2026 Grants: Last Chance to Apply!
ind of Things. Sara Kostic, 2025 BAC Grantee. Photo by Neda Mojsilović
At BAC, we believe in the power of local artists to energize the interconnectedness of our communities. BAC Grants support artists and small arts organizations whose work strengthens Brooklyn’s cultural landscape and connects our borough to the wider creative spirit of our city, state, and beyond. These awards nurture growth, collaboration, and connection, helping artists build sustainable practices and deepen community ties.
Artists and organizations across Brooklyn, this is your chance to bring your visions to life and expand your impact. The deadline is tomorrow - November 7, 11:59PM EST!
Full eligibility details, FAQs, and a recording of our info session are available on our website. We can’t wait to see your creative projects and how you’ll continue enriching Brooklyn’s future 💙
Old Roots. New Visions. Still Brooklyn.
2025 Brooklyn Arts Awards. Live painting by Spencer Alexander, 2025 BAC Grantee. Photo by Redens Desrosiers/Réx Camera
Being named a Brooklyn Org Spark Prize Finalist is an honor and a grounding reminder of how deeply the arts are woven into Brooklyn’s roots. Artists tell the stories of this borough, both old and new. They respond to its challenges, imagine new worlds, and inspire the kinds of connections that strengthen Brooklyn across every issue that shapes our lives—from intergenerational education to land stewardship to mental health.
We’re deeply grateful to Brooklyn Org for this recognition. Supporting the arts in Brooklyn isn’t just about individual organizations; it’s about all of us coming together to build a connected and resilient community.
As a Spark Prize Finalist, we’ll be part of Brooklyn Org’s upcoming Brooklyn Gives matching campaign, where local giving helps amplify the impact of Brooklyn’s changemakers. More details to come soon on how you can take part.
We’re proud to stand alongside an expansive, caring network of Brooklyn organizations that nurture, celebrate, and protect the people who give this borough its heart. Thank you for being in community with us 🫂
BAC Grantee Events
SHA Creative Outlet: “...all knowing 瞭然” solo performance at Triskelion Arts
SHA Creative Outlet is a 2025 BAC Grantee.
November 6 - 8 | 8pm | Triskelion Arts - 106 Calyer St, BK
“...all knowing 瞭然” is an hour-long solo, multidisciplinary performance exploring the transitional state between past and future, focusing on the present moment where temporalities converge; All Knowing emphasizes the power of change that connects us all. Shannon holds a magnifying glass up to sha, inviting audiences to witness the intricacies of sha's being — the flaws, the brilliance, the humanity. In turn, sha extends this lens outward, reflecting on New York, Taiwan, queerness, displacement, and, ultimately, you. As Creative director and choreographer, Shannon is collaborating with rehearsal assistant Maddie Hopfield, musician Quijiang Levi Lu, video artist Jan Suphitcha, and lighting designer Matt Morris. Sha is drawing movement language from Wing Tsun, Contemporary floorwork, Krump, Waving, Breaking, in conjunction with string installation, projections, live animation, and sound design, this performance is a journey of alchemizing chaotic forces within and finding dynamic equilibrium- present in the power of now.
Trevor Robertson: LIVE! from Brooklyn: Bright Colors
Trevor Robertson is a 2025 BAC Grantee.
November 9 | 5pm | Scholes Street Studio - 375 Lorimer St, BK
Bright Colors is a free-to-the-public concert featuring music composed by bandleader and bassist, Trevor Robertson. The music is instrumental jazz with influences of Western classical, rock, funk, drum-and-bass, Lucumi worship music, and experimental noise improvisation. This program of all-original music will explore themes of grief, healing, and celebration of departed loved ones. Trevor will be joined by a quintet featuring Seoyeon Im on violin, Hina Oikawa on woodwinds, Charles Colizza on guitar, and Ben Freidkin on drums. This concert is being audio and video recorded for release at a later date.
The Letter Podcast: Live Readings #7: Giannina Braschi Reads Putinoika, hosted by Monica-Ramon Rios
Mónica-Ramón Ríos is a 2025 BAC Grantee.
