Emergency Grants

Overview

An information session for Emergency Grants will be held on Thursday, April 10, 2025 from 5:00-6:00pm ET. RSVP here.

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 and poets 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 a year-round, multi-disciplinary program that offers immediate, project-based assistance 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 15-20 grants in the range of $500 to $3,000 each. Applicants may request any amount in that range and, if granted, may receive full or partial funding. The average grant is currently $1,900.

Please review all guidelines and FAQs before applying.

Follow FCA on Instagram and Facebook to learn more about Emergency Grants-supported projects.

FCA receives dedicated support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding to fund unexpected or unbudgeted travel-related expenses for cultural exchanges between the U.S. and the following countries:

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

The 2024 Emergency Grants were supported in part by grants from:

The Amphion Foundation; Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation; The Aaron Copland Fund for Music; The Cowles Charitable Trust; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Louisa Stude Sarofim/The Brown Foundation of Houston, Inc.; Trust for Mutual Understanding; as well as individual supporters. This program is also supported, in part, by a bequest from the estate of Margo Leavin, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.