About

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is a 501(c)(3) service organization that provides artists, emerging arts organizations, arts administrators, and students with critical support, professional development tools, and resources for defining and achieving career success.

WHAT WE DO

NYFA was established in 1971 to serve individual artists throughout New York State. Since then, we have extended our programs and services throughout the United States and internationally and expanded our scope to serve additional members of the arts community.

We offer:

  • Awards and grants for individual artists in New York City, New York State, and nationally (including U.S. Territories)
  • Access to increased funding opportunities for artists in all disciplines through our Fiscal Sponsorship program
  • In-person and online professional development workshops, panels, consultations, and intensives for artists and arts administrators
  • Mentorship programs and tailored resources for immigrant artists
  • Job, opportunity, and space listings through NYFA Classifieds, the premier opportunities board for creative industries
  • Targeted support and ongoing award and service listings through the NYFA Source Hotline and NYFA Source database
  • Work sample reviews for artists and students under the guidance of expert consultants and staff

WHO WE ARE

NYFA’s staff is comprised of individuals—including writers, filmmakers, and multimedia artists—who are passionate about the literary, media, performing, and visual arts. Our work is informed by the belief that art increases understanding and helps to foster important dialogue within and between communities.

NYFA ARCHIVE

NYFA is pleased to announce that an archive chronicling its nearly 50-year history has been created with funding from The O’Grady Foundation. The collection is housed at NYU’s Fales Library, which comprises more than 11,000 linear feet of archives and special collections including the Downtown New York Collection, of which the NYFA archive is a part. Those interested in learning more about and accessing the NYFA Archive at NYU’s Fales Library may do so via this finding aid. Scholars can request an appointment to view the collection here.

NYFA’S EQUITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT

NYFA recognizes the historic and systemic marginalization of people by race, ethnicity, immigration status, religion, age, geography, ability, sexual orientation, and/or gender and gender-identity.  We are committed to providing the necessary resources to empower artists to define and achieve success on their own terms. NYFA will continuously work to identify, acknowledge, understand, and dismantle both our own institutional structures of oppression and those of the larger world. We will strengthen our partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally; only through collective action and collaboration can we revise our practices to uphold the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.

Image: Merche Blasco (Fellow in Digital/Electronic Arts ’17), Espongina, Performance at La Mama, December 2016, Photo Credit: Mariana Oriente