Details for The Big Give – Pay Your People Grants
We are so excited for The Big Give 2022! We will be giving out “Pay Your People” $1,000 grants, to deserving companies/venues.
The Pay Your People Grants are for NYC-based indie theater companies, fiscally sponsored collectives/productions, and indie theater venues. There will be grant opportunities specifically for individual artists this fall and winter.
The Pay Your People Grant is to do just that – pay the people on your team that makes the work possible. You have the option to pay:
The artists you work with – that can be your actors, your director, your playwright, your designers, or your stage manager.
Anyone who contributes creatively to play development and productions
Your organization’s leaders – anyone who participates in the administration of your organization. We know these leaders are often (if not usually!) the same people who make the art. To us, that’s just another reason to acknowledge their (your!?) herculean efforts.
For venues – You can use these funds to subsidize a rental from an artist in your venue or to pay performers or administration directly
To be eligible for our grants, companies or venues must commit to using their grant to pay artists or leaders of color and/or artists or leaders who have been historically excluded from funding based on gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, ability, economic disadvantage, refugee/immigration status or for other reasons you define.
The deadline to apply for the Pay Your People grants has passed. You are still welcome to attend The Big Give, even if you didn’t apply for the Pay Your People grant this year.
Attending The Big Give
Mark your calendar now: The party is Wednesday, December 14!
The in-person event will take place at the Chelsea Factory, 547 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001.
The virtual party will take place via Zoom, digital invitation and link to come.
If you feel comfortable doing so, please consider participating in person. This is an amazing community building event, and we would love to see you there.
Send one person or come as a company. Bring board members! Bring friends that love indie theater! It’s always an awesome night with free food and drink!
What’s happening at The Big Give this year?
We are giving $1,000 grants, to deserving NYC-based companies and venues.
80% of grants will go to companies or productions to be used to help you pay artists in your ensemble/production or others in leadership, management, or administration of your company. 20% of grants will go to indie theater venues in order to help you pay historically excluded artists working in your spaces.
IndieSpace has built a fundamental commitment to equity and inclusion into the values and culture of our organization. We want to see the work of diverse artists on stage, and we believe that diverse leadership in our participant organizations is essential to encouraging diverse and equitable practices.
To be eligible for our grants, companies or venues must commit to using their grant to pay artists or leaders of color and/or artists or leaders who have been historically excluded from funding based on gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, ability, economic disadvantage, refugee/immigration status or for other reasons you define.
How should you use your grant? We’re pretty flexible! Grant funds can be paid to one artist or leader or split between several; paid to artists working on one show/reading/workshop in your season or split between more than one; in other words, use as you see fit within the grant period. These grants are to help you pay your people!
How Does The Application Process Work?
The application deadline was Thursday, December 1. The simple application gathers pertinent information about you, your company, and/or venue. This is how you raise your hand to say you want a grant and our way of making sure you are eligible for it.
We will have separate drawings for Companies/Productions and Venues. You can either apply for the Company/Production drawing or the Venue drawing. You cannot apply to both.
Do not feel burdened by this application! It should take no more than 10 minutes to fill out. Feel free to use language from other grant applications and to keep it very simple.
Why do you do separate drawings for venues and companies/productions?
After survey feedback from our participants, we decided venues should have a separate bucket of funds. This ensures that all aspects of the indie theater ecosystem can access grant funds.
I have my calendar open! What are the important dates for this year’s event?
Thursday, December 1 – Please submit the application/fact sheet no later than 11:59pm on December 1. If the Submittable Form is not possible for you, please email hello@indiespace.org to request the application/fact sheet in Word or have your application taken over the phone, by Zoom, or through video submission. If you have any other accessibility needs, or to request it in any other format or language necessary, please email the address above. In addition to the application, we request a photo from a past performance or rehearsal with permission to include in a slide show and/or social media campaign featuring our participants. You can upload that through a link within the application.
December 2 through December 7 – Our staff and board will check that your proposal meets all eligibility requirements.
December 8 – You will be notified via email that your application is complete and you are, in fact, eligible for a grant and will be included in the lottery.
December 14 – We celebrate!!! IndieSpace throws a big party at which we pull the names of applicants out of the hat, and recipients take home their grant checks that night! For those who join us via Zoom, we will send funds through PayPal or send a check.
The evening will be a hybrid night, with an in-person event at the Chelsea Factory and an online event happening simultaneously. Participants and attendees will have the option to participate in the event in whichever way feels the most comfortable, either in-person or online.
This night will also serve as a mini fundraiser for IndieSpace. A suggested, but completely voluntary donation/tithe of $5 at the door includes food and drinks! This money will go toward continuing some fantastic programs, including our Mental Health grants, The Big Learn, and Community Resources Lotteries.
For the in-person event, we will follow all NYC and CDC Covid-19 guidelines, and attendees will be expected to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask when not actively eating or drinking. Please note that the in-person component of the event is subject to change based on a variety of factors surrounding the global health pandemic. Updates about this will be made regularly as we learn more.
This happy event creates an opportunity for all of us to get to know more members of our community, and maybe even make some productive connections. So, please feel free to invite multiple members of your company/venue and your board members.
This sounds great! What if I can’t make it?
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT you or a colleague representing your company or venue must be present, either virtually or in-person, when the names are pulled to win one of the $1,000 grants.
You may only represent ONE company at the event. Names will be called three times. If someone is not present to respond – either virtually or in-person – we will pull another organization’s name for that grant.
Is your process still radically transparent?
Of course!!! From the get-go, IndieSpace has had no interest in being an arbiter of art or artists or in convening a traditional panel to adjudicate who gets funded. Our vision: keep rules for eligibility simple and ensure that participation feels neither onerous nor competitive. Everyone wants to pay artists; everyone gets a shot. Our grants are determined by old-fashioned lottery! Put your company’s name in that (very literal) hat!
What if I have additional questions?
We love additional questions! Be in touch with us anywhere down the line if you have any questions at all. We are here! We will be offering technical assistance throughout the application period. If you need any help filling out the application, please email hello@indiespace.org
A few important notes/reminders:
To be eligible, you must plan to produce at least one show, reading or workshop in the 12 months following the give (December 2022 to December 2023).
You or someone from your company must be present at the give event on December 14 to receive a grant (in-person or virtually). Names will be read three times. If no one representing the company is present, we will need to pull a new name from the bucket.
Representatives can only pick up a grant for one company or venue, therefore each company/venue must have its own rep present.
Checks will be cut to companies, venues or fiscal sponsors, not directly to artists.
You must have a bank account set up in the name of the company or venue which is accepting the grant check or be working with a fiscal sponsor that can receive the funds.
Grant money can be used by you to pay one artist/leader or split between artists/leaders; paid to artists working on one show/reading/workshop in your season or split between them; use however you see fit within the one-year grant period.
A very basic report that simply documents how grant funds were disbursed is required by the end of the one-year grant period. This will let us know how many artists and leaders were served by the grants, and help us in our funding to help you!
Recipients may be asked to participate in marketing videos or photos and will be asked for quotes on the impact of this funding.