Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant

Created in 1993 to further FCA’s mission to encourage, sponsor, and promote work of a contemporary, experimental nature, Emergency Grants provide urgent funding for visual and performing artists who:

Have sudden, unanticipated opportunities to present their work to the public when there is insufficient time to seek other sources of funding
Incur unexpected or unbudgeted expenses for projects close to completion with committed exhibition or performance dates

Emergency Grants is the only active, multi-disciplinary program that offers immediate, project-based assistance of this kind to artists living and working anywhere in the United States, for projects occurring in the U.S. and abroad.

Each month FCA receives an average of 100 Emergency Grant applications and makes approximately 12-21 grants. Grants range in amount from $500 to $3,000, and the average grant is now $1,900.

We recommend that artists review all of our eligibility guidelines and FAQs before applying. You may also complete our Eligibility Questionnaire, but please note that the questionnaire is not a substitute for a thorough review of program guidelines.

FCA has a small fund supported by the Trust for Mutual Understanding for unexpected or unbudgeted travel-related expenses for cultural exchange between the U.S. and the following countries:

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applicants must be living in the United States or U.S. territories and have a U.S. Tax ID Number (SSN, EIN, ITIN, or other)
Applicants must have committed performance or exhibition opportunities, and be able to provide specific dates at the time of application.
Applicants must be individual artists, or an individual representing an artist collective, ensemble, or group. Curators, producers, workshop organizers, organizations, or arts presenters are not eligible to apply.
Applicants may not reapply for a project for which they have previously been denied funding.
If you have received support from the FCA Emergency Grants COVID-19 Fund, you are still eligible to apply for an Emergency Grant.
For the purpose of providing COVID-19 relief, we are temporarily suspending the three-year waiting period between grants. If you have received a grant from the Foundation in 2020 or earlier, you may apply for an Emergency Grant. The three-year waiting period will re-start with your next Emergency Grant.
To confirm that your application meets program guidelines, please review our Emergency Grants F.A.Q.s.

EMERGENCY GRANTS DO NOT SUPPORT

Life-related emergencies such as food, rent, medical bills, childcare, and other basic necessities
Reimbursement for expenses that you have already incurred
Projects with no scheduled exhibition or performance dates
Fees for participation in a residency program, or other educational and artistic development opportunities. Review our Emergency Grants F.A.Q.s for residency-related questions.
Deposits and registration fees for participation in an exhibition, fair, or other presentation opportunity
Projects taking place in commercial gallery spaces or at art fairs
Youth or educational programming
Requests to attend, present at, or organize professional training, workshops, lectures, symposiums, conferences, or competitions
Students (high school, undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D., doctoral candidates, and other students enrolled in any degree program at the time of application) are not eligible to apply
Production of CDs, albums, or music videos
Framing is generally not considered to be an urgent need unless the framing is clearly demonstrated to be an essential part of the work that will be presented