Important Information
NOTE: Submit your 2025 Emergency Grants Application by November 30, 11:59 PM ET to be considered for an emergency grant this year. The current form will close at that time.
The 2026 Emergency Grants Application will open at 12:01 AM ET on December 1, 2025 and must be used for all applications moving forward.
Timing: Apply 8–10 weeks before your public presentation (not earlier than 10 weeks). Submissions received less than 6 weeks prior may not receive a decision before the project begins.
- Before proceeding, we recommend that you carefully review the Emergency Grants Overview, Guidelines, Process, and FAQs on our website.
- You will need to create a free Submittable account in order to submit an application. Here is a quick guide on how to get started.
- You can save a draft of your application as you work.
- You will get a confirmation email once you have submitted your application. Please make sure the email address you use to sign up for your Submittable account is one that you check regularly, and confirm that emails are not being directed to your spam folder or to your Other/Promotions tabs
Application Guidelines
Submit your 2025 Emergency Grants Application by November 30, 11:59 PM ET to be considered for an emergency grant this year.
The current form will close at that time.
The 2026 Emergency Grants Application will open at 12:01 AM ET on December 1, 2025 and must be used for all applications moving forward.
We recommend applying 8-10 weeks before your presentation date. We review applications received within a shorter timeframe, but please keep in mind that if your application is received less than 4 weeks in advance of your project’s presentation, you may not hear back from FCA until after the project is underway or even completed.
Eligibility
Please carefully review the Emergency Grants Overview, Guidelines, and Process on our website before proceeding.
Work Sample Guidelines
Applicants are NOT expected to fill out every work sample section. You should submit samples based on your artistic discipline and medium. Follow the discipline-specific guidelines below for submitting samples, as well as the specifications on time-based work samples (if applicable). If you already have documentation of the work for which you are requesting support, please include it. If the work is not yet complete, provide related work that will allow the panel to clearly visualize your project and the need.
Dance and Performance Art/Theater
In the "Time-Based" section, provide at least two, full-length videos from recent works, preferably made in the past five years. If possible, include footage from the work for which you are requesting funds. Please do not submit trailers or reels. Current rehearsal footage is acceptable for one sample. Note title, date, venue, 1-2 lines of context, and cue points.
For Theater artists, still images are generally not considered sufficient to understand the context and experimental elements of your work.
Music/Sound
In the "Time-Based" section, please provide links for at least two complete works, preferably made in the past five years. Include the work for which you are requesting funds if possible. Note title, date, venue, 1-2 lines of context, and cue points.
Poetry
Attach up to eight pages in the "Writing" section. Note title, date, and 1-2 lines of context. You are also encouraged to provide a link to a live reading in the "Time-Based" section.
Visual Arts/Moving Image
Attach up to ten images in the "Images" section. If you work in film/video, include 2-3 video work samples with cue points in the "Time-Based" section. Provide title, year, medium, dimensions, and 1-2 lines of context.
For All Time-Based Work Samples
If you are submitting time-based works, please submit full-length work samples and identify 1-2 minute segments of each sample for the panel to review. This ensures that the panel sees sections of your work that you feel best highlight your artistic practice.
Please include any passwords and enable the "Download" option for all video and audio files. We recommend using Vimeo, Dropbox, Google Drive, or SoundCloud, rather than YouTube.
We will not distribute your downloaded work samples publicly and we do not save them beyond our panel meetings.
Budget
You may attach your budget in .docx, .pdf, or .xlsx format, or enter it directly into the application. Budgets will vary depending on particular project needs.
We offer a budget template in Excel format to guide artists with making a budget. You are not required to use this format, but your budget must provide an itemized list of expenses AND committed or pending income/sources of support. You can also refer to our sample performance budget and visual arts budget.
Eligible expenses may include, but are not limited to: materials, travel, artist and collaborator fees, documentation, fabrication, and production. FCA only covers known, specific expenses — please do not request FCA funds for contingency.
Income may include, but is not limited to: projected box office sales, venue support, artist fees, crowdfunding campaigns, grants, etc. Each line should be marked as either confirmed or pending. Aside from the expenses you are asking FCA to cover, every line of expenses should be balanced by income. If you are contributing your own funds to create and present your work, please include that in the income section as well.
Please specify in your budget the expenses that you are requesting FCA funding to cover.
Application Guidelines
We recommend applying 8-10 weeks before your presentation date. We review applications received within a shorter timeframe, but please keep in mind that if your application is received less than 6 weeks in advance of your project’s presentation, you may not hear back from FCA until after the project is underway or even completed.
Eligibility
Please carefully review the Emergency Grants Overview, Guidelines, and Process on our website before proceeding.
Work Sample Guidelines
Applicants are NOT expected to fill out every work sample section. You should submit samples based on your artistic discipline and medium. Follow the discipline-specific guidelines below for submitting samples, as well as the specifications on time-based work samples (if applicable). If you already have documentation of the work for which you are requesting support, please include it. If the work is not yet complete, provide related work or sketches/renderings that will allow the panel to clearly visualize your project and the need.
Dance and Performance Art/Theater
In the "Time-Based" section, provide at least two, full-length videos from recent works, preferably made in the past five years. If possible, include footage from the work for which you are requesting funds. Please do not submit trailers or reels. Current rehearsal footage is acceptable for one sample. Note title, date, venue, 1-2 lines of context, and cue points.
We highly recommend all artists applying with a time-based project to upload time-based work samples. Still images are generally not considered sufficient to understand the context and experimental nature of your work.
Music/Sound
In the "Time-Based" section, please provide links for at least two complete works, preferably made in the past five years. Include the work for which you are requesting funds if possible. Note title, date, venue, 1-2 lines of context, and cue points.
Poetry
Attach up to eight pages in the "Writing" section. Note title, date, and 1-2 lines of context. You are also encouraged to provide a link to a live reading in the "Time-Based" section.
Visual Arts/Moving Image
Attach up to ten images in the "Images" section. If you work in film/video, include 2-3 video work samples with cue points in the "Time-Based" section. Provide title, year, medium, dimensions, and 1-2 lines of context.
For All Time-Based Work Samples
If you are submitting time-based works, please submit full-length work samples and identify 1-2 minute segments of each sample for the panel to review. This ensures that the panel sees sections of your work that you feel best highlight your artistic practice.
Please include any passwords and enable the "Download" option for all video and audio files. We recommend using Vimeo, Dropbox, Google Drive, or SoundCloud, rather than YouTube.
We will not distribute your downloaded work samples publicly and we do not save them beyond our panel meetings.
AI Guidelines
FCA’s staff and panelists do NOT use AI in the review of applications. Submittable does use AI on their platform. You can read their policy here.
In your application, the use of AI does not need to be disclosed if it was used to assist you in writing text answers to our questions. However, please note that AI has a flattening effect on artist statements and project narratives. Our goal is to learn about your work and your unique perspective. Experimental work is often hard to explain without the voice of the artist. AI does not produce an authentic voice and we care more about voice than perfect writing.
Definitions
AI-assisted work: Work that uses AI as a tool within the creative process while maintaining the integrity of human authorship and artistic vision.
AI-generated work: Work created with a reliance on artificial intelligence, including but not limited to images, sound, text, and video generated by AI software or any artwork substantially modified by AI tools.
The key distinction is that AI should serve your creative direction rather than replace human creativity, craftsmanship, or decision-making.
We require disclosure of the use of AI when:
• AI is used to generate media, including images, audio, or video.
• AI is a primary contributor to the final work product or responsible for a majority of the final content.
How to disclose:
• In the description of each work sample, you must write “Generated by AI.” If AI was necessary to your project or is integral in your work, we expect that fact to appear somewhere in your artist statement and project description as well.
This AI policy is informed by evolving best practices in the field and the policies of other grantmakers, in particular the very comprehensive policy at MacArthur Foundation and the thoughtful guidelines at Artadia. Because technology is constantly changing, we expect our guidelines to change as well. All up-to-date policies will appear here and on our website.
Budget
You may attach your budget in .docx, .pdf, or .xlsx format, or enter it directly into the application. Budgets will vary depending on particular project needs.
We offer a budget template in Excel format to guide artists with making a budget. You are not required to use this format, but your budget must provide an itemized list of expenses AND committed or pending income/sources of support. You can also refer to our sample performance budget and visual arts budget.
Eligible expenses may include, but are not limited to: materials, travel, artist and collaborator fees, documentation, fabrication, and production. FCA only covers known, specific expenses — please do not request FCA funds for contingency.
Income may include, but is not limited to: projected box office sales, venue support, artist fees, crowdfunding campaigns, grants, etc. Each line should be marked as either confirmed or pending. Aside from the expenses you are asking FCA to cover, every line of expenses should be balanced by income. If you are contributing your own funds to create and present your work, please include that in the income section as well.
When using our budget form, the income will be subtracted from the expenses, resulting in the amount of your request. This number should match the next item on the application: FCA Request.
It is important to specify in your budget the expenses that you are requesting FCA funding to cover.