New Artist Opportunities in Boston and Beyond

We’ve been excited to see a number of new funding and support opportunities for Boston/New England artists announced recently. Here’s a brief rundown.

New England Dance Fund
The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) announced its New England Dance Fund, which awards “small, catalytic grants directly to choreographers who identify and articulate a critical opportunity that will significantly advance their career in dance.” The program, which aims to strengthen the dance sector in the region, is in addition to NEFA’s existent portfolio of support for dance artists. The next deadline to apply is September 26, 2016.

Assets for Artists in Boston
Assets for Artists is a unique program that offers financial and entrepreneurial training to artists as well as an innovative matched savings grant program. It’s administered by MASS MoCA with a host of partnering and sponsoring orgs (including us). This year, the City of Boston joins as a partner, providing dedicated funding for 10 matched savings grants (from $1,000 – $2,000 each) for Boston-based artists, and financial and business workshops to strengthen the professional skills of those 10 artists and others. Deadline to apply is September 30, 2016.

The Boston Foundation’s Next Steps for Boston Dance
The Next Steps for Boston Dance program aims to support Greater Boston choreographers with access to rehearsal space, consulting meetings with expert advisors, cohort/collaborator meetings, and $5,000 in funding. The deadline to apply is October 24, 2016, 5 PM EST.

The Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston (LAB)
The Live Arts Boston (LAB) program will provide up to $15,000 in flexible, project-specific support to artists in dance, theater, spoken word, performance art, circus arts, some music genres, and inter- or multi-disciplinary combinations. Priority will be given to projects that emphasize new work, culturally-specific work, unique and interdisciplinary partnerships/collaborations, or risk-taking and innovative programming. The launch date is September 30, 2016, and the deadline will be November 15, 2016, 5 PM EST.

The Boston Cultural Council’s Opportunity Fund
The Opportunity Fund is designed to support individual artists living or working in Boston to “share their work with the public or teach others, continue professional development, and hone their skills.” Applications for grants up to $1,000 will be accepted on a monthly basis. Artists can apply here, and grants will be distributed every month except October and April, when other Boston Cultural Council grants applications are due.

If you have a program to benefit Massachusetts artists that you’d like us to share, we’re all ears.

Media: excerpt from CLOTHESLINE AS LIVE INSTRUMENT by Dahlia Nayar (Choreography Fellow ’16), a past recipient of support from NEFA’s dance initiatives.