IndieSpace Reveals Community Building Events & Grant Programs For Indie Theater Artists This Fall
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, has announced their fall slate of events and grant programs for indie theater artists.
“We know that many of you are moving through this moment with anxious thoughts or a sense of uncertainty about what’s ahead,” said Executive Director Randi Berry. “We’re feeling it too. IndieSpace wants to remind you that you’re not alone. And that being in community, sharing space, and supporting one another can be a powerful antidote in difficult times.”
On October 2nd IndieSpace will announce recipients of The Little Venue That Could Grant Program. Funded with generous support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Little Venue That Could Grant Program provides unrestricted general operating grants to New York City-based indie theater, dance, and multidisciplinary venues with fewer than 99 seats and expense budgets under $500,000. Recipients will receive grants of $10,000 per year, for two years.
Applications open for the Pay Your People Grant on Tuesday, October 14th. Pay Your People Grants are $1,000 grants for NYC-based indie theater companies, collectives, and venues to pay historically excluded artists or leadership to work in, administrate, or perform in their spaces and productions. Venues can use these funds to subsidize a rental from an artist in their venue or to pay performers or administration directly. IndieSpace will award the grant recipients at The Big Give on December 4th at Judson Memorial Church. Applications close on November 11th.
This fall, IndieSpace will host two more installments of their popular co-working event, IndieSpace Together, on Wednesday, October 15th at Creative Time (59 East 4th Street, 6th Floor New York, NY 10003) and Tuesday, November 18 at the West Village Rehearsal Co-op (68 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014) from 1-7pm. Come to get some work done or to network and connect with other artists, producers, writers, and collectives. The IndieSpace Together event on October 15th will be a day of coworking, networking, and a dialogue around cooperative models — both for the indie theatre community and as a potential structure for IndieSpace’s new building in Hell’s Kitchen. November 18th will be a special Friendsgiving Edition with a potluck.
On Monday, November 3rd IndieSpace will host an installment of The Builders Series, a quarterly gathering of artists, cultural workers, and nonprofit leaders to share open and honest dialogue with a guest excerpt around a specific topic relevant to independent or small-scale organizations. It’s a collective space for thinking and building, shaped by real work and real voices. Stay tuned for further details on the special guest and theme!
Be sure to save the date for IndieSpace’s big party, The Big Give on Thursday, December 4th at Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square S, New York, NY 10012). IndieSpace created this joyous annual event so indie artists can reconnect and socialize with fellow theater makers to celebrate and honor the amazing work, artistry, and love in the indie theater community, AND so we can distribute $1,000 grants! This year’s theme is cleansing, renewal, and prosperity for the year ahead. We’re creating a community installation to reflect that spirit and bring us together in a shared moment of creativity and care. The night will be joyful, rooted in love for our people, and a true celebration of what we can build when we show up for one another. For more information on how you can support The Big Give please visit: indiespace.org/the-big-give-sponsorship.
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.
Since its founding, IndieSpace has: consulted with 90+ companies and venues making real estate decisions, including The Tank, FRIGID New York, The Chain, The 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
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