November 11 | 6:30pm | Pratt Institute: Brooklyn Campus - 200 Willoughby Ave ARC Building, Room 02, BK
Puertorrican author Giannina Braschi reads from her latest novel Putinoika, a multilingual epic that fuses poetry, philosophy, and satire, reimagining Greek tragedy through today’s political and cultural upheavals. After the reading, writer and Pratt Professor Mónica-Ramón Ríos will moderate a q&a. A reception will follow. The reading is open to the public. Please sign up here: https://forms.gle/fnQfNM5zvogu38eT7 Giannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, and essayist whose works explore themes of language, politics, and cultural identity across Spanish, Spanglish, and English. Her major publications include El imperio de los sueños (1988), Empire of Dreams (1994), Yo-Yo Boing! (1998), United States of Banana (2011), and Putinoika (2024). Described by the Library of Congress as “cutting-edge, influential, and even revolutionary,” Braschi has received numerous honors, including the ASA’s Angela Y. Davis Award (2024) and the Fray Luis de León Medal (2025). Please note the reading and talk will be recorded.
Katharine Pettit - Keeping People Connected: Pathway to Wellness through Movement: I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE...
Katharine Pettit is a 2025 BAC Grantee.
November 12 & December 3 | 7pm | Brooklyn Community Pride Center - 1561 Bedford Ave, BK
KPC - Keeping People Connected is a multidisciplinary collective of Performing Artists who tell stories examining social injustices and stigmatized subject matter through dance, music, and conversation. KPC’s Pathway to Wellness through Movement: I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE... is an adjunct resource for people dealing with substance use and mental health disorders. "I could never love anyone as much as I love my sisters", a quote from LITTLE WOMEN, inspired KPC founder Katharine Pettit to draw from their lived experience and turn a personal coping mechanism into healing for everyone across the Recovery community. I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE... is a dance musical that centers a person with substance use disorder and their siblings as they face this family disorder together. KPC's workshops start with emotionally guided movement exercises inspiring physical expression, followed by the performance of I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE..., culminating in a talkback between artists and audience.
Artifact No. 20 - An Experimental Music Series
Artifact is a 2025 BAC Grantee.
November 18 | 7:30pm | Sleepwalk - 251 Bushwick Ave, BK
Artifact No. 20 showcases an evening focused on experimental electronic performance, noise, and improvisation. This month's iteration features the performers Brett Naucke, Cube, and Axine M. Artifact is a monthly experimental music series curated by Brian Wenner and Matthew Ryals.
Theater in Asylum: 7 Deadly Sins Cabaret
Theater in Asylum is a 2025 BAC Grantee.
November 20 | 10am | Jalopy Theater - 315 Columbia St, BK
Pride. Greed. Wrath. Lust. Envy. Gluttony. Sloth. These seven impulses have endured in the human imagination for thousands of years. What do they mean now? Are they sins? Are they deadly? Are they escapable? Decide for yourself during this one-night-only cabaret featuring short, original works by five artists across genres. Featuring music by Ali Dineen, an excerpt from Theater in Asylum’s next mainstage production Faust, and more, the evening will leave you reconsidering just how deadly these seven are.
Das Besties: Das Rauschgift
Das Besties is a 2025 BAC Grantee. Poster by Eric Kostiuk Williams.
December 4 | 7:30pm | 17 Saratoga Ave Floor 2, BK
Das Rauschgift is a dance-theatre spectacle. The title comes from the German word meaning “dope”, “poison”, and “medicine”. The never-ending battle of trying to have a good time is warped within a prism of problems as Travis, Cosimo, and Arzu attempt to convince their friend Nina to hit the town and indulge (even though she’s content to raw-dog life). Along the way, the gang approaches an intersection of conflicting desires: Is it truly possible to release your inhibitions and not lose control? To follow the herd and still feel like an individual? A lava lamp of 1960s/70s variety shows, 2000s pop-culture, and baroque sensibilities, Das Rauschgift takes audiences on a joyride through the peaks and valleys of trying to belong. The production takes influence from queer nightlife, ballet, post-modern dance, and collage to create a group of characters who rise, fall, stretch, and coalesce in mundane and fantastical ways.
Events, Workshops, & Professional Development
THE OTHER ART FAIR BROOKLYN
November 6-9 | ZeroSpace - 337-345 Butler St, BK
We’ve created something different, and we want you to experience it right here in Brooklyn. We’re bringing 125 game-changing, conversation-starting artists with us. Mostly NYC-based, all seriously worth knowing. Forget the stiff, white-walled gallery scene—this is art for everyone. Prices are out in the open, and the artists? They’re right here, ready to chat.
