all compulsory benefits—through the organization that holds the artist’s employment. These benefits will be administered in accordance with that organization’s standard Human Resources practices.

Who Holds Employment

Artists’ employment will be held in one of two ways:

1. A collaborating organization holds employment: The applying organization must have a reliable payroll infrastructure; be able to provide workers’ compensation; provide tax withholding services; and have a Human Resources system in place.
2. Employment is held through an intermediary: For applying organizations that are not able to hold employment and benefits, artists will be employed by an intermediary organization that will facilitate payroll and provide Human Resources services.

CRNY is in active conversation with a workers’ collective to act as an intermediary that can hold employment and provide benefits for a portion of artists in AEP. This intermediary will support organizations that want to hire artists but have limited capacity to hold employment and/or provide benefits.

Joint Application

The Artist Employment Program requires a joint application between artists and organizations. Either the artist(s) or the organization may initiate the relationship, and both the artist(s) and the organization must be specifically named and have agreed to work together at the time of application.

Collaborations can include one or more artists. Organizations can apply to employ a single artist or multiple artists. In situations with multiple artists, those artists can work collaboratively or in distinct ways. The entire proposed collaboration will be evaluated as a unit, and thus all collaborating organizations and artists will be funded or none will. Collaborators will not be evaluated individually.

Who Can Apply

To be eligible to apply to AEP, organizations must:

• Be a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity or a government instrumentality, and/or fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) public charity
• Have their principal place of business in New York State
• Serve one or more of the following communities:
  • Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color
  • Immigrants
  • LGBTQIAP+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic, Pansexual+)
  • Deaf/Disabled
  • Criminal legal system-involved
  • At or below the poverty line (low-income)
  • Rural

To be eligible to apply to AEP, artists must be:

• Primary residents of New York State
• An artist, culture bearer, or culture maker
• Not a staff member or related to a staff member (e.g., an immediate family member) of Tides or Creatives Rebuild New York.

Artists who are under- or unemployed and/or who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, LGBTQIAP+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic, Pansexual+), Deaf/Disabled, criminal legal system involved, living at or below the poverty line, and/or living in rural areas are encouraged to apply.

Definitions

An artist, culture bearer, or culture maker (‘artist’) is someone who regularly engages in artistic or cultural practice to: express themselves with the intention of communicating richly to or sharing with others; pass on traditional knowledge and cultural practices; offer cultural resources to their communities; and/or co-organize and co-create within communities toward social impacts. Artists aspire to sustain themselves through their practice and maintain a commitment to continuing their practice. Artists can work both individually and collaboratively, or as educators within their field of practice.

Artistic and cultural practice includes: Craft, Dance, Design, Film, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Music, Oral Traditions, Social Practice, Theater, Performance Art, Traditional Arts, Visual Arts, and Interdisciplinary Arts. Click here for a detailed description of each discipline.

Community-based organizations are nonprofit organizations, government entities, or fiscally sponsored organizations that work at a local level to improve life for residents of their communities. Community-based organizations can focus their mission or work within the arts and culture sector or within another community development sector (health, education, environment, etc.) while working toward a vision of equitable and sustainable communities.

Rural is defined in nearly a dozen different ways within New York State; however, for the purposes of the CRNY’s funding programs, ‘rural communities’ are those outside of metropolitan and micropolitan areas with a population of 10,000 or fewer residents.

Restrictions

Multiple Applications

Artists and organizations may participate as part of only one application to the Artist Employment Program. Artists cannot seek to be employed by multiple organizations; organizations cannot submit multiple proposals involving different artists or collaborations.

Artists are not permitted to apply to both the Guaranteed Income for Artists Program and Artist Employment Program. We encourage all potential applicants to consider which CRNY program is best suited to their needs prior to submitting an application. For more information about Guaranteed Income for Artists, click here.

Fiscal Sponsorship

An LLC or other non-501(c)(3) organization cannot apply as the primary organization, but may apply with a fiscal sponsor that is a 501(c)(3) public charity or as a collaborating partner on a 501(c)(3) organization’s application. Either the fiscal sponsor or the 501(c)(3) organization must be the primary organization, and will receive all funds associated with the AEP grant.

