The Decentralization Grants (DEC) Program

Grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 to New York nonprofit organizations and artists partnering with nonprofits for arts-related activities in Broome, Otsego, and Chenango Counties. Applicants must submit an intent to apply in advance of the final deadline. Funding is available for community-oriented or educational arts programming.

The NYS Council on the Arts established the Decentralization Program (DEC) in 1977 to foster the continued development of local cultural resources responsive to community need. DEC serves all of New York’s 62 counties, including areas that are geographically isolated, economically disadvantaged, and ethnically diverse. The basic principle of DEC funding is to utilize local decision-making and use a peer panel evaluation process.

The Chenango Arts Council has administered the DEC Program since 1986, promoting arts and cultural events that creatively reflect the unique qualities, resources, and needs of the communities the Council serves.

The Decentralization Grants Program (DEC) offers support for the Arts and Arts Education in the following categories:

Community Arts (CA) Grants:

Known as “traditional” or “classic” DEC grants, CA grants provide support for arts and cultural projects to community-based organizations, groups, collectives, or individual artists. Individual artists must apply for a CA grant for a community-based project in partnership with a local nonprofit organization.

CA support enables emerging artists and organizations to grow professionally and to enhance the cultural vibrancy of communities and neighborhoods where they live and work. CA grants provide support to develop, foster, promote, enhance, and increase community arts that address current cultural needs in Broome, Chenango, and Otsego counties.

Arts Education (AE) Grants:

AE grants offer two funding categories: (1) K-12 In-School Projects and (2) After- School & Community-Based Learning. Funds can support arts education projects that take place in-school during the school day and/or in after-school and community-based settings for youth and/or senior learners.

Emphasis is placed on the depth and quality of the creative process through which participants learn about the arts. Projects must focus on the exploration of art and the artistic process. Inter-curricular collaboration for in-school projects is encouraged but not required.

Projects must provide: Sequential, skills-based study that incorