IndieSpace Now Accepting Applications For $1000 Pay Your People Grants

IndieSpace, an organization established to disrupt the ongoing displacement of small theaters and to create a new model for equitable funding for the indie theater community, is currently accepting applications for $1000 Pay Your People grants which will be awarded by lottery to 60 indie theater companies, fiscally sponsored collectives/productions, and indie theater venues at their annual event The Big Give, on Tuesday, November 28 at Chelsea Factory (547 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001). To purchase tickets to The Big Give please visit bit.ly/TheBigGive2023. 

The Pay Your People Grant is to do just that – pay the people on your team that make the work possible. 5 grants will be awarded to Deep Roots companies/collectives with small budgets who have been operating for 25 years or more, 10 grants will be given to indie theater venues and performance spaces, and 45 additional companies or productions will receive funding. 

IndieSpace has a fundamental commitment to equity and inclusion in 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 IndieSpace 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 and currently 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 application deadline is 11:59pm on Thursday, November 16. 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 Deep Roots, Companies/Productions and Venues. You can either apply for the Company/Production drawing or the Venue drawing. You cannot apply to both. Previous applicants for The Little Venue That Could Grant can choose to automatically enter for the venue pool. Please submit your application at bit.ly/PayYourPeople2023

Our grants are determined by old-fashioned lottery. Put your company’s name in the (very literal) hat! At The Big Give on November 28th, we pull the names of eligible applicants out of the hat, and recipients take home their grant checks that night. A suggested, but completely voluntary donation of $5 at the door includes food and drinks. IndieSpace’s Pay Your People Grants are made possible, in part, with support from the Howard Gilman Foundation. 

IndieSpace was established in 2016 to disrupt the ongoing displacement of small theaters and to address systemic inequities in NYC real estate. In 2022, it merged with Indie Theater Fund, an organization focused on a new model for equitable funding for the indie theater community. By contributing a nickel per ticket from their shows to a pot of money for funding, the indie theater community could create a method of self-sustainability and could rethink philanthropy and the process of grant making. Through radically transparent and equitable grants, community resources and advocacy, the Fund supported hundreds of indie theater companies and thousands of individual artists. IndieSpace also funds artists through their Mental Health grants, The Big Learn, and Community Resources Lotteries.

Since its founding, IndieSpace has: consulted with 90+ companies and venues making real estate decisions, including The Tank, FRIGID New York, The Chain, wild project, Wooster Group, and Classical Theater of Harlem; helped 18 organizations sign new leases; saved seven theaters from being closed or repurposed; created four real estate operation partnerships; walked two venues through the purchase of their permanent homes. During Covid, IndieSpace supported over 50 venues navigating their leases by helping them stay open, and also provided over $1.7M in relief grants to the indie theater community. In 2023 IndieSpace opened the West Village Rehearsal Co-Op with HERE Arts Center, New Ohio and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. This 99-year lease for $1 per year will serve over 1,500 artists per year. For service to the community, IndieSpace received the Ellen Stewart Award and a citation from the City Council of New York www.indiespace.org 

Chelsea Factory exists to provide responsive partnership to NYC-based artists from historically excluded communities. Launched during the Covid-19 pandemic, we welcome artists and organizations across all creative disciplines to experiment and perform work they find essential. Chelsea Factory’s support is customized to each collaborator, with resources including subsidized rehearsal and performance space, production support and career mentorship. Our programming reflects the values of NYC artists today and evolves to meet our community’s needs. In today’s rapidly changing world, we are committed to invigorating an inclusive and sustainable arts sector that long outlasts Chelsea Factory’s physical infrastructure. To learn more, visit chelseafactory.org.

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