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Register Now | Film Pitches and Grant Applications: What Funders Really Want to Know, and Why

April 21 online workshop will provide an overview for early and mid-career filmmakers and media artists wishing to improve their fundraising skills.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is pleased to present “Film Pitches and Grant Applications: What Funders Really Want to Know, and Why” for early and mid-career filmmakers and media artists on Tuesday, April 21 from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM EST. The workshop, presented by NYFA Coach and Media Specialist Matthew Seig, is part of our Online Learning Initiative that provides professional development workshops to artists and creatives nationally and internationally through a webinar platform. 

Workshop Description: Your letters of introduction and grant applications do more than just describe what your project is and who you are. They are a window into your skills, the viability of your project, and your professional and personal profile. We are going to talk about all of this, and some of the important factors that will govern your success, in “Film Pitches and Applications: What Funders Really Want to Know, and Why.” Regardless of whether your project is nonprofit or for-profit in nature, many of the same practices are important to both.

Topics will include:

The format: Do you understand the rules and standards of the community?

The narrative: Are you really a storyteller?

The budget: Does it tell the same story as your narrative?

The outreach and distribution: Who is your audience specifically?

The biography: Why is this the right project for you right now, and what is your network?

The team: Do they complement and elevate you, your project, and your network?

Presenter: Matthew Seig, NYFA Coach and Media/Film Specialist  Title: Film Pitches and Grant Applications: What Funders Really Want to Know, and Why Date: Tuesday, April 21, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM  Location: Online  Program Fee: FREE* Registration: We have unfortunately reached the registration limit for this webinar. Please check NYFA’s event page for details on future programming. Questions: Email learning@nyfa.org

This workshop will be recorded and shared with all previously-registered participants after the session concludes. It will be available for viewing up to one month after the workshop date.

*NYFA’s mission to empower working artists and emerging arts organizations across all disciplines at critical stages in their creative lives and professional/organizational development. We aim to be a resource to artists, arts administrators, and students everywhere, especially when so many in our creative community are reeling from lost jobs, opportunities, and income as a result of the coronavirus crisis. As such, we are taking action in a variety of ways including waiving registration fees on our webinars. 

Presenter’s Bio: A Media Specialist at NYFA, Matthew Seig is an experienced producer and production executive for film and television, director of documentary films, film programmer, exhibitor, and rights licensor. He manages a library of copyrights including those belonging to the late producer/director Robert Altman. Seig helped establish the Altman Archive at the University of Michigan, and edited a book about Altman’s life and films that was published by Abrams Books in 2014. 

For NYFA and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, he produced a series of interviews with independent filmmakers on the subject of building audiences—one of the many skills that funders look at when considering financial backing for a filmmaker—that were conducted by Eugene Hernandez of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. In recent years, Seig has spoken about and moderated panels on fundraising for filmmakers at The Foundation Center, Producers Guild of America, Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, and others.

Our 2020 Spring workshop series highlights NYFA Coaching, a professional development service that offers access to one-on-one individual guidance from a variety of arts professionals, including NYFA staff. 

This program is part of NYFA Learning, which includes professional development for artists and arts administrators. Sign up for NYFA’s free bi-weekly newsletter to receive updates on future programs.

Image: Courtesy NYFA

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Don’t Miss A Deadline | Find and Track Applications

How to find and manage application deadlines to support your creative practice.

For most working artists, the path to completing a project means one thing: submitting applications. It is rare to be able to fund a project through a single source, which means you will probably find yourself applying to a wide variety of resources, including exhibition or publication opportunities, open calls, fellowships, developmental labs, and/or residences, among other grants over the course of your career. That’s a lot of deadlines! While the number of applications may seem daunting, the work becomes more manageable when you break it out over time as part of a consistent routine.

This post will walk you through several strategies to help you find and manage application deadlines—from developing a routine to creating and updating a submissions calendar and database with a free template to download. You’ll need the time saved to write the applications, follow up with fellow artists and/or potential supporters, and most importantly, do what you are meant to do: create. 

Develop a routine to work on the business side of your creative practice

What does it mean to work on the business side of your creative practice? This phrase refers to any activity outside of creating work that moves your career forward. Activities may include creating a portfolio website and launching a digital marketing plan, following up with professional contacts you met at an opening or industry event, and for the purposes of this specific post, finding and tracking applications. 

The amount of time you spend working on applications will be based on a number of factors and existing responsibilities, including where you are in your creative work as well as any job(s) you hold outside of being an artist and/or caretaking duties, and will most likely fluctuate over time. It’s important to set aside dedicated time in your calendar for the work of building an artistic career so it becomes a routine. Be ambitious but realistic in your goal-setting. 

Finding opportunities

You can search for most artist awards and programs online through national resources, such as NYFA Source or NYFA Opportunities & Services; the newly-developed search platform, Rivet; and the Alliance for Artist Communities Residency Directory as well as discipline-specific resources such as Common Field, Poets & Writers, or Theatre Communications Group. In addition to following your local arts council, there are a number of regional nonprofits that compile deadlines and share them with their followers, such as Chicago Artist Coalition, FreshArts in Houston, and the Leeway Foundation in Philadelphia. 

Many organizations use the online platform Submittable for grant applications or ongoing submissions. With a free account, you can use Submittable to track your current and previous applications and discover new opportunities based on your previous submissions. We still recommend creating your own submissions databases as explained below. In addition to using online directories, you should always check the funding credits and acknowledgments of projects, books, or performances of artists whom you admire, particularly if their work is similar in style to your own. In addition to signing up for key organizations’ mailing lists and following them on social media, you can set up free Google alerts for grant announcements that you are particularly drawn to.

Application tracking

As you delve into your research, you will quickly find that your list of potential grant applications is not only long, but that the deadlines are spread out throughout the year, and in some cases, the deadlines may be as much as 2-3 years away depending on organizational grant cycles. It is for these reasons that we recommend two tools to aid in your applications: (1) a grants calendar and (2) a submissions database. 

Most recurrent grants are offered at approximately the same time each year. If the deadline hasn’t yet been announced and you can’t find information online, reach out to the institution to confirm that the timing hasn’t changed. Once you have a sense of the timing, set a reminder for yourself at least two months before the expected deadline to check the application requirements and begin working on your proposal. If the deadline hasn’t been announced at this point, adjust the reminder to two weeks ahead, and keep changing it as necessary. For applications that require materials or sign-off from other sources, such as letters of recommendation or partner agreements, you’ll need more than two months to work on them. 

What should you use to set your application reminders? There are a variety of free task management tools, such as Asana, Todoist, or the iPhone Reminders app, that all enable you to create a task and receive an alert on your phone and/or email at a specific date and time. Alternatively, you can mark both the application deadlines and 1-2 months prior to the deadline either in your paper calendar or your online calendar as events with notifications. If you don’t check a calendar regularly, you can pre-schedule an email to yourself with a reminder about the application. 

In addition to a grants calendar, we highly recommend creating and maintaining a submissions database using either Excel or Google Sheets, which is offered for free up to 15 GB. This database will enable you to quickly view the status of all your applications as well as provide an overview of eligibility requirements for upcoming deadlines. 