Every day of the Fair is packed with features to explore. Think DJ sets, artist-led workshops, craft cocktails, and so much more.
Farming in the Margins : Diasporic Preservation and Ecological Resilience
November 8 | Brower Park Library - 155 Brooklyn Ave, BK
An interactive, roundtable discussion with landworkers, seedkeepers, and farmers from NYC's urban, and peri-urban environments.
Farming in the Margins: Diasporic Preservation and Ecological Resilience brings together diasporic farmers, seedkeepers, land stewards, and food justice activists to explore how farming can preserve cultural knowledge and memory.
Mark Morris Dance Center: Community Day
November 9 | 3 Lafayette Ave 5th Floor, BK
Join us for a day of dance and movement for all ages, abilities, and experience levels.
Come as an individual, a family or with a friend and explore the Dance Center. We’ll close the day with an intergenerational dance party celebrating community and joy.
Classes are free with RSVP. Optional donations will support Dance Center initiatives such as school scholarships, community programs, and subsidized space for artists.
Crown Heights Food Distribution Launch
November 9 | Another World - 629 Nostrand Ave, BK
We are excited to announce a new distribution center and food pantry location Sundays from 3-5PM! Comrades at @chcarecollective @crownheightsaid @anotherworldbk and @crownheightsbitesback are working together to provide hot food, fresh produce, pantry items, hygiene products, clothes, and political education to our neighbors to meet this moment of increase uncertainty and fear over distribution of SNAP benefits.
We are in need of all-out community involvement to start this new distribution off strong. We are in need of home cooks, drivers for food rescue, weekly volunteers, donations, clothes, and many other small things along the way. Want to get involved? Fill out the form at tinyurl.com/CHDistro! Anything you can offer goes a long way!
NYFA Storytelling: Communicating Your Impact
November 13 | Virtual
How can you tell your story as an arts professional and organization? Storytelling is a key component to communicating the value of the work you do, with applications for interviewing, advocacy, and fundraising.
In this free (with RSVP!) online workshop, we’ll cover:
Strategies for communicating your impact as an arts professional and/or organization
How to articulate a clear problem statement, solution statement (mission), and value proposition
Methods for gathering data to quantify and measure key results
OKO Farms @ Brooklyn roots collective: Roots of Connection: D is for Delight + Despair
November 13 | 100 Scott Ave, BK
We hold delight and despair as two threads of being alive, woven closely together. In this session, we’ll notice how both live in the body, what they reveal about what we hold dear, and how they shape our lives. We’ll spend time with plant allies that steady and nourish us in the presence of each, move through somatic practices that help us honor their truth, and reflect on how community makes it possible to carry joy and sorrow side by side without forcing ourselves to choose one over the other.
Each month, we explore two plant friends, one letter of the alphabet, one emotion, and one somatic practice to reconnect. From Acceptance to Zeal, we listen for the ways our bodies speak, and remember how plants have always connected us through feeling, healing, and change.
This isn’t about fixing or overcoming ourselves.
It’s about learning how to stay with what’s here, with a bit more curiosity and compassion.
Green-Wood Cemetery: Grieving & Weaving
November 13 | Green-Wood’s Modern Chapel - 500 25th Street, BK
Stitching together creativity and community, this knitting and crocheting group is unique for one reason: it meets in a cemetery. Whether you’re an expert with yarn or just starting out, you are welcome to join us as we share stories, skills, and grief resources in the comfort of Green-Wood’s Modern Chapel. As we create together, we’ll talk about the significance of handmade items in both our personal and collective histories.
Bundith Phunsombatlert: Transtrack
Bundith Phunsombatlert, 2024 BAC Grantee.
November 15 (Opening Reception) - December 21 | 1329 Willoughby Ave, 2A, BK
Transtrack transforms the idea of a train platform into a multisensory space where the voices of elderly immigrants recount life journeys, weaving an immersive landscape of sound, vibration, and oral history. The work amplifies overlooked immigrant voices—honoring those whose labor, like the immigrants who built the transcontinental railroad, remains absent from history.
Along a line of vibrating speakers, memories ripple like passing trains. As the noise fades, gentle voices recall landscapes that shaped their journeys. This shifting soundscape reflects the emotional terrain of immigration, where the past is never still and stories unfold like landscapes passing a train window. Inside the space, a waiting area invites new recordings, connecting elders and younger generations through shared storytelling.
Building on Phunsombatlert’s community centered practice and ongoing exploration of oral immigration histories gathered from local elders, the exhibition invites participants from diverse backgrounds to share memories of landscape and migration, fostering moments of cross-cultural connection. More than an artwork, Transtrack is a living archive—preserving immigration memory through movement, sound, and presence.
Get Shameless Workshop #1: Art as a Business | Creatives Thrive NYC
November 20 | Virtual
Usually, most of us go into business to solve a problem or fill a need. We never anticipated we’d also have to be our own accountant, bookkeeper, human resources, insurance specialist, and personal assistant too! This workshop will help you set up your business to run like a machine. We’ll go deep on topics around taxes, business structure, bank accounts, etc. You know, the fun stuff :)
IndieSpace: The Big Give
December 4 | Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square S, NY
The Big Give is IndieSpace's annual event, celebrating indie theater where we award grants to indie theater companies, fiscally sponsored collectives/productions, and indie theater venues.
We have created this joyous event so you can reconnect and socialize with your fellow indie theater makers, celebrate and honor the amazing work, artistry, and love in the indie theater community, AND so we can distribute $1,000 Pay Your People grants! We really hope you can join us!
NYFA: Public Art and Creative Placemaking: Activating Nontraditional Spaces
January 15, 2026 | Virtual
Interested in public art and creative placemaking? Perhaps you could envision your work in airports, subways, parks and/or cityscapes.
This online panel discussion (Free with RSVP!) will explore the possibilities for art in public and nontraditional spaces, drawing upon the perspective of both artists who have landed these commissions and public art managers who administer them.
In this session, we’ll cover:
Types of public art opportunities
Tips for applying to open calls and/or sharing your work for consideration
How these commissions are structured: budget, process, and timeline
An inside look as to how these projects come to fruition, from both the artists’ and managers’ perspectives
Opportunities
2026–2027 A.I.R. FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Deadline: November 7
Established in 1993, the A.I.R. Fellowship Program for Emerging and Underrepresented Women and Non-Binary Artists has enabled more than 120 artists to realize their first solo exhibition in New York City with the support of the A.I.R. community. The Fellowship Program annually awards six local emerging artists with their first solo exhibition, professional development programming, curatorial support, and mentorship during a 12-month fellowship that runs September–August.
The Laundromat Project: Create Change Fellowship
Application Open: November 10 - Deadline: TBD
The Create Change Fellowship is a six-month incubator for multiracial artists and cultural producers committed to art for social transformation. The program is grounded in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, though Fellows are not required to live there. Fellows receive training in community arts practices, cultural organizing, policy advocacy, and project planning. They work in small interdisciplinary groups, each paired with a community partner aligned with priority neighborhood concerns.
INDIESPACE: Pay your people grants
Deadline: November 11
We’ll hold a lottery for the Pay Your People Grants at The Big Give.
The Pay Your People Grants are $1,000 for NYC-based indie theater companies/collectives, and venues to compensate historically excluded 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 performers or administration directly.
NYC Hanukah Market: Call for Vendors
Deadline: November 13
After three years of traveling the country and celebrating local Jewish arts, culture, & community I'm thrilled to be coming home to NYC for Pushcart's first Hanukkah Market! Come share the warmth with us as we continue to center our resilience, solidarity and hope.
New York City Small Theatres Fund
Deadline: November 25
In partnership with the Howard Gilman Foundation, the New York City Small Theatres Fund is a two-year general operating support grant to New York City-based theatre companies with annual budgets between $15,000 and $250,000. The fund provides multi-year grant awards between $7,500-$10,000 each year. This grant aims to support a wide range of theatrical aesthetics, methods of production, and artistic communities throughout the five boroughs, engaging their artists and audiences in meaningful, exciting, and committed creation and production. We aim to fund a group of applicants who reflect the diversity of New York City theatre-making and increase opportunities for theatres and artists who have been historically under-resourced due to barriers associated with racial, economic, disability, gender, and/or sexual identity and/or geographic location.
