Cultural institutions are vital to the City and its communities. Neighborhoods throughout the city are alive with new cultural activity and promise. New York City government, foundations and other private sources are investing in the performing arts at record levels. Currently, the City of New York has allocated $868 million in capital projects to 195 cultural institutions.

As remarkable and as welcome as this investment is, the web of legal, procedural, regulatory and bureaucratic processes involved in actually getting these funds to a dance company or theater presents severe problems for small to mid-sized performing arts institutions. At any given time, almost all small and mid-sized performing arts institutions that have funding for construction or renovation are caught in disjunction of the timing between what they owe consultants and contractors and what they are due from government, a situation that creates inefficiencies, increases costs and makes capital projects even more challenging than they need to be.

Because of generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fund for the City of New York has established a revolving loan fund to provide capital bridge financing for performing arts institutions in New York City that have been awarded capital grants from the City of New York. This loan fund is designed to help bridge the gaps between the awards of funds for capital projects and when they are received in order to facilitate a more efficient, streamlined and cost-effective process of capital construction for cultural institutions.

Eligibility:

These loans are made in collaboration with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) for DCA sponsored contracts and grants.

Process:

The fee to process the loan is one and one-half (1.5) percent. If the loan is repaid within two months, the borrower is refunded one-half percent. If the loan is not repaid within three months, an additional service fee may be charged.

 To apply, please submit a completed application via mail, email, or to Andrew Walrond, Fund for the City of New York,121 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013; awalrond@fcny.org; Fax: 212-925-5675.