Suggested fields to include in your submissions database are:

Organization Name

Application Deadline: note that rolling applications accept submissions year-round

Contact Information: website is often sufficient, but you may want to include a mailing address or program officer name

Application Type: online app, mail, open submissions, project proposal

Type of Opportunity: grant, residency, publication, or educational program

Amount of Award: cash grant, stipend, and other benefits

Status of Application: submitted, awarded, passed

Eligibility Requirements: location, discipline, or other demographics specific to the grant, such as gender or ethnicity. This is also where you would include key characteristics of the grant’s intended audience and scope, such as grants for social practice, public service components, and/or environmental concerns. You might consider creating separate fields for these categories as your entries grow. 

Applications Requirements: resume, portfolio, cover letter, etc. You could include each requirement as a separate field and mark an X as you check off each item or you could note key requirements that require advance planning, such as letters of recommendation. 

You can download our submissions database template for free using this link, selecting “File,” and then selecting either “Make a copy” or “Download.”

What’s left? Applying! This step is, of course, what you should spend the bulk of your project planning time working on, and with these simple strategies for finding and tracking applications, we hope you now have more time to do exactly that. 

- Maria Villafranca, NYFA Coach and Consultant

You can find more articles on arts career topics by visiting the Business of Art section of NYFA’s website. Looking for more application tips? Check our "The Art of the Application" blog series. Sign up for NYFA News and receive artist resources and upcoming events straight to your inbox.

Image: Kwesi Abbensetts (Fellow in Photography ‘16), A Kind of Masking 2, 2015 

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Event | Online Doctor’s Hours for Visual & Multidisciplinary Artists

Monday, June 29 Doctor’s Hours event will offer remote one-on-one consultations with art professionals.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) will host the next edition of its popular Doctor’s Hours program, which is designed to provide practical and professional advice from industry professionals, online on Monday, June 29. 

This event will serve Visual and Multidisciplinary artists working in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Video, Film, Photography, New Media, Multidisciplinary, Performance Art, Socially-Engaged Practices, Folk, and Traditional Art.

Starting Tuesday, June 9 at 11:00 AM EDT, you can register for 25-minute, remote one-on-one appointments with up to three arts professionals to ask questions and receive actionable tips for advancing your arts career.

How Online Doctor's Hours works:

To adopt the online model, each consultant meets six artists over the course of three hours.

Each consultation session is 25 minutes. There will be a three appointment limit per artist.

The Online Doctor's Hours sessions take place through the Zoom platform. Please download the Zoom app before the event date to participate.

Title: Online Doctor’s Hours for Visual and Multidisciplinary Artists Program Date and Time: Monday, June 29, 2020, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT, unless otherwise noted below Location: Online through Zoom*  Cost: $25 per 25-minute appointment; three appointment limit per artist Register: The event is fully booked, please click here to sign up for the waiting list to be informed of any cancellations.

Can’t join us? You can book a one-on-one remote consultation with arts professionals via NYFA Coaching.

To make the most of your “Online Doctor’s Hours” appointment, please read the entire confirmation email you receive after completing your registration; it includes all the details you need for your session.

*We are able to offer this support via phone if you are unable to access reliable internet service.

For questions, email learning@nyfa.org.

Consultants

Ylinka Barotto, Associate Curator, Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University As Associate Curator, Barotto is responsible for developing, organizing, and executing visual art exhibitions that support Moody's mission of fostering interdisciplinary conversation. Barotto is also involved in the expansion of Rice Public Art through commissions of site-specific work and is responsible for conceptualizing and coordinating the “Platform” and “Off the Wall” series. Before joining the Moody, Barotto served as Assistant Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum where she worked on major modern and postwar retrospectives and contemporary exhibitions. She helped shape the Guggenheim’s permanent collection through acquisitions of emerging artists through the Young Collectors Council and hosted and moderated conversations between contemporary artists, activists, and journalists on topics such as feminism, activism, identity, and representation for the Guggenheim Public Program. Barotto received a MA degree in curatorial studies at Accademia delle Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy.

Alaina Claire Feldman, Director, Sidney Mishkin Gallery at CUNY’s Baruch College* Feldman is the new Director and Curator of the Mishkin Gallery at Baruch College (CUNY), where she also teaches in the MA Arts Administration program. Recent exhibitions include The Aesthetics of Learning, Minerva Cuevas: Disidencia, and Lamin Fofana: BLUES.

*Please note appointment times for this consultant will be between 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Monday, June 29.

Gabriel de Guzman, Curator & Director of Exhibitions, Smack Mellon Gallery At Smack Mellon, de Guzman organizes group and solo exhibitions that feature emerging and under-recognized mid-career artists whose work often explores critical, socially relevant issues. Before joining Smack Mellon’s staff in 2017, de Guzman was the Curator of Visual Arts at Wave Hill, organizing solo projects for emerging artists as well as thematic group exhibitions. As a guest curator, he has presented shows at BronxArtSpace, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, Rush Arts Gallery, En Foco at Andrew Freedman Home, the Affordable Art Fair New York, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and the Bronx Museum's 2013 AIM Biennial. Prior to Wave Hill, he was a curatorial assistant at The Jewish Museum. His essays have been published in Nueva Luz: Photographic Journal and in catalogues for the Arsenal Gallery at Central Park, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, and the art institutions mentioned above. He earned a MA degree in art history from Hunter College and a BA degree in art history from the University of Virginia.

DJ Hellerman, Curator of Art & Programs, Everson Museum of Art A few of Hellerman’s recent curatorial productions include solo exhibitions Yoko Ono: Remembering the Future, Edie Fake: Structures Shift, and Jeff Donaldson: Dig. Recent theme-based group exhibitions include: Civic Virtue: all over the floor; Seen & Heard; Of Land & Local, an annual place-based exhibition about art and the environment; and Taking Pictures, an exhibition exploring how artists associated with the Pictures Generation anticipated and recently turned their critical attention to digital networks used in the dissemination and consumption of images. Hellerman has spoken at conferences across the country, and has written extensively on American Art, popular culture, and the post-war American City. Prior to his position in Syracuse, Hellerman served as Curator and Director of Exhibitions at Burlington City Arts. A native of Ohio, Hellerman began curating and educating people about art while helping Progressive Insurance build a collection of contemporary art designed to encourage innovation and change. He received his MA degree in Art History from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH and his BA degree in English and Philosophy from Lake Erie College in Painesville, OH. He loves live music and literature as much as he enjoys visual art.