Brooklyn Org Microgrants
Deadline: November 30
BKO’s Microgrants provide one-year funding of up to $10,000 for organizations based in Brooklyn or actively working in Brooklyn with annual operating budgets under $100,000 and at least one year of operation and programming. Funding supports neighborhood-based organizations, ranging from community gardens and mutual aid groups to community-based organizing and programming. Organizations must be a 501c3 or working under a fiscal sponsor.
BAX’s FREE annual YouthWorks Festival!
Orientation: December 7
YouthWorks has been a cornerstone of BAX Education for over 30 years. Mirroring BAX’s professional artist residencies, YouthWorks young artists (ages 8-18) have the opportunity to develop their artistic voices and practices while receiving artistic mentorship over a 6-8 week rehearsal period in BAX’s studios.
Come to our Orientation for Young Artists, Families & Volunteer Artist Coaches!
Orientation & Info Session: Sunday, December 7, 2025
Coaches: 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Artists & Families: 3:30 - 5:30 pm
Location: BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange, 421 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215, Studio D
Artists & Mothers Grant
Deadline: January 2, 2026
Artists & Mothers is committed to supporting artists who identify as mothers at an inflection point in their careers. Eligible to New York City-based artists with children under the age of three, awardees will receive a grant for $25,000 to be used for childcare expenses with the provider of their choice.
Applicants should demonstrate a commitment to their practice and must have an exhibition history. We invite artists within the field of contemporary art to apply, which can include painting, sculpture, installation, new media, performance art, and socially-engaged forms.
NYSCA: FY27 Capital Opportunity
Deadline: January 13, 2026
Attention NYS arts and culture nonprofits! The FY 2026 Capital Projects Fund application is now open!
Eligible organizations must prequalify to do business with NYS before they can compete for grants with any NYS agency. NYSCA recommends starting the process as soon as possible.
Creatives4Sudan: Seeking Donations
Deadline: Rolling
The situation in El Fasher, Sudan, is catastrophic. As such, a group of us creatives - Sudanese organisers and allies - are raising funds for on the ground support through a fundraising auction, going live over the last two weeks of November 2025.
We're calling on creatives of any type - professional, hobbyists, artists, writers, actors, designers, decorators - to donate their time, or some sort of skill, for this auction. Please also share this form far and wide so we can get as wide a range of donations as possible, and raise as much money as we can for El Fasher and Sudan.
Dance Workforce Resilience Fund
Deadline: Rolling until March 6, 2026
Made possible by the support of the Ford Foundation, New York Community Trust, and other generous funders, the pilot iteration of the Dance Workforce Resilience (DWR) Fund directly supports individual freelance dancers through one-time $1,000 grants. Awards are determined through a weighted lottery system that prioritizes the most underpaid and unprotected groups of dance workers. It will distribute $324,000 over the course of the grant period to 320+ awardees for contracted dance work completed between January 1, 2025 to April 30, 2026.
Resources
LIST of Brooklyn Food Pantries
Due to the ongoing Federal Government shutdown, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits may experience delays or interruptions starting November 1.
If you or someone you know needs support, click the link below for a comprehensive list of food pantries across Brooklyn and all boroughs.
Community Fridge Finder Map
A community fridge is a decentralized food resource. There are dozens of fridges hosted by volunteers across the New York City area. This website was made to make it easy for people to find fridges and get involved with the community fridge project.
What We're Reading
“New York City Mayor Results 2025”
by NBC News | NBC News
“George Takei speaks out against censorship at BPL Banned Books Week event”
by Gabriele Holtermann | Brooklyn Paper
“Jamel Shabazz’s ‘Prospect Park’ And The Pursuit of Pure Tranquility”
by Matthew Ritchie | BK Mag
“Harmonia Rosales Remixes the African Diasporic Pantheon”
by Nereya Otieno | Hyperallergic
Cover Image: Jessica Shane (Constellations) and Yasaman Mansoori (That Intimate Feeling), 2025 BAC Grantee. Photo: Kenny Rodriguez
Empowering Artists. Empowering Communities.
The arts are a lifeline to sustain wonder, inspiration, healing, and a sense of community in our lives. Please join Brooklyn Arts Council in our mission to empower Brooklyn artists and arts organizations that bring life and joy into our home borough.