City Parks Foundation & Culture in Parks and Plazas Coalition Announce New Community Fund

City Parks Foundation, with the newly-formed Culture in Parks and Plazas Coalition, is thrilled to announce the GREEN / ARTS LIVE NYC fund. With generous support from the New York Community Trust and Con Edison's Arts Al Fresco Series, the fund will provide microgrants and subsidized production support to ensure that New York City's most under-resourced communities have the opportunity to benefit from free arts and culture performances in their neighborhood parks, plazas and community gardens this summer and fall. Applications will be available on May 10. More information and grant guidelines are available at cityparksfoundation.org/green-art

GREEN / ARTS LIVE NYC is designed to equitably provide financial, consulting and production support to NYC artists, arts groups, cultural, and community-based organizations and volunteer stewardship groups in all New York City boroughs. The Fund, managed by City Parks Foundation, will award grants up to $3,000. The Culture in Parks and Plazas Coalition, composed of teams from City Parks Foundation, Horticultural Society of New York, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts, NYC Department of Transportation, OpenCultureWORKS and Street Lab, created this fund in order to activate and engage the green and public spaces of NYC with free live arts and cultural performances.

Funds will be awarded to individual artists and ensembles, community groups, and arts and cultural nonprofit organizations of all types that will present free of charge family-friendly performing arts programs or arts workshops in parks, neighborhood plazas, and select community gardens across the five boroughs of New York City. Applications will be available from Monday, May 10 through Friday, May 28 at 12:00 PM ET via the application portal. Award notifications will begin the week of June 21. All grant awarded projects must be completed no later than October 31, 2021.

Priority will be given to individual artists/ensembles and independent arts groups that may not be incorporated, volunteer-based community park and plaza groups, and small, nonprofit community based arts organizations. In addition, priority will be given to programs and artists in neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19, along with organizations led by individuals that identify as BIPOC, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and/or immigrant populations.

"This past year has highlighted for all of us just how essential parks are to our city's health and welfare. More than ever before, parks provided -- and will continue to provide respite, as well as serve as hosts for free cultural expression. This summer, as New York comes back to life, we will activate these important neighborhood centers while at the same time, provide support to local artists, cultural organizations and production teams, all of whom have been financially devastated by the pandemic. Our city's parks, plazas and gardens will serve as safe, accessible performance spaces for every community," shares Heather Lubov, Executive Director of City Parks Foundation.

"After a difficult and isolating chapter in the city's history, this program will enable New Yorkers to come together safely as local artists and arts groups bring our green spaces and plazas to new life. We are proud to support this dynamic coalition of groups and look forward to a spring and summer full of shared performances, discovery, and applause." - Salem Tsegaye, Program Officer, Arts & Culture, The New York Community Trust

"Con Edison's long standing commitment to making the arts accessible to all New Yorkers is more important TODAY than ever before," said Frances A. Resheske, Con Edison's senior vice president, Corporate Affairs. "As New York recovers from the pandemic, we are pleased to support local artists and cultural organizations in our 'Arts Al Fresco' series. These free public events will connect New Yorkers to vibrant performing artists at outdoor venues and open spaces in our customers' communities."

"Our public plazas, parks and open streets are havens for safe activities and small gatherings. The Horticultural Society of New York is grateful to be a part of this coalition's efforts to enliven these spaces and to keep them clean, green, and welcoming for all New Yorkers." - Sara Hobel, Executive Director, The Horticultural Society of New York

"As we emerge from this hardest of times for our city, parks filled with live dance, music, words, and art are the medicine we need. New Yorkers for Culture & Arts is proud to be part of this effort to provide resources for our hard-hit artists to bring their work to green spaces in every borough of our great city." - Lucy Sexton, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts

"New York City's public plazas and neighborhood parks have proven to be invaluable community resources throughout the pandemic. GREEN / ARTS LIVE NYC enriches that value by supporting local artists in accessing neighborhood public spaces. The Department of Transportation is proud to support the recovery of the arts and culture community while enriching the cultural lives of New Yorkers in communities hardest hit by the pandemic." - Andrew Ronan, Assistant Director, Community Partnerships and Programming, Public Space Unit, NYC Department of Transportation

"We believe that the arts play a vital and integral role in shaping the health and well-being of our fellow New Yorkers, and OpenCultureWORKS is thrilled to be working alongside this coalition of like-minded organizations to bring the arts to our parks, plazas and community gardens for all to enjoy." - Robin Schatell, Co-Founder/Producer, OpenCultureWORKS

City Parks Foundation will administer the fund, which is governed by a Steering Committee of representatives from the Culture in Parks Coalition and experts in the field.

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