Lilly Hern-Fondation, Programs Manager, CUE Art Foundation Hern-Fondation is a Brooklyn-based artist and writer and the Programs Manager at CUE Art Foundation, a nonprofit art space located in Manhattan that is dedicated to exhibitions, arts education, art criticism, and public programming. Prior to CUE, she served as Assistant Director of Freight+Volume on the Lower East Side, as co-founder and co-director of Nightwood Exhibits in Chicago, and as Curatorial Fellow at SAIC. Originally from Los Angeles, Hern-Fondation studied literature and photography at the University of Washington, Seattle and received her MFA degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Eileen Jeng Lynch, Curator, Wave Hill At Wave Hill, Jeng Lynch organizes the Sunroom Project Space for emerging artists, co-curates exhibitions in Glyndor Gallery, and is involved in all aspects of visual arts programming including publications and the annual Winter Workspace program. Recent exhibitions at Wave Hill include Figuring the Floral, Emily Oliveira: Mundo Irrealis (Wish You Were Here), Duy Hoàng: Interarboreal, Bahar Behbahani: All water has a perfect memory, and Ngoc Minh Ngo: Wave Hill Florilegium. Jeng Lynch is also the Founder of Neumeraki, which collaborates with artists, organizations, and galleries on curatorial, consulting, writing, and editing projects. Independent curatorial projects include exhibitions at The Yard: City Hall Park, Trestle Gallery, LMAKbooks+design, Sperone Westwater, Lesley Heller Workspace, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Garis & Hahn, and Radiator Gallery, among others. In 2017, Jeng Lynch initiated the ongoing Give Voice Postcard Project. She has contributed to Two Coats of Paint and On-Verge. Previously, Jeng Lynch worked at RxArt, Sperone Westwater, and the Art Institute of Chicago in the Department of Contemporary Art. She earned her MA degree in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and BA degree in Art History and Advertising from Syracuse University.

Larry Ossei-Mensah, Independent Curator and Cultural Critic, Co-founder of ARTNOIR* Ossei-Mensah uses contemporary art as a vehicle to redefine how we see ourselves and the world around us. The Ghanaian-American curator and cultural critic has organized exhibitions and programs at commercial and nonprofit spaces around the globe from New York City to Rome featuring artists such as Firelei Baez, Allison Janae Hamilton, Brendan Fernades, Ebony G. Patterson, Glenn Kaino, and Stanley Whitney to name a few. Moreover, Ossei-Mensah has actively documented cultural happenings featuring the most dynamic visual artists working today such as Derrick Adams, Mickalene Thomas, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Federico Solmi, and Kehinde Wiley.

Ossei-Mensah is also the co-founder of ARTNOIR, a 501c3 and global collective of culturalists who design multimodal experiences aimed to engage this generation’s dynamic and diverse creative class. Ossei-Mensah is a contributor to the first ever Ghanaian Pavilion for the 2019 Venice Biennial, with an essay on the work of visual artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Ossei-Mensah is the former Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at MOCAD in Detroit. He recently co-curated with Dexter Wimberly the critically-acclaimed exhibition at MOAD in San Francisco Coffee, Rhum, Sugar, Gold: A Postcolonial Paradox in 2019. Ossei-Mensah currently serves as guest curator at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Rudin Family Gallery. He also will be co-curating with Omsk Social Club the 7th Athens Biennale in Athens, Greece. Ossei-Mensah has had recent profiles in such publications including The New York Times, Artsy, and Cultured Magazine, which named him one of seven curators to watch in 2019. Follow him on Instagram/Twitter at @youngglobal or www.larryosseimensah.com.

*Please note appointment times for this consultant will be between 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Monday, June 29.

Alice Russotti, Curator, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) As Curator at LMCC, Russotti is focused on programming at the Arts Center at Governors Island and public art partnerships with LMCC’s downtown supporters. Originally from London, Russotti graduated from high school in Costa Rica and has since lived in New York City, London, and Singapore. She started her career in the arts on the commercial side, first at Christie’s, New York, and then with Sotheby’s, London, in the Post-War & Contemporary department. Finding the secondary market’s lack of interaction with artists and their process frustrating, she started working at The Vinyl Factory, London, curating and producing multimedia, cross-disciplinary installations in the Brewer Street Car Park that were free and open to the public. Russotti holds a BA degree from Brown University in Art History and a MA degree from the Sotheby’s Institute in Contemporary Art and Theory.

This program is presented by NYFA Learning. Sign up here to receive NYFA News, a bi-weekly organizational email for upcoming awards, resources & professional development. NYFA Learning also offers the monthly free Con Edison Immigrant Artist Program (IAP) Newsletter, if you are interested in opportunities, professional development, events, tips and advice specific to immigrant artists. 

Image Detail: Mark Ferguson (Fellow in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts ’17); NYFA Artist's Statement; 2017; graphite, crayon, tape on synthetic paper

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Event | Online Doctor’s Hours for Visual & Multidisciplinary Artists

Monday, April 27 Doctor’s Hours event will offer remote one-on-one individual consultations with industry professionals.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) will host the next edition of its popular Doctor’s Hours program, which is designed to provide practical and professional advice from industry professionals, online on Monday, April 27. 

It will serve Visual and Multidisciplinary artists working in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Video, Film, Photography, New Media, Multidisciplinary, Performance Art, Socially-Engaged Practices, Folk, and Traditional Art. 

Starting Tuesday, April 7 at 11:00 AM EDT, you can register for 25-minute, remote one-on-one appointments with up to three arts professionals to ask questions and receive actionable tips for advancing your arts career. Please note that a few of these time-slots will be reserved for students and artists at The Art Students League of New York, as part of an ongoing partnership with NYFA. 

How Online Doctor's Hours works:

To adopt the online model, each consultant will meet with six artists over the course of three hours.

Each consultation session is 25 minutes long. There is a three appointment limit per artist.

The Online Doctor's Hours sessions take place through the Zoom platform. Please download the Zoom app before the event date to participate.

Title: Online Doctor’s Hours for Visual and Multidisciplinary Artists Program Date and Time: Monday, April 27, 2019, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT Location: Online through Zoom* Cost: $25 per 25-minute appointment; three appointment limit per artist Register: Register here.

Can’t join us? You can book a remote one-on-one consultation with arts professionals via NYFA Coaching.

To make the most of your Online Doctor’s Hours appointment, please read the entire confirmation email you receive after completing your registration; it includes all the details you need for your session.

*We are able to offer this support via phone if you are unable to access reliable internet service.

For questions, email learning@nyfa.org.

Consultants

Daniel Aycock, Founder and Director, Front Room Gallery  Aycock established The Front Room Gallery in New York in 1999. The space is dedicated to exhibiting artwork by emerging and mid-career artists, with a concentration in photography as well as drawing, conceptual art, video, audio art, sculpture, and installation. The gallery presents work that is innovative in practice and concept, challenging social perceptions while establishing context within the familiar. Aycock has curated exhibitions internationally at universities, museums, artist’s residencies, and art fairs. He has been a guest juror/critic at Association of Media Photographers (ASMP), NY; School of Visual Arts (SVA), NY; International Studio Curatorial Project (ISCP), NY; FotoFest, TX; and many others. In 2001, he started WAGMAG, Brooklyn Art Guide, a monthly printed publication listing all of the arts institutions in Brooklyn, NY. He received his BFA degree in Photography from Texas Tech University and his Master’s Degree from SVA.