An artist may work with a non-501(c)(3) organization only if that organization is fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) public charity.

A fiscally-sponsored individual artist is not eligible to apply without a 501(c)(3) organization that will employ them.

Intellectual Property Rights

Participating organizations will not have or obtain any intellectual property rights to works created by the artists during the time the artists are working independently from (although employed by) their partners

Applications that meet the following criteria will be prioritized:

• Strength and integrity of the proposed collaboration
  • Is the proposed work jointly developed and/or co-authored by the artists and the organization?
  • Does the proposed work align with both the organization’s mission and the artists’ practice?
  • Is there a clearly articulated plan or time allocated for the artist(s) to pursue their personal artistic practice outside of the proposed work?
  • Is the proposed work being done with the community and/or driven by the community needs and opportunities?
  • Can the partners define success and sustainability of the partnership?

• Alignment of the proposed collaboration with CRNY values
  • Is the proposed collaboration equitable and non-extractive?
  • Does the proposed collaboration center the knowledge and expertise of artists, culture bearers, and culture makers?
  • Do the organization’s leaders and the artists reflect the identities and cultural practices of the community or communities they support?
  • Does the organization have the infrastructure necessary to serve their communities well (e.g., language and cultural competencies, physically accessible spaces)?

• Capacity of the organization to support artists
  • Does the organization demonstrate a strong commitment to employee-centered practices?
  • Does the organization understand how to support artists?
  • Does the organization have a history of collaborating with artists? Are the organization or its programs artist-led?

• Impact on organization’s financial capacity
  • Is the organization’s current financial need and capacity clearly stated?
  • Can the organization articulate how this funding will change the trajectory of the organization?

In keeping with CRNY’s commitment to an equitable distribution of funds, final selection will be balanced to ensure:

• ​Geographic distribution across the ten regions of New York State, including substantial representation from rural communities
• A range of organizational sizes
• A range of artistic disciplines and approaches to collaboration
• A mix of collaborations that involve multiple artists and collaborations that involve one artist

The application review process will occur in two stages:

Stage One: Application Review

Stage One applications will be assessed by external peer reviewers—artists and organizational professionals who have deep experience in their geographic regions and who share affinity with applicants. Between March 28, 2022 and April 8, 2022 CRNY staff and external reviewers will review applications and make recommendations as to which partnerships will be invited to Stage Two. On April 11, 2022 CRNY will notify finalists to advance to Stage Two.

Stage Two: Interviews

Artists and representatives from each finalist organization will be invited to schedule an online interview between April 25, 2022 and May 20, 2022. Two external peer reviewers will be present with one CRNY staff member for each of these interviews. Feedback from these interviews—documented according to a rubric that aligns with the selection criteria—will inform the final grant decisions. All external peer reviewers will meet to discuss and make final recommendations to CRNY staff. CRNY staff will take these recommendations and make final decisions, ensuring that the final distribution matches CRNY’s values and organizational balances across New York State.

Finalists will be notified of all decisions by June 6, 2022. We expect that employment for the artists will begin no later than June 27, 2022.

Disbursement of Funds

• Artists will be paid on the payroll schedule (e.g., biweekly, bimonthly) of the organization that holds their employment (either the collaborating organization or the intermediary).
• Multiple organizations may apply together, but one must be designated as the primary organization; this is the organization that will receive all funds from CRNY. The primary organization must be a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity or a government instrumentality, with its principal place of business in New York State.
• CRNY will disburse funds to the primary organization in four equal installments: beginning upon the start of the collaboration and then every six months following, through the end of the grant period.
• In lieu of reporting, prior to the third disbursement of funds, participants in funded partnerships will meet with CRNY staff and/or regional artist liaisons to discuss the growth and challenges of the collaboration. These meetings will confirm alignment of program requirements and are intended to support artists, organizations, and the evolution of the partnership.
• If the primary organization or any artist needs to end their participation in the program (due to a change in primary residence, personal situation, an unforeseen obstacle in the collaboration, or any other reason), they must immediately alert CRNY. CRNY will approach these situations from a care framework, working with the organization and artists to find an equitable and restorative way forward.

Other Activities

• CRNY will collaborate with the organizations and artists involved in AEP to co-design capacity and network building opportunities that directly respond to their needs and are informed by the communities they serve.
• CRNY will carry out a range of research, advocacy, and narrative change efforts over the next two years, with a strong commitment to equitable evaluation practices and artist-centered storytelling efforts. Artists and organizations selected for the Artist Employment Program will be given the option to participate in CRNY’s research and advocacy work. Those who elect to participate will be compensated on top of the funds received through the Artist Employment Program.

CRNY will establish and maintain appropriate security measures designed to ensure the confidentiality of applicant information and to prevent unauthorized access, destruction, loss, or alteration of such data. Submittable, CRNY’s application platform, has a variety of security features and compliance certifications that can be found here: https://www.submittable.com/security/.

Information submitted as part of the Artist Employment Program application process will be shared only with review panelists who are assisting with the selection process, and with partners involved in CRNY’s research and advocacy work. Responses will be anonymized before they are analyzed, and applicants will not be personally identified in any outputs from the research or advocacy work unless additional consent is sought and secured.

Applicants’ data will be kept until the end of the Creatives Rebuild New York initiative (December 2024). Additional documentation is available upon request.

The original FAQ’s are included below. CRNY staff is additionally compiling FAQs gathered via Information Sessions, Help Desk inquiries, and more in this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X7EjfUGWgN5lgRxxiAzskxgpfCryuOkCgIct0cURkco/ We will continue to update this document on a weekly basis until both the Guaranteed Income for Artists and Artist Employment Program applications close on March 25, 2022.

Eligibility

Who is an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker?

An artist, culture bearer, or culture maker (‘artist’) is someone who regularly engages in artistic or cultural practice to: express themselves with the intention of communicating richly to or sharing with others; pass on traditional knowledge and cultural practices; offer cultural resources to their communities; and/or co-organize and co-create within communities toward social impacts. Artists aspire to sustain themselves through their practice and maintain a commitment to continuing their practice. Artists can work both individually and collaboratively, or as educators within their field of practice.

What disciplines are included in CRNY’s definition of artistic or cultural practice?

Artistic and cultural practice includes, but is not limited to:

• Craft – Includes artists working in ceramics, glass, jewelry, metalworking, and textiles – fiber, weaving, and quilting

• Dance – Includes dancers, choreographers, and producers working in a variety of genres such as ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, aerial, and modern

• Design – Includes designers working in the fields of fashion, graphic, object, and industrial design

• Film – Includes artists, actors, directors, creative producers, and others working in a variety of genres, such as animation, fiction, documentary, episodic, experimental, and narrative

• Literary Arts – Includes writers who work in genres such as fiction, nonfiction, short story writing, memoir, screenwriting, poetry, comedy, children’s literature, and graphic novel

• Media Arts – Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers working at the intersection of technology, aesthetics, storytelling, and digital cultures

• Music – Includes singers, musicians, composers, producers (those who create the sound and feel of the recording), DJs (original work), and live sound designers working in a variety of genres such as hip hop, jazz, rock, pop, country, and classical 

• Oral Traditions – Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose knowledge, art, ideas, and intangible cultural material received, preserved, and transmitted from one generation to another through speech or song; may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or verses, and storytelling

• Social Practice – Includes socially engaged and civically engaged artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose art involves people and communities in debate, collaboration, or social interaction and work wherein artists partner with communities toward community development outcomes

• Theater – Includes actors and actresses, directors, playwrights, costume designers, stage designers, and lighting designers in a variety of genres such as experimental, live action, puppetry, opera, and musical theater

• Performance Art – Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose work is created through actions performed by the artist or other participants, which may be live or recorded, spontaneous or scripted, tactical and site performance

• Traditional Arts – Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose work is rooted in and reflective of the tradition and/or cultural heritage of a community, transmitted from generation to generation, such as cultural dance, cultural music, traditional crafts, and foodways

• Visual Arts – Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose arts practice is installation, illustration, painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, photography, sculpture, video art, or public art

• Interdisciplinary Arts – Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers who use an interdisciplinary approach involving more than one artistic discipline

Who is NOT considered an artist for the purposes of the Artist Employment Program?

