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New York Foundation For the Arts (NYFA) Records

Call Number

MSS.515

Dates

1971-2016, inclusive
; 1975-2009, bulk

Creator

New York Foundation for the Arts

Extent

228.25 linear feet in 228 record cartons and 1 half manuscript box

Language of Materials

Most materials in English, with fellow applications in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.

Abstract

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) was founded in 1971 in New York City by a group of artists who were part of the New York State Department of Cultural Affairs (NYSCA) to create an organization that would provide artists like themselves with resources guidance and funding for their art projects that NYSCA could not provide directly. NYFA grew over the decades to become one of the leading organizations providing grants and services in New York City, New York State, and in the country. NYFA's programs are dedicated to providing guidance and support for artists and smaller arts organizations seeking city, state, and federal organization funding. 
This collection documents NYFA's nearly 50 year history including individual artist and small arts organization grant recipient files with applications/project descriptions, agreements, project advice, panel critiques, promotional information, and artist work samples. This collection also includes founding documents, marketing material, financial and budgetary information, NYFA Board of Director files, and administrative/human resources information.

Historical Note

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) was founded in 1971 in New York City by a group of artists who were part of the New York State Department of Cultural Affairs (NYSCA). Their goal was to create an organization that would provide artists like themselves with resources guidance and funding for their art projects that NYSCA could not provide directly. NYFA grew over the decades to become one of the leading organizations providing grants and services in New York City, New York State, and in the country. NYFA's programs are dedicated to providing guidance and support for artists and smaller arts organizations seeking city, state, and federal organization funding.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into eight series, some of which are further arranged into subseries:

Series I. Administrative and Human Resources
Series II. Board
Series III. Development
Subseries III.A. General
Subseries III.B. Events
Subseries III.C. Fundraiser Files
Series IV. Finance
Series V. Communications/Marketing
Series VI. Fellowship Program
Subseries VI.A. General Files
Subseries VI.B. Individual Fellow Files
Series VII. Fiscal Sponsorship
Subseries VII.A. General
Subseries VII.B. Emerging Organizations
Subseries VII.C. Artists' Projects
Series VIII. Other NYFA Programs
Subseries VIII.A. Arts in Education (AIE)
Subseries VIII.B. Artists in Residence (AIR)
Subseries VIII.C. Special Opportunity Stipend (SOS)
Subseries VIII.D. Building Up Infrastructure Levels for Dance (BUILD)
Subseries VIII.E. Community Assets
Subseries VIII.F. Disaster Relief-Related Programs
Subseries VIII.G. Cultural Blueprint for NYC
Subseries VIII.H. Felissimo
Subseries VIII.I. New York-Israel Cultural Cooperation Commission
Subseries VIII.J. Arts and Technology

Scope and Contents

The New York Foundation for the Arts Records consists of the organization's materials for close to 50 years. The materials highlight the organization's mission to fulfill its vision in empowering emerging artists and arts organizations across all creative disciplines. The collection begins with administrative materials under Human Resources that detail committee meetings and retreats, employee handbooks and position descriptions, and office space contracts for other organization's sharing work space with NYFA. Board materials include agenda packets with meeting minutes, memorandum, and executive reports written by Ted Berger. Ted Berger's paper collection during his stint as Executive Director for NYFA is also included along with the Board's collection. The Development department's documents provide marketing materials for the annual fund, as well as NYSCA reports, and correspondence. The Finance department contributes its annual financial reports in generated in documenting the organization's yearly budget and loss, payroll, and tax returns. The Communications department adds to the mix of documents with outreach materials such as general brochures, publications, and original printed materials in support of NYFA programs made available to artists and arts organizations. A bulk of NYFA's records consist of grant applications and materials submitted by artists and arts organizations for opportunities that support the development of artists fellowships, individual and organizational art projects, arts in education implementation initiatives, and disaster relief and wage subsidy programs for events like 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. These grant applications were also submitted to NYFA for opportunities in technology implementation by artists and arts organizations and artists' grants and cultural mission trips in Israel.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by the New York Foundation for the Arts was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; New York Foundation for the Arts Records; MSS 515; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.

Location of Materials

Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact fales.library@nyu.edu at least two business days prior to your research visit to coordinate access.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by the New York Foundation for the Arts in January 2018, with accretions to the collection transferred in March and July 2018; the accession numbers associated with these gifts are 2018.025, 2018.031, 2018.085, and 2018.088.

Collection processed by

Nicholas Long and Kris Santos

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:04:41 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

Originally, files and audio/visual material were boxed up in the NYFA offices every couple of years and sent to storage with minimal descriptions. Most of these files are arranged chronologically, but there are scattered "miscellaneous" boxes. Materials were usually grouped by program, including Artist Fellowship, Fiscal Sponsorship, Strategic Opportunity Stipends, New York Arts Recovery Fund, among others. There are also boxes of unorganized founding files, accumulated by the first director of the organization, Theodore S. Berger. Various administrative NYFA files exist, but are not in any particular order. The collection has been rehoused in archival boxes and folders, arranged into series that reflects the organization's activities, and described at the collection-, series-, and subseries-level.

Repository

Fales Library and Special Collections
Fales Library and Special Collections
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012