Proposal to Big Corporation, Inc., to Support Artists in the Branches

The New York Artists respectfully requests a grant from Big Corporation, Inc., in the amount of $10,000–$25,000 to support its Artists in the Branches program. This grant will be applied toward a $24,500 matching grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs to provide free arts events throughout New York City.

One of the conclusions of the recent study Culture Counts indicated that a majority of New Yorkers want to attend more cultural events than they currently are able to attend. The greatest impediments to attending cultural events were transportation and price. Our Artists Exchange program surmounts both these obstacles by providing free arts events in local communities.

The Exchange encourages artists to present their work through free public events (readings, workshops, lectures, performances, demonstrations, or other activities) in collaboration with a nonarts, nonprofit host organization to reach audiences who might not seek out arts events.

For Artists in the Branches, we will coordinate and promote 10 events around New York City involving 10 to 28 artists of various disciplines based on the Artists Exchange program. We expect the events to average 100 attendees, giving the program an audience of 1,000. To tie these events to local communities, branch libraries will collaborate with us on selecting and presenting these events. Each will be free and open to the public. Like the Exchange, Artists in the Branches is a crucial means to promote greater awareness and understanding of the artist’s craft and creative process, as well as a means to reach out to New York communities with limited exposure and access to the arts. These events differ from other free arts offerings through the inclusion of living creative artists (composers, writers, choreographers, painters, and so on), many of whom live and work in the same communities as those who will attend the events.

Audiences will be able to identify contemporary art as something that is alive and part of their own community. Through this grassroots approach, the minds of the audience will be awakened to the possibilities of art in their lives and the image of the creative artist will be enhanced.

Artists will be chosen through a request for proposals that will be sent to 3,000 artists who have previously presented events for us. In this way, we will be able to choose artists who have demonstrated a desire to work with the community and whose artistic abilities have already been evaluated. After initial review by our program staff, final selection of artists will be coordinated with the events department at each of the three library systems. A program coordinator will oversee the RFP process, selection of artists, and execution of events.

Public Visibility: New York Artists will handle publicity and marketing for the events through means such as press releases to community publications, bookmarks with event information distributed through the libraries and local schools, and guerrilla marketing techniques such as posting flyers on community bulletin boards and in local gathering spots such as bookstores and restaurants.

We normally play a passive role in Exchange events, limited to paying the artist upon confirmation that the event took place. With Artists in the Branches, we will take an active role by connecting artists with communities now lacking free events such as these and will take the lead in publicizing the events—something usually falling to the sponsoring organization. The benefits of this approach are many:

At the conclusion of this project, we will create a model public relations kit for sponsors to use in future years. The goal of the kit is to improve the publicity of all Exchange events and help local sponsors articulate the value of individual artists to their communities. By developing improved communications mechanisms, this project will indirectly benefit the 150 to 165 artists who participate in Exchange events annually.

Evaluation: A senior staff member will attend each Artists in the Branches event. He or she will also be available to assist libraries in securing any special equipment needed for the presentations. A meeting will be held with the library event coordinators at the conclusion of the project to receive feedback from the libraries. It is hoped that the bonds formed during the execution of this program will lead to branch libraries sponsoring more of the regular Artists Exchange events.

Conclusion: Artists in the Branches is just one of the programs that helps fulfill our mission to serve individual artists, promote their freedom to develop and create, and provide the broader public with opportunities to experience and understand their work. This project allows us to concentrate on the neighborhoods of New York City in which free arts events are not a regular occurrence. It also allows our artists to make their work known to a wider public.

Funding from Big Corporation, Inc., will help us meet the Department of Cultural Affairs’ challenge to match their $24,500 award, and in turn, provide communities throughout the city with free access to the arts they might not normally have.