While we understand that artistic and cultural practices are defined broadly, we are unable to consider submissions from individuals whose main connection to the arts is through arts administration or commercial merchants or vendors working in fields such as, but not limited to:

• baking and culinary arts,

• cosmetology,

• architecture, interior, landscape design,

• radio—personalities and DJs,

• event planning and production, and

• wellness and fitness.

What is a community-based organization?

Community-based organizations (CBOs) are nonprofit organizations, government entities, or fiscally sponsored organizations that work at a local level to improve life for residents of their communities. To receive CRNY funding, organizations must be 501(c)(3) public charities or government instrumentalities, or they must have a fiscal sponsor who is a 501(c)(3) public charity.

Community-based organizations can focus their mission or work within the arts and culture sector or within another community development sector (health, education, environment, etc.), and work toward a vision of equitable and sustainable communities.

Are tribal and local government instrumentalities eligible to submit applications?

Yes! All local, regional, tribal and state-governing instrumentalities are eligible to submit applications in collaboration with artists.

For Organizations

I’m a small, volunteer-run organization that can’t hold W2 employment or offer benefits. Can I still apply?

Yes. Artists who cannot be employed directly by the organization they are collaborating with can receive their salary and benefits through an intermediary organization that CRNY will facilitate.

Are there restrictions in terms of size of organization or years of incorporation?

No, there is no minimum or maximum operating budget requirement. AEP does not require a minimum number of years of operation since incorporation.

I’m not an arts and cultural organization. Can I apply?

Yes. All 501(c)(3) public charities, including fiscal sponsors who are 501(c)(3) public charities, or government instrumentalities are eligible to apply jointly with artists.

Collaborations

I’m an artist, but I don’t have an organization I want to collaborate with for two years. Can I apply on my own?

No. The Artist Employment Program requires a JOINT application between artists and organizations. For artists without a collaborating community-based organization, we recommend applying to CRNY’s Guaranteed Income for Artists Program. Visit www.creativesrebuildny.org/apply/guaranteed-income for more information.

I’m an organization, but we don’t have relationships with specific artists in order to foster a collaboration. Can an organization apply without [an] artist(s)?

No. The Artist Employment Program requires a JOINT application between artists and organizations. The artists must be explicitly named, and the collaboration should be co-authored with the artists.

What can collaborations and partnerships look like?

Some imagined collaborations include, but are not limited to:

• Working with artists-in-residence, an arts studio will address the policy needs of local immigrant populations.

• An artist collective will employ their artists to collaborate with a local theater to produce and present public programming.

• Culture bearers will provide documentation of traditional and contemporary artists and apprenticeships for artists working in collaboration with an Indigenous organization.

• A housing development organization will collaborate with artists to work with local public housing residents to support social cohesion.

• A nonprofit legal organization will partner with filmmakers to document returning citizens and their positive impact on communities across the state.

• Working with artists across all agencies, a city will employ artists to support staff to brainstorm innovative solutions to daily issues.

• A community nonprofit will employ teaching artists to support their after school and in school programming.

• A theater will employ local playwrights to write plays to be performed over the next five years.

Can CRNY place me with a collaborating artist or organization if I apply on my own?

No. CRNY cannot formally ‘match-make’ between artists and organizations; however, the process of creating a joint application can help artists and organizations build new relationships and deepen existing ones. CRNY will be offering online information sessions in February and March, during which there will be time for artists and organizations who attend to meet each other.

Can multiple organizations apply together?

Yes. Collaborations that involve partnerships between arts and non-arts organizations, or a lead organization that acts as a hub for other organizations, are possible. In all these cases, one organization must be designated as the primary applicant.

Do we need a detailed, 2-year project plan to apply?

No. We recognize that collaborations may require time to deepen relationships and determine what exactly the work should be. The application only needs to clearly articulate the goals, experience, and relationship between the organization(s) and artist(s), as well as clearly define a community need or desire that the proposed work will address.

Does our collaboration need to be new?

No. We know that there are many pre-existing, longstanding collaborations between artists and organizations.

What is the minimum and maximum number of artists that my organization can collaborate with through the Artist Employment Program?

An organization must collaborate with a minimum of one artist, and the program will support a maximum of ten artists per organization.

