ABOUT THE PAY YOUR PEOPLE GRANTS:

The Pay Your People Grants are $1,000 for NYC-based indie theater and performing arts companies, collectives, and venues distributed at our annual Big Give event. Pay Your People Grants are used to compensate historically marginalized artists or leadership for working in, administering, or performing in their spaces and/or productions. For venues, you can use these funds to subsidize a rental from an artist in your venue or to pay historically marginalized performers or administration directly.

ABOUT THE BIG GIVE:

Mark your calendar now: The Big Give is December 8! The Big Give is our annual grant giving event and creates an opportunity for all of us to get to know more members of our community, and maybe even make some productive connections. As leadership in your org, consider coming to the event yourself, bringing other company and board members, and bringing friends. It’s always an awesome night, with free food and drink provided. The in-person event will take place at Judson Memorial Church and the virtual party will take place via Zoom.

RSVP here.

Someone from your organization must be present at The Big Give (in person or on Zoom) to receive a grant.

You are eligible if:

• You or someone from your organization has RSVPed to attend The Big Give, in-person or on Zoom.
• You are a NYC-based indie performing arts company, fiscally sponsored collective/production, OR indie performing arts venue (venues with 99 seats or less).
• You can commit to using the grant to pay historically marginalized artists or leaders who bring an underrepresented perspective to our community through race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, economic disadvantage or refugee/immigration status.
• You are planning to produce at least one show, reading, or workshop in the 12 months following The Big Give (December 2026 to December 2027).
• You have a bank account in your organization's name or have a fiscal sponsor to receive funds. Checks will NOT be written to individuals.

You are NOT eligible if:

• You received a Pay Your People Grant in 2025, you ARE NOT eligible to apply for the Pay Your People Grant this year. Organizations/Companies/Collectives can not receive this grant two years in a row. If you received a grant in 2025, you are eligible to apply again for Pay Your People in 2027.
• You are a venue that RECEIVED The Little Venue That Could Grant in 2025 or 2026, you ARE NOT eligible to apply for a Pay Your People Grant this year.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

To apply for funds, please RSVP for The Big Give before completing the application below.

Before submitting your application, please note:

• Only one application for the Pay Your People Grant should be filled out per venue/company/collective.
• This application will ask you to upload a performance/rehearsal or venue photo to be used in a slideshow at The Big Give event or in marketing materials. By uploading this photo, you give IndieSpace permission to use it in the slideshow at The Big Give, where it may also be captured in the background of photos or video taken that evening to be used in future marketing.  

SELECTION AND PAYMENT PROCESS:

Eligible applicants will be entered into the live grant drawing that will occur at our hybrid Big Give event on December 8. Checks will be written and given out at the event that evening; PayPal is also possible, if preferred. For those who attend the event virtually, IndieSpace staff will reach out to you and arrange payment either via PayPal, ACH, or check.

Payments will be made to companies, venues, or fiscal sponsors, not directly to individuals.

You must have a bank account set up in the name of the company or venue that is accepting the grant check or be working with a fiscal sponsor that can receive the funds.

YOU MUST ATTEND THE BIG GIVE IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THIS GRANT, either in-person or virtually, when the names are pulled to claim and receive 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, we will pull another organization’s name for that grant. Checks will be cut that night and you’ll be on your way to paying artists and leaders!

October 16 - Application Opens at 12:00am

November 15 - Application Closes at 11:59pm

November 16-23 - Applications are reviewed by the IndieSpace staff and Board for eligibility only

November 23 - Applicants are notified of their application status and eligibility. Please note your eligibility confirmation determines if you will be entered into the Pay Your People lottery, and is not an award notification. If you do not receive an email regarding your eligibility by November 24, please contact us at hello@indiespace.org.

December 8 - THE BIG GIVE event at the Judson Memorial Church & on Zoom! Eligible applicants will be entered into the lottery and recipients will be selected live.  

IMPORTANT NOTE:

We ask questions to determine your eligibility for the lottery—we do not compare applications or review them for merit. Your application should display that you are an actively producing indie venue, company or collective that can commit to putting the funding towards historically marginalized artists. Feel free to write very short descriptions, or to copy language from other grant proposals.

There is no required reporting for this grant. You may be asked for a testimonial on the impact of this grant at the end of the grant period.

About This Grant:

The IndieSpace Mental Health Grant Program awards New York City-based indie performing artists $500 Grants to use toward therapy, medication, meditation classes, and any other mental health-related costs. It is our hope that by providing this financial resource, we can help remove barriers that prevent artists from seeking and receiving the care, support, and information they need to care for their mental health. 

Who is Eligible?:

This application is open to any New York City-based indie performing artist in need of mental health funds, even if you have previously been awarded this grant. In order to be eligible, applicants must meet ALL of the following criteria: 

1. Applicant must live within NYC's five boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island)

2. Applicant must be a theater, dance or multi disciplinary artist whose works is primarily presented by NYC-based indie performing arts companies or venues - theaters or performance venues with 99 seats or less 

3. Applicant must be requesting funds to support a mental health need

Please note that funds will be prioritized to Global Majority (BIPOC), transgender/gender non-conforming/non-binary/Intersex/Two Spirit, disabled, d/Deaf, and immigrant artists AND applicants who HAVEN'T already received this grant before using a weighted lottery system. 