Heather Bhandari, Independent Curator, Co-Founder of The Remix  In addition to her work as an independent curator and co-founder of the project-based curatorial team and podcast, The Remix, Bhandari is an adjunct lecturer at Brown University where she teaches professional practice to visual arts majors and is Partner and Program Director of Art World Conference (AWC), a business and financial literacy conference for visual artists which debuted in New York City in April of 2019 and Los Angeles in February of 2020. The second edition of her book, ART/WORK, was published by Simon and Schuster in October of 2017. Bhandari is on the board of directors of visual arts at Art Omi, an artist residency in Ghent, NY, and is on the advisory board of Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. She was on the board of NURTUREart for nearly a decade. From 2000 to 2016 she was a director of Mixed Greens, a commercial gallery in Chelsea where she curated over 100 exhibitions while managing a roster of nearly two-dozen emerging to mid-career artists. Most recently, she was the Director of Exhibitions at Smack Mellon, a nonprofit in Brooklyn, NY. Recent curatorial projects include a solo exhibition of Keith Lemley’s work at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY and the group exhibition Fertile Ground at the David Winton Bell Gallery in Providence, RI, that included work by Maria Berrio, Zoë Charlton, and Joiri Minaya. She and her AWC co-organizer Dexter Wimberly were recently listed in the Observer's "Arts Power 50: Changemakers Shaping the Art World in 2019." Bhandari received a BA degree from Brown University and a MFA degree from Pennsylvania State University. Her career began at contemporary galleries Sonnabend and Lehmann Maupin, both in New York.

Rachel Gladfelter, Director, Pace Prints  As Director of Pace Prints in Chelsea, Gladfelter has coordinated projects from concept to exhibition by Keith Haring, Jon Kessler, and Shepard Fairey, among others. An expert on print publishing, printmaking, and papermaking, she has lectured and taught classes on the subject extensively. She has also curated and juried independent exhibitions in New York and abroad. Prior to her 12-year tenure with Pace Prints, she was the Studio Director at Dieu Donné where she collaborated with contemporary artists in handmade paper.

Peter Gynd, Gallery Director, Lesley Heller Gallery  Gynd is a fifth generation artist and independent curator from Vancouver, Canada. He studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design and has exhibited in both Canada and the US. Notable exhibitions curated by Gynd include a permanent exhibition at the Foundation Center, NY; an acclaimed two-person presentation at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, NY; and group exhibitions at Present Company, NY; NARS Foundation, NY; the Northside Festival, NY; Lesley Heller Workspace, NY; and at the Dynamo Arts Association, Vancouver. Gynd’s exhibitions have been featured in Hyperallergic, The Carnegie Reporter, Blouin Artinfo, and Gothamist. He has been a guest critic at Residencies Unlimited, Kunstraum, and ChaNorth Artist Residency; a consultant for NYFA’s Doctors Hours program; guest lecturer at Pratt Institute; and a guest juror at 440 Gallery, Equity Gallery, and Sweet Lorraine Gallery. Recent projects include curating a solo exhibition of sculptural works by Jody MacDonald at Radiator Gallery and serving as a guest juror for the second edition of the Art Fair 14C.

Nicole Kaack, Associate Director, A.I.R. Gallery A.I.R. Gallery is a non-profit arts organization founded in 1972 to support the work of women-identifying and non-binary artists. Independent of her role at A.I.R. Gallery, Kaack is an active curator and critic. She has organized exhibitions and programs at The Kitchen, Hunter College, CRUSH CURATORIAL / HESSE FLATOW, and Small Editions, among other spaces. Kaack's writing has been published by Whitehot Magazine, artcritical, Art Viewer, SFAQ / NYAQ / AQ, Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, and Sound American. Kaack is co-founder of the publishing platforms prompt: and Not Nothing.

Isabella Kapur, Curatorial Assistant, The Drawing Center  During her time with The Drawing Center, Kapur has co-curated exhibitions including As If: Alternative Histories From Then to Now (2019) and The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists (2019–2020) and helped organize Edie Fake: Labyrinth (2019–2020), and, most recently, Curtis Talwst Santiago: Can’t I Alter. She has also worked as an art historian and researcher with The Brooklyn Museum’s “ASK Brooklyn Museum” program.

Jamie Stevens, Curator, Artists Space  In addition to his work at Artists Space, Stevens has held curatorial positions at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; Cubitt Gallery, London; Chisenhale Gallery, London; and has served as a member of the acquisitions committee for the British Council Collection of Contemporary Art. He is currently a candidate in the Respecialization Program at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, New York.

Yulia Topchiy, Independent Curator of Contemporary Art & Co-Founder, Assembly Room  Topchiy specializes in art curation, creating public programming initiatives, event production, and performances, with a passion for creating intimate, immersive, original and engaging experiences of art. Topchly works with an extensive network of emerging and established artists in all fields of practice and advises galleries, non-profits, art museums, and independent curators on special projects and exhibitions.

Monika Wuhrer, Curator and Director, Open Source Gallery  Wuhrer is an Austrian artist, curator, and director of Open Source Gallery. After studying in Milan, Italy, Wuhrer returned to her native country where she completed her Masters of Arts in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. She moved to New York in 1999 and found Open Source Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Open Source Gallery is an arts-based non-profit organization inspired by the open source movement. In the spirit of this free exchange of knowledge, they provide a forum where art intersects with the community and the world at large.

This program is presented by NYFA Learning. Sign up here to receive NYFA News, a bi-weekly organizational email for upcoming awards, resources & professional development. NYFA Learning also offers the monthly free Con Edison Immigrant Artist Program (IAP) Newsletter, if you are interested in opportunities, professional development, events, tips and advice specific to immigrant artists. 

Image: Amy Aronoff for NYFA

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Event | Doctor’s Hours for Visual & Multidisciplinary Artists with Museum Curators and Professionals

This Monday, February 24 event will offer one-on-one individual consultations with art professionals.

Are you a visual or multidisciplinary artist in need of some career advice? New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is pleased to announce its first Doctor’s Hours program in 2020. The February 24 event serves Visual and Multidisciplinary Artists (Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Video, Film, Photography, New Media, Multidisciplinary, Performance Art, Socially-Engaged Practices, Folk, and Traditional Art) and is designed to provide artists with practical and professional advice from museum curators and arts professionals. Starting Monday, February 3 at 11:00 AM EST, you can register for 20-minute, one-on-one appointments with up to three arts professionals to ask questions and receive actionable tips for advancing your arts career.

Title: Doctor’s Hours for Visual and Multidisciplinary Artists with Museum Curators and Professionals Program Date and Time: Monday, February 24, 2020, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST Location: The New York Foundation for the Arts, 20 Jay Street, Suite 740, Brooklyn NY, 11201 Cost: $38 per 20-minute appointment; three appointment limit per artist Register: This event is at capacity. Please fill out this form to add your name to the waitlist.

To make the most of your “Doctor’s Hours” appointment, read our Tips & FAQs. For questions, email learning@nyfa.org.

Can’t join us on February 24? You can book a one-on-one consultation with arts professionals, in-person or remotely, via NYFA Coaching.

*For all regular participants, please note that we have a new registration platform. Please read the instructions carefully before beginning your registration.