What communities should our collaboration be serving?

We are giving priority to organizations and artists who are working with populations that are Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color, immigrant, LGBTQIAP+, Deaf/Disabled, criminal legal system involved, low-income, and/or rural.

Can the scope of the project be regional or statewide?

Yes.

Does AEP have geographic priorities?

Yes. CRNY has intentionally designed its outreach, review, and selection efforts to prioritize the distribution of funds across a balance of geographies in New York State.

Funding

How much money are artists getting paid?

Artists will be paid $65,000 per year for 2 years, plus benefits. AEP will fund employment benefits such as medical, dental, and vision and all compulsory benefits. These benefits will be administered through the organization that holds the artist’s employment (either the collaborating organization or the intermediary), in accordance with the organization’s standard Human Resources practices.

Do organizations receive funds?

Organizations will receive between $25,000 and $100,000 per year for two years to support the collaboration.

Are matching funds required?

No.

Could it happen that an organization applies with multiple artists, but the Artist Employment Program funds employment for only a subset of the artists?

No. Collaborations will be funded with all artists named in the application if they meet the basic criteria as artists and New York State residents.

Restrictions

I am a fiscally sponsored artist, can I apply to AEP with my fiscal sponsor as the primary organization?

No. There must be a community-based organization with whom you will collaborate on your work.

My organization is an LLC that does community-based work. Can we apply to AEP to employ artists?

An LLC or other non-501(c)(3) organization cannot apply as the primary organization, but may apply with a fiscal sponsor that is a 501(c)(3) public charity or as a collaborating partner on a 501(c)(3) organization’s application. Either the fiscal sponsor or the 501(c)(3) organization must be the primary organization, and will receive all funds associated with the AEP grant.

How many applications can each artist and organization submit?

Each artist and organization can apply only once.

Will applicants based outside of New York State be funded?

No.

What if I want to hire an ensemble, but one of the members is based outside New York State?

Only the New York State-based artists may be supported.

Can undocumented artists be employed through AEP?

All workers and organizations participating in AEP must follow New York State labor laws.

Why can’t I apply to both the Guaranteed Income for Artists and Artists Employment Programs at CRNY?

We recognize the enormous need many artists face, and we trust artists (and their AEP collaborators) to deeply consider which of the two programs is best for their specific needs. The primary focus of the Artist Employment Program is the partnership between artists and community-based organizations. A commitment to that partnership is integral to our review process and to the success of the proposed collaboration. In addition, allowing artists to be considered for both programs conflicts with our goal of supporting 2,700 individual artists across New York State.

Application Process and Support

Who will review my application?

All applications will be reviewed by a panel of peer reviewers and CRNY staff.

Can I speak with a CRNY staff member about my proposal?

CRNY does not have the capacity to discuss proposals, but you can contact our dedicated Help Desk team by calling 855-929-3863 (live assistance available Monday-Friday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern) or emailing HelpDesk@creativesrebuildny.org.

Will there be a webinar for applicants?

Yes. There will be multiple. Visit www.creativesrebuildny.org/apply for the most up-to-date schedule and registration instructions.

Should we submit letters of support for our work?

No.

I’m experiencing technical difficulties, and I’m not sure what’s wrong.

Please contact our dedicated Help Desk team by calling 855-929-3863 (live assistance available Monday-Friday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern) or emailing HelpDesk@creativesrebuildny.org.

I don’t speak English or Spanish. How can I apply?

The Help Desk includes dedicated translators to assist applicants who do not speak English or Spanish, and applicants who are English language learners. Contact the Help Desk team by calling 855-929-3863 (live assistance available Monday-Friday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern) or emailing HelpDesk@creativesrebuildny.org.

I have more questions. Whom do I contact?

Contact our dedicated Help Desk team by calling 855-929-3863 (live assistance available Monday-Friday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern) or emailing HelpDesk@creativesrebuildny.org.

Guidelines in English, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Russian, Yiddish, Bengali, Korean, Haitian Creole, Italian, Arabic, and Polish are available to be downloaded in PDF format below. You may also use the drop-down menu in the top right of the website if you would like to translate the web-based guidelines above into any of these languages.