After receiving a Mental Health Grant, applicants are asked to wait a period of 3 months before reapplying. This allows us to make space for others who are still waiting to receive support. Applicants will be able to receive the Mental Health Grant no more than twice in a calendar year. Once you have received it twice, any subsequent applications will be declined.

Application Process 

To apply for funds, please complete the application below. This application should take you 10 minutes or less to complete. If you have any questions about the application or need assistance completing the application via phone, please reach out to the IndieSpace team at hello@indiespace.org. 

Lottery Process 

Each month, IndieSpace runs a digital lottery and awards at least $10,000 (20 grants).

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through 3:00 PM (ET) on the fourth Friday of each month. All eligible applications received by that deadline will be included in that month’s lottery, along with any applications rolling over from previous months.

On that Friday, all eligible applicants will receive an email with their assigned lottery number. This number will remain the same for the entire calendar year, even if you receive a grant and apply again later in the year.

The lottery drawing will take place on the following Monday using the Random Picker lottery tool. Screen recordings of each lottery will be made and are available to review by request. 

If your number is not selected, your application will automatically roll over into the next month’s lottery. This process will continue each month until all eligible applicants have received a grant.

Reapplication

Anyone whose number was not pulled in that month's lottery will roll over into our next lottery. Applicants will receive a 1 point increase in their lottery weight for each month their application rolls over. This means that if your application has rolled over across multiple months, your chances of being selected will be higher than folks who have only rolled over one month. Our goal is to make sure that no one is left waiting indefinitely or going long periods without critical mental health needs being met. 

You do not need to reapply to receive this benefit, your application will automatically remain active and carry forward each month until you are selected. To help us keep the process fair for all applicants, we ask that you maintain only ONE active application at a time.

The IndieSpace team is actively working to grow and expand this Mental Health Program. Our goal is to support every artist in need of this funding, and while it may take time, we are committed to continuing to raise and allocate resources to make that possible.

Payment Process

IndieSpace is excited to introduce a new, more streamlined approach to grant payments with even more options! To give recipients the most flexibility when choosing payment methods, we offer ACH payments, free PayPal payouts, or paper checks. 

Once your lottery number is pulled for the grant, you'll receive an email containing a link to choose a payment method. To ensure speedy delivery, please verify that your contact email address is correct in your application, as this will be how you will receive payment instructions. Once you submit the payment form, you will be paid out in the manner you’ve indicated, on the timeline specified for each payment method in the form. 

IndieSpace is constantly working to make the granting process as simple and quick as possible, and we hope that this new process will be helpful to you!

Please note that if you are an individual who has already received funding from us in 2026, you will be required to submit a W-9. If you need a blank copy of a W-9, you can download one here.

About The Emergency Grant:
The IndieSpace Emergency Fund provides grants to arts organizations who have experienced a sudden loss or unforeseen circumstance that will impact their ability to move forward with a production (i.e. broken equipment, an ill artist etc.) Emergency Grants are not available to fill a gap in your fundraising efforts.

Grants will occasionally be provided to individuals facing a hardship that doesn't fall within one of our other grant programs for individuals.

About the Loan Program:

The IndieSpace Loan Program is meant for those with emergencies that are temporary and where funds are anticipated. We are happy to offer loans with 0% interest and flexible repayment terms to be determined together. 

Who is Eligible?:
This application is open to any NYC-based Indie theater company or venue. Indie theater venues are considered theaters or performance spaces with 99 seats or less. Emergency grants are given on a rolling basis, however, we do prioritize funding to companies or venues that are BIPOC, Trans & Non-Binary, Immigrant, and/or Disabled/Deaf run and operated. Individuals may also apply for funds, but they are limited and are only given on a case by case basis.

Application Process:
To apply for funds, please complete the application below. We hope this application will not take a long time to complete. Please note that this application will require some documentation uploading as support to your application. Please have any of the following ready and on hand to submit, if applicable: insurance claim, production or operating budget, photos of space or production damage, etc.  

If you have any questions about the application or need assistance completing the application via phone, please reach out to our Executive Director, Randi Berry, at randi@indiespace.org.

Payment Process:

• Applications will be accepted and reviewed by our staff and board within 24hrs of receipt. We aim to respond with application status update by email and/or payment details within 2 days of your submission. Funds will be paid out via PayPal or check depending on what you selected in your application. Zelle and ACH are also an option that can be discussed via email once the grant is approved.

Additional Info:

• We can not guarantee a payout of the full amount requested in your application. Grants may equal up to 25% of the total in the Emergency Fund pool at the time of the application.
• Grants can not be made to an organization to fill shortfalls in organizational budgets or fundraising as this is an unfortunate circumstance that many in our community are facing and we do not have the resources to support everyone in this way. If you are unsure or have questions about the emergency you are facing and want to discuss eligibility, please email randi@indiespace.org