Consultants

Jeanette Bisschops, Curatorial Apprentice, New Museum Bisschops, a Dutch curator and writer who specializes in time-based media, recently joined New Museum as a curatorial apprentice. Bisschops is particularly interested in expanding and criticizing existing narratives and structures in the art world and working with lesser-known or new voices. She is based in New York and Amsterdam, and is currently working towards the 2021 New Museum Triennial with Margot Norton and Jamillah James and organizing the upcoming “Screen Series.” 

Bisschops formerly served as assistant curator for time-based media at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, where she was involved with the conservation, acquisition, and display of the museum’s time-based media collection. She assisted with the latest edition of the museum’s biannual Municipal Art Acquisitions, titled Freedom of Movement, and organized performances by Michele Rizzo and Rory Pilgrim. Her interest in new technologies culminated in two of her most recent exhibitions: Untouched Intimacies and ART FWRD: On Technology.

Rachel Federman, Associate Curator, Modern & Contemporary Drawings, The Morgan Library & Museum Federman's recent projects include By Any Means: Contemporary Drawings from the Morgan and Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet (catalog). Before joining the Morgan, she was Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where she helped organize the retrospective Bruce Conner: It’s All True. She has published essays on Conner, Paul McCarthy, Allen Ruppersberg, and Andy Warhol, among others. She holds a PhD degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

Larissa Harris, Curator, Queens Museum of Art Harris' exhibitions at Queens Museum include Red Lines Housing Crisis Learning Center, a project on home finance by artist and urban designer Damon Rich; The Curse of Bigness, which featured major works by Survival Research Laboratories, J. Morgan Puett, and Dexter Sinister, among others; the first U.S. solo presentation of Korean video and performance artist Sung Hwan Kim; 13 Most Wanted Men: Andy Warhol and the 1964 World's Fair (with Nicholas Chambers); and a 50-year survey of the work of Mierle Laderman Ukeles (with Patti Philips). Upcoming is a group exhibition titled After the Plaster Foundation and Ulrike Muller's first New York museum presentation, a new commission titled The Conference of the Animals (organized with Sophia Lucas), both opening April 5, 2020.

David Horowitz, Assistant Curator, Modern & Contemporary Drawings, Guggenheim Museum Since joining the Guggenheim’s curatorial department in 2015, Horowitz has contributed to a number of special exhibitions and supported the management of the museum’s permanent collection. He is the curator of Marking Time: Process in Minimal Abstraction (2019–20) and co-curator of R. H. Quaytman + ×, Chapter 34 (2018–19). Additionally, he worked closely on Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future (2018–19) and Agnes Martin (2016–17), as well as Guggenheim Collection: Brancusi (2017–20) and Guggenheim Collection: Early Modernism (2016–17). Horowitz also regularly assists in the continued care and stewardship of the permanent collection. While mostly focused on the postwar period, he has conducted research on works from all parts of the museum’s holdings. He holds a BA degree in English language and literature from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an interdisciplinary MLA degree from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently pursuing a MA degree in art history at Hunter College.

Kelly Long, Curatorial Assistant, Whitney Museum of American Art Long has supported such Whitney Museum exhibitions as Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium and Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World, and was a part of the curatorial team that organized Rachel Harrison Life Hack, the artist’s first full-scale survey exhibition. She is a member of the Whitney’s Equity and Inclusion Working Group, and helps to manage the museum’s Photography Acquisitions Committee.

Prior to moving to New York, Long achieved PhD Candidacy at the University of Rochester, where her research focused on the engagement of postmodern and contemporary art with housing, exploring notions of being and belonging, access, and ownership in the art of our time. Her published works include catalogue essays for Gail Thacker: Fugitive Moments (2019) and Chiharu Shiota: The Hand Lines (2014). She was an invited speaker at the Frick Collection and the Institute of Fine Arts’ Annual Symposium on the History of Art in 2015. Long holds a MA degree in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester and a BA degree in Art History from Vassar College, with a minor in Women’s Studies.

Jocelyn Miller, Curatorial Associate and Editorial Manager, MoMA PS1 Miller has been a member of MoMA PS1's curatorial team since 2011. She is currently organizing the upcoming exhibition Julie Becker: I must create a Master Piece to pay the Rent, and recently organized Elena Lopez Riera: Those Who Desire (2019); Maria Lassnig: New York Films 1970-1980 and Body Armor (both 2018); Past Skin (2017); and Meriem Bennani: FLY (2016). She also organized Projects 106: Martine Syms at The Museum of Modern Art (2017). She has co-organized solo exhibitions with Titus Kaphar, Reza Abdoh, Naeem Mohaiemen, Ian Cheng, Mark Leckey, Cao Fei and Simon Denny, as well as career retrospectives of the artists Maria Lassnig and James Lee Byars, the latter both at MoMA PS1 and Museo Jumex, Mexico City. She also serves as Editorial Manager for MoMA PS1's curatorial department, overseeing museum publications, and served as Editor for the 2015 Greater New York “Readers series.” She received her BA degree in Comparative Literature from Princeton University.  

Ana Torok, Curatorial Assistant, Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art Torok is a curator and art historian based in New York City, specializing in postminimal and conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s. She earned her MA degree in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art and her BA degree from Barnard College, Columbia University. Before joining The Museum of Modern Art, she worked in the curatorial departments of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art, while organizing exhibitions independently.

Lauren Argentina Zelaya, Director of Public Programs, Brooklyn Museum Zelaya joined Brooklyn Museum as a Museum Education and Public Programs Fellow in 2012, becoming a full-time staff member in 2015. As Director of Public Programs, Zelaya curates and produces First Saturdays and other free and low-cost public programs that invite more than 150,000 visitors per year to engage with the museum’s special exhibitions and collections in new and unexpected ways. As a curator, advocate, and educator, Zelaya is committed to collaborating with emerging artists and honoring voices in our communities that are often marginalized, with a focus on film and performance, and creating programming for and with LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities. Most recently, she co-curated the exhibition Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall. Other projects include “Feminist Film Night,” “Cuerpxs Radicales: Radical Bodies in Performance,” and “Black Queer Brooklyn on Film.” Previously, she worked in education at the Queens Museum and the Museum of the Moving Image, and with emerging artists in Queens as a program coordinator with the Queens Council on the Arts. Zelaya participated in the Tate Intensive (2019) and New York Foundation for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Program (2018), and was named one of Brooklyn Magazine's "30 Under 30" in 2018.

This program is presented by NYFA Learning. Sign up here to receive NYFA News, a bi-weekly organizational email for upcoming awards, resources, and professional development. NYFA Learning also offers the monthly Con Edison Immigrant Artist Program (IAP) Newsletter if you are interested in opportunities, professional development, events, and tips and advice specific to immigrant artists.

Image: Doctor’s Hours, June 2019, Photo Credit: NYFA Learning

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Creative Careers | How, Why, and When to Negotiate Salary

A salary negotiation is one step toward you understanding your value.

Whether you are an entry-level employee or a seasoned arts professional, learning how to negotiate your salary is a necessary skill to both increase your long-term earning potential and advocate for advancements in your career. Employee raises, in most cases, are based on your current salary, so it is well worth it over time to negotiate your initial offer as well as subsequent increases. Successful salary negotiations for new hires and current employees in the arts and culture sector include three factors: (1) timing, (2) research, and (3) a confident ask.

The Timing

If you are a new hire to an organization, you should negotiate when or soon after you receive an official job offer. You might be asked about your expected salary and/or salary history* prior to an offer, and if possible, ask the employer what the salary range for the position is before disclosing this information. If this is not possible, respond in a general way by stating an expected salary range that is on par with industry standards (more on this below), and explain that you’ll need to understand the full compensation package with benefits before making a decision.

If you are currently working, there are several reasons why it might be time to ask for a raise, including receiving a promotion and/or taking on additional responsibilities, achieving key accomplishments, or being in your job for a significant period of time, generally a year, with positive feedback and without a salary increase. Performance reviews are natural times to discuss compensation, but if this isn’t a possibility, schedule a separate meeting to discuss your position (and salary). Prepare in advance. Use your intuition in terms of timing; less ideal times to negotiate salary, for example, are when budget cuts or layoffs are announced, when you have recently received critical feedback, peak busy times in the office, or generally, when your supervisor is in an off mood.

*At the time of this article’s publication, over 30 US cities and/or states, including New York State, have passed provisions limiting the use of salary history in the hiring process to varying degrees. With this said, applicants and employees may voluntarily and without prompting disclose or verify their salary history, including for the purpose of negotiating wages or salary.

The Research

Prepare for a salary discussion by doing research into average compensation for someone with your title and experience in your geographic location, your industry, and if possible, your specific organization. Below are several resources, including arts-specific ones, to help you.

The organization’s Form 990 (required by all nonprofits), which you can look up for free on Guidestar. This will list the compensation for top-earning employees.

Salary surveys, including American Alliance of Museums 2017 National Museum Salary Survey, Americans for the Arts Local Arts Agency Salaries 2018, Association of Art Museum Directors 2019 Salary Survey, Professionals for Nonprofits Annual Salary Reports, and Theatre Communications Group annual Salary Survey (restricted to members).

Look for similar positions on online job boards, including NYFA Classifieds. Many job listings will not list salary, but there is generally enough that do for you to get a sense of the range for the position.

For internal hires, organizational salary bands may be in your employee handbook, or you can ask your Human Resources (HR) department or Finance Manager for them.

For college or university positions, academic or administrative, salary ranges are often public information. You can find the salary code in the job listing that correlates to a salary band guide in the HR section of the university’s website.

Once you understand the salary range for your position, determine a target number that you’ll accept. This is, of course, personal and based on your cost of living and how long you expect to stay in that position. Accepting a lower figure may seem tempting if you want to get your foot in the door. Although this strategy could work, you should consider that on average people stay at their jobs for four years, which is a long time to feel dissatisfied with your pay.

The Ask (with Confidence!)

You’ve done your research, you know the appropriate range for your position, you have a target number in mind, and the timing is right. What’s left? The ask!

Step 1. Stay calm and remember the odds are in your favor. If you are a new hire, your potential employer has already significantly narrowed down the pool of applicants (potentially to just one - you!), and they don’t want to lose you and start over. If this is an internal salary negotiation, employers are well aware that staff retention is almost always more cost effective than having to rehire your position.

Step 2. Be confident, warm, and respectful. You’re a professional and the tone you set will demonstrate to them (or remind them, if you’re a current employee), that you’re a great candidate.

Step 3. You’ve been offered a number, now ask additional questions. You want to understand the full compensation package and how other factors might help bring you to your target number. This includes health insurance (how much, if any, the employer pays of your premiums and how quickly your policies will take affect), vacation days, transit reimbursement, etc.

Step 4. Ask! Thank them and express your enthusiasm for the role or responsibilities, and say something along the lines of, “Based on my XX years of experience doing XX, and the industry average for this position, I would feel more comfortable with a salary in the range of XX.” This range should be more than your target number. While you should consider your personal finances (your rent, school loans, etc.) in determining your target number, it is not appropriate to bring them up here. This is, however, the time to negotiate the position title, work schedule, and responsibilities, if those are applicable.

Step 5. There will most likely be what will feel like an uncomfortable silence as they consider what you said. This pause will not be as long as you will think it is. Wait it out.

From there, a few things could happen. They might accept your offer (great!), or more likely, they might need to get back to you. In most cases, they will try and meet you somewhere in the middle (this is why you ask for more than your target). Depending on the tenor of the conversation and how close this second offer is to your target, you could ask for a signing bonus or some other form of compensation, such as having your health benefits kick in earlier than anticipated. At the same time, if it’s clear that this second offer is the best they can do, and it’s within the range of your target, you should graciously accept.

In some instances, your potential or current employer may not be willing or able to negotiate beyond their initial offer. Based on your cost of living, where you are in your job search or career, and your excitement for the role, you might want to accept. In the extremely rare instance that they respond to your otherwise professional request in a particularly negative or dismissive way, step back and consider how much they value their employees and your potential for future growth there.

Regardless of the outcome, it is important to research the market value of your position and your experience, and speak up for what you want and need to thrive in your role. As you grow in your creative career, there will be many opportunities for you to use your negotiation skills to advocate for change - for your future staff, for the communities you care about, and for the strength of a vibrant arts sector. A salary negotiation is one step toward you understanding your own value, how to advocate for yourself, and in turn, how to advocate for others.

- Maria Villafranca, NYFA Consultant and NYFA Coach

Interested in more arts career-related content? Register today to join our February 18 online workshop “How to Find and Land Your Dream Job in the Arts!” Presenter Maria Villafranca will help you define your career path, find opportunities, and walk you through all stages of a job search. 

You can find more articles on arts career topics by visiting the Business of Art section of NYFA’s website. Sign up for NYFA News and receive artist resources and upcoming events straight to your inbox.

Image: Justin Brice Guariglia (Finalist in Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design ’19), REDUCE SPEED NOW!, 2019, Somerset House, London, UK

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Announcement | Doctor's Hours On Call and NYFA Coaching are Merging!

Both programs will now provide practical and professional advice under NYFA Coaching.

NYFA has merged its Doctor’s Hours On Call and NYFA Coaching programs under the NYFA Coaching umbrella to better serve artists, arts administrators, and arts professionals nationally and internationally. Our goal for every coaching session is to give you personalized feedback specific to your own circumstances and needs. You set the agenda, you pick the coach, and book your one-on-one consultation session. Your appointment can take place via a phone call, Skype, or in-person at NYFA Offices depending on the coach and session length. All sessions are conducted with an emphasis on personalized feedback, recommendations, and guidance.

NYFA Coaching might be right for you if you:

Want a second set of eyes to review your cover letter and resume;

Want feedback on your portfolio;

Want feedback on a grant or residency application before you submit it;

Want feedback on your exhibitions and curatorial project proposals or need support crafting your fundraising or marketing strategy;

Want support for managing your career in issues such as asking for a raise, managing a difficult employee, etc.;

Want someone to help you identify and outline professional strategies that best fit your needs and skills.

How it works:

NYFA Coaching sessions are open to anyone in the creative community.

Session prices range from $40-$85. All sessions include a high level of dedicated coach’s time for reviewing your materials and offering direct feedback in person or remotely via phone or Skype.

You can select a 20-minute, 30-minute, or 45-minute session. We recommend booking a 30-minute or 45-minute session for portfolio presentations, artist statements, grant proposals, applications for exhibitions and residencies, and curatorial project proposals. The 20-minute sessions are best for the review of short materials such as cover letters or bios.

Select the coach that is the best fit for you and your professional needs. If you need a different coach for different reasons, then book separate sessions.

Reserve your session using our simple online platform. Make sure you provide all requested information so we can give you our best feedback and recommendations.

Be prepared for a thoughtful and productive conversation with your NYFA Coach about your materials and next steps.

NYFA coaches are:

Gabriella Calandro - Senior Program Officer for NYFA Grants. Calandro consults on project and budget proposals, marketing and project management strategies, and image selection for portfolio review. She offers experience from across the nonprofit arts sector from arts funding management, marketing, curatorial, and public program development.

Book your appointment with Calandro.

Madeleine Cutrona - Senior Program Officer for Fiscal Sponsorship. Cutrona consults on project management, fundraising strategy, and grant and project budget review. She brings a decade of experience teaching visual art, helping artists connect with audiences, making art, and fundraising for her own projects.

Book your appointment with Cutrona.

Michelle Levy - Curator and Interdisciplinary Artist. Levy can offer feedback to visual or multidisciplinary artists and curators on portfolio presentation, grant proposals, applications for exhibitions and residencies, and curatorial project proposals. She specializes in writing, and can help with artist, project, and curatorial statements. (Via Skype only)

Book your appointment with Levy.

Mark Rossier - Director of NYFA Grants and previous Director of Development. Rossier upon his extensive experience in development, strategic planning, program development, and retail, is available for conversations on fundraising, board development, and resume and cover letter review.

Book your appointment with Rossier.

Matthew Seig - Media/Film Consultant at NYFA. Seig brings his experience as a producer or director of over 12 films, both documentary and narrative, as well as film programming for community, festival, and art-house exhibition, to his role advising filmmakers at NYFA.

Book your appointment with Seig.

Maria Villafranca - Nonprofit Management Consultant. Villafranca supports artists and creatives to manage career transitions, develop marketing and communications strategies, and implement new revenue-generating models. She offers feedback on fellowship applications, grant proposals, marketing plans, cover letters, and resumes. She also coaches on career management issues, such as asking for a raise or managing a difficult employee. (Via Skype only)

Book your appointment with Villafranca.

Click here to find out more about NYFA Coaching for artists, arts businesses, and arts organizations, and learn how specialized NYFA coaches can help you strengthen your professional materials and recommend next steps for furthering your professional goals. If you have questions about this program, contact coaching@nyfa.org.

Image: Andrea Ray (Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work Fellow ’12)

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NYFA Coaching: for Artists, Arts Businesses, and Arts Organizations

Applying for a new job? Fundraising for a new project or business? Looking for feedback or recommendations for your funder research or grant writing efforts?

In support of a more productive and active 2017 for artists and arts administrators, NYFA is launching a pilot program with targeted coaching services from specialized NYFA staff. All sessions are conducted with an emphasis on personalized feedback, recommendations, and guidance.

Coaching sessions:

Grant Application or Letter of Inquiry (LOI) Review

Preliminary Funder Research

Fundraising Strategy Building/Planning

Resume and Cover Letter Review

Design Your Own Coaching Session 

How it works:

NYFA Coaching sessions are fee-based and require no current enrollment in a NYFA program. They are open to anyone!

Session prices range from $40-$100. All sessions include a high level of dedicated staff time for reviewing your materials and offering direct feedback via email and phone.

Review the full descriptions of the current coaching services.

Reserve your session using our simple online platform. Make sure you provide all requested information so we can give you our best feedback and recommendations.

Be prepared for a thoughtful and productive conversation with your NYFA Coach about your materials and next steps.

Our goal for every session is to give you feedback that is specific to your circumstances and needs. Your NYFA coach will help you strengthen your professional materials and will recommend specific “next steps” for furthering your professional goals. These sessions are created with artists and arts professionals in mind and based on NYFA staff’s own experience as art industry leaders.  

REGISTER NOW.

Session Descriptions:

Grant Application or Letter of Inquiry (LOI) Review: During this session, staff will review the provided grant application or LOI draft and provide feedback/recommendations on how to improve formatting, language choice, messaging, narrative structure, and the overall efficacy of the application or request letter. The client will be asked to provide a link to the grant guidelines or funder’s website for reference. This session includes the time needed for the coach to review provided materials. Feedback and recommendations will be recorded with digital notes on the draft document and will be discussed over the phone with the client.

Preliminary Funder Research: This session provides clients with a starting point for their own funding research efforts. NYFA will conduct preliminary research using various database resources at NYFA’s disposal, based on information provided by the client in the registration form. A preliminary Research Report will be drafted. The report includes possible funders of interest, opportunities, and recommendations for improving the client’s continued research. If necessary, the NYFA Coach will contact the client prior to starting research to clarify any project or activity questions. The session includes a scheduled phone call where the NYFA coach explains the research findings, issues, and recommended next steps.

Fundraising Strategy Building/Planning: During this session, staff will meet with the client to discuss and brainstorm effective fundraising strategy options that best fit the client and their project, business, or organization. This hour long coaching meeting includes review of any current fundraising materials, an analysis of the client and project’s fundraising strengths and weaknesses, and the development of an “attack plan” for next steps. Prior to this meeting, the client will provide the NYFA Coach with relevant project/organizational information, including information about the current status of fundraising efforts. Although this session will likely discuss funder research, direct assistance with initial research can only be offered through the appropriate NYFA Coaching session.

Resume and Cover Letter Review: This NYFA Coaching session includes a review of your cover letter and resume drafts, written feedback/recommendations, and a scheduled follow-up phone call with your NYFA Coach to discuss next steps. Clients will be required to provide their “best” draft cover letter and resume and a link to the posted job listing. The NYFA Coach will review the materials with the job listing and potential employer in mind. NYFA does not write materials for clients, and the implementation of all suggestions will be at the discretion of the client. NYFA Coaches cannot review application materials for job openings at NYFA.

Design Your Own Coaching Session: During this session, NYFA staff will provide recommendations and feedback in accordance with your own professional or project needs. This session can be whatever best fits you and your goals, such as: the review of promotional, professional, or fundraising materials; strategy building; action planning; resource building; mock interviews; presentation coaching; and more. Please note funding research can only be provided through the Preliminary Funder Research coaching session, as it requires additional time outside of a normal session meeting.

If you have any questions about this pilot program, contact sponsorship@nyfa.org. Reservations must be made through the online portal. Fees for scheduling a coaching session are non-refundable, but every effort to reschedule sessions will be made if notified of the cancellation at least 48 hours in advance of the appointment.

REGISTER NOW.

Images, from top: Noemie Lafrance  (Fellow in Choreography '13); Granger Moorhead and Robert Moorhead (Fellows in Architecture/Environmental Structures ‘10)

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NYFA Coaching | Meet Anne Muntges

Three Questions with NYFA’s Newest Coach

NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship’s Anne Muntges is the newest addition to NYFA Coaching, a professional development service for artists, creatives, and arts administrators with individualized sessions with NYFA staff or industry professionals that can be conducted remotely via phone or Skype. Muntges brings over a decade of experience as a practicing artist with a successful exhibition, residency, and grant track record. As a Program Officer in NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship program, Muntges reviews grant applications, fundraising strategies, and portfolios. She also consults on nonprofit arts program building and management. 

Muntges will co-present the upcoming webinar Realistic Budgets for Artists: Breaking Down Project ideas for Fundraising Opportunities on May 19, offered through NYFA Learning. Learn more about Muntges below as she answers three questions about her life and work.

Over the next few weeks, NYFA will be adding new coaches to our roster, so be sure to check the NYFA Coaching page for details and to make appointments.  

1. What is your art practice?

I doodle. I make marks. I work in different mediums, but focus on graphite and pen. My work ebbs between traditional drawing, panel or paper, and immersive drawing installations. I translate the world around me through drawing. It is my key to understanding the places I live in. I draw to help others experience the same sense of wonder and awe I feel while observing those worlds.

2. What is your favorite approach to working on grant applications?

Sitting on my bed, headphones on, Godspeed You Black Emperor playing. Music has been such an important part of my learning to focus. Having headphones on helps me isolate from outside distractions and focus in on the writing. Godspeed and their heavy bass lines block outside sensorial input so beautifully and create the ideal space to put thoughts together.

The best thing anyone can do when taking on an application of any kind is to isolate themselves from anything that might take away from focus. Give yourself the luxury of fully embracing that space.

3. How do you balance your art practice with your job as an arts administrator?

The dreaded phrase “time management” is a huge part of it! I never in my life thought that having structure would be beneficial to making art work, but it turns out that having clear hours in the day for the different roles I play in my life has been invaluable. It has honed my focus, helped me stay on top of deadlines with good diligence, and helped me to appreciate my downtime all the more. It has also given me a deep appreciation for the time needed to do admin work within my own practice – something I never valued enough before!

Interested in scheduling a one-on-one appointment with one of our coaches? Click here to register. 

Find out more about NYFA Coaching for artists, arts businesses, and arts organizations, and learn how specialized NYFA staff and industry experts can help you strengthen your professional materials and recommend next steps for furthering your professional goals. If you have questions about this program, contact coaching@nyfa.org. 

Image: Courtesy Anne Muntges

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NYFA Coaching | We’re Expanding Our Coaching Roster

Professional development service for artists continues to grow.

NYFA Coaching offers targeted professional development sessions with experienced NYFA staff. Our goal for every coaching session is to give you personalized feedback specific to your own circumstances and needs. You set the agenda and you pick the coach. Coaches will help you strengthen professional materials, talk through strategic challenges, and offer an outsider’s perspective on your work. Each session ends with specific recommendations for next steps to further your professional goals.

NYFA Coaching might be right for you if you:

Want a second set of eyes to review your cover letter and resume;

Want feedback on a grant or residency application before you submit it;

Need support crafting your fundraising or marketing strategy;

Want someone to help you identify and outline professional strategies that best fit your needs and skills.

How it works:

NYFA Coaching sessions are open to anyone.

Session prices range from $40-$80. All sessions include a high level of dedicated staff time for reviewing your materials and offering direct feedback in person or via phone.

You can select a 20-minute or 40-minute session. We recommend booking a 40-minute session for strategy building and/or application reviews. The 20-minute sessions are best for the review of short materials such as a cover letter or portfolio.

Select the coach that is the best fit for you and your professional needs. If you need a different coach for different reasons, then book separate sessions.

Reserve your session using our simple online platform. Make sure you provide all requested information so we can give you our best feedback and recommendations.

Be prepared for a thoughtful and productive conversation with your NYFA Coach about your materials and next steps.

Who we are:

Gabriella Calandro - Senior Program Officer for NYFA Grants. She consults on project and budget proposals, marketing and project management strategies, and image selection for portfolio review. She offers experience from across the nonprofit arts sector from arts funding management, marketing, curatorial, and public program development.

Madeleine Cutrona - Senior Program Officer for Fiscal Sponsorship. She consults on project management, fundraising strategy, and grant and project budget review. She brings a decade of experience teaching visual art, helping artists connect with audiences, making art, and fundraising for her own projects.

Mark Rossier - Director of NYFA Grants, and previous Director of Institutional Advancement. Based upon his extensive experience in development, strategic planning, program development, and retail, Mark is available for conversations on fundraising, board development, and resume and cover letter review.

Matthew Seig - Media/Film Consultant. He brings his experience as a producer or director of over twelve films, both documentary and narrative, as well as film programming for community, festival, and art-house exhibition, to his role advising filmmakers at NYFA.

Make an appointment:

Interested in scheduling a one-on-one appointment with one of our coaches? Click here to register.

Find out more about NYFA Coaching for artists, arts businesses, and arts organizations, and learn how specialized NYFA staff can help you strengthen your professional materials and recommend next steps for furthering your professional goals. If you have questions about this program, contact sponsorship@nyfa.org.

Image: Madeleine Cutrona, Senior Program Officer for Fiscal Sponsorship (on left), during a recent NYFA Coaching session, Photo Credit: Amy Aronoff

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NYFA Coaching | Meet Brett Fletcher Lauer

Lauer is the deputy director of the Poetry Society of America and the poetry editor of A Public Space.

Are you a playwright, storyteller, non-fiction writer, or arts administrator working for a literary non-profit? Are you seeking insights about the inner workings of the literary world? New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is pleased to introduce Brett Fletcher Lauer as the newest addition to its NYFA Coaching roster. The program is a professional development service for artists, creatives, and arts administrators that offers individualized sessions with NYFA staff or industry professionals that can be conducted remotely via phone or Skype.

Fletcher Lauer has over 20 years of experience in the literary non-profit field and as an editor, and can offer feedback on grant and fellowship proposals, applications for residencies, artist and project statements, and agent queries.

Fletcher Lauer is the deputy director of the Poetry Society of America, where he runs the annual awards and chapbook fellowship programs, and the poetry editor of A Public Space. Fletcher Lauer is the author of the memoir Fake Missed Connections: Divorce, Online Dating, and Other Failures (Soft Skull Press, 2016) and the poetry collection A Hotel In Belgium (Four Way Books, 2014), which was named a "Top 40 Book of 2014" by Coldfront Magazine. In addition to co-editing several anthologies, including Please Excuse this Poem: 100 News Poets for the Next Generation (Viking Books for Young Readers, 2015) and Isn’t It Romantic: 100 Love Poems by Younger American Poets (Wave Books, 2004), he is the poetry co-chair for the Brooklyn Book Festival. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.  

Interested in scheduling a one-on-one appointment with Fletcher Lauer? Click here to register.

Find out more about NYFA Coaching for artists, arts businesses, and arts organizations, and learn how specialized NYFA staff and industry experts can help you strengthen your professional materials and recommend next steps for furthering your professional goals. If you have questions about this program, contact coaching@nyfa.org.

Image: Courtesy Brett Fletcher Lauer