NYFA / News / What is Fiscal Sponsorship and How Can it Help Me Realize My Art Project?

A man closes his eyes in as he plays a violin

Image Detail: Leonardo Suarez Paz’s “PIAZZOLLA100: El Nuevo Tango,” Image Credit: Manuel Pose Varela

What is Fiscal Sponsorship and How Can it Help Me Realize My Art Project?

March 24, 2026

by Amy Aronoff

An inside look at NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship program with examples of projects we’ve supported.

First things first: fiscal sponsorship is a fundraising tool for artist projects. It is not a grant program, and it does not support an artist’s overall creative practice.

Though NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship does not offer direct funding, it does help you gain access to grants typically restricted to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Think state council, private foundations, and corporate matching grants. This means more opportunities for you to support your creative project.

And it is not just for New York State and US-based artists! Your project may take place outside the United States, as long as the project director has a US Taxpayer Identifying Number (SSN, EIN, ITIN) and the project provides a clear public benefit to US audiences.

Read on for more, and consider applying to NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship. Our no-fee application cycle is open Tuesday, March 24-Sunday, April 26, and includes an opportunity for New York State-based artists to apply for NYSCA FY27 funding.

NYSCA’s Support for Artists program requires that each application by an individual artist be sponsored by an eligible New York State nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. Grants are awarded to the sponsoring organization, who then directs the funds to the individual artist.

What NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship offers and how you can benefit.

Apply for Grants Requiring 501(c)(3): Apply for funding opportunities that require a 501(c)(3) nonprofit support or fiscal sponsor.
Tax deductive donations: Donors can receive a tax deduction for contributions to your project.
Online fundraising tools: Create a project page on NYFA’s website to collect donations, and run crowdfunding through Seed&Spark.
Complete creative control: Artists lead their projects. NYFA provides the nonprofit structure and financial oversight.

You should consider applying for fiscal sponsorship through NYFA if your project:

Is art-focused and intended for a public audience
Has a definite scope and timeline
Is nonprofit in nature and not designed for private or commercial gain

This program is for you if you plan to:

Seek project-based funding from foundations, institutions, or individual donors
Raise at least $15,000 in contributed income through NYFA

Projects that received NYSCA funding through NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship.

PIAZZOLLA 100 by Leonardo Suarez Paz

Dancers and musicians on a stage, dancers with one leg extended into the air at an angle, the opposite arm raised in the air — Image Detail: Leonardo Suarez Paz’s “PIAZZOLLA100: El Nuevo Tango,” Image Credit: Manuel Pose Varela

Launched in 2019 as a multidisciplinary performing arts project, PIAZZOLLA100 is named after the Argentine-born, New York-raised composer Astor Piazzolla, who mentored the project’s Artistic Director, Leonardo Suarez-Paz. PIAZZOLLA100 drives the preservation and evolution of the genre and emphasizes the 100-year history of tango in New York, a city that ignited the nuevo tango revolution and continues to fuel the genre’s advancement today.

Since receiving NYSCA FY25 funding, Suarez-Paz established and successfully carried out PIAZZOLLA100: The New York Tango Festival—a multidisciplinary celebration of tango culture that takes place in New York City each June and features shows, concerts, milongas, poetry, film, and exhibits alongside music and dance education programs.

In 2025, Suarez Paz brought the project to venues including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Moynihan Train Hall NYC, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, La Capilla del Tango, and Paramount in the Hudson Valley. June 2026 programming can be found at www.piazzolla100.org.

Digital (Open) House by Bundith Phunsombatlert

A greyscale image of an interactive installation resembling a digital clock. — Image: Digital (Open) House, Image Credit: Bundith Phunsombatlert

Digital (Open) House, also recognized with a NYSCA FY25 Support for Artists grant, is an interactive installation resembling a digital clock that explores the concept of migration, gentrification, and displacement. The project features a display of multiple styles of houses on a sequence of small computer monitors.

Audience members activate the distance sensors on the monitors to make a transition from one to another style of house. For example: from a Thai stilted bungalow to a New England cottage. The outcome is one of continual displacement: the oasis of home is an illusion. Eventually, as viewers walk away from the screens, the lights go off, then slowly, one per second, the lines “rebuild” the house, telling time in their own way.

The work-in-progress was presented at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts’ Open Studios in October 2025. This public presentation allowed Phunsombatlert to test the system’s functionality and to observe how audiences interacted with the work in a live setting.

In addition, Phunsombatlert prepared exhibition proposals and initiated discussions with the several NYC-based arts organizations to support the project’s continued development and planning toward future public presentations.

Charles Mingus: Deconstructing the Underdog by Rob Levi

A black and white photo of Charles Mingus playing upright bass — Image: Charles Mingus, Image Credit: WikiCommons, 1976

Rob Levi’s documentary work-in-progress, profiling the legendary jazz composer and musician Charles Mingus, has received support including NYSCA FY25 funding through NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship program.

Since receiving support, Levi has completed the research and development; worked on the editorial and scripting phases; and has filmed and sourced interviews, performance scenes, and B-roll material. These elements include interviews with musicians and colleagues of Mingus, offering a multifaceted portrait of his life and work. Archival photographs and rare film footage further enrich the project, creating a vivid and insightful exploration of an under-recognized yet relentlessly creative American genius.

Following the assembly of Charles Mingus: Deconstructing the Underdog, Levi presented the work in New York City in December 2025. This presentation introduced people to Mingus’s life and legacy while also providing an opportunity for the filmmakers to gather critical feedback on the work in progress. The insights gained will inform the next stage of development and help to refine the project’s scope.

Bike Shop The Musical by Elizabeth Barkan

Three people smiling at a camera next to a piano and in front of a theater set — Image: “Bike Shop The Musical” Director Gretchen Cryer and Musical Director Timothy Splain with Elizabeth Barkan (Left), Courtesy of Elizabeth Barkan

Bike Shop The Musical chronicles three generations of an immigrant family. The main character, Bobby, suffers a life changing trauma after the tragic death of a young girl. The show begins 20 years later when an old love interest shows up. The show explores the human tragedy of longing for redemption and absolution only to find the forgiveness we’re all seeking is our own.

The NYSCA funds supported a reconfigured score–from a one-woman show to one for a cast of five–as well as story re-writes and editing. Funds also went towards Director/Dramaturge and actor fees, musical instruments for rehearsals, and lighting equipment.

Bike Shop was performed as an Equity Workshop Reading at Theater For The New City in November 2025. The NYSCA funds were instrumental for the changes in both music and script for the next full AEA workshop production, to be staged in late April and May 2026 in New York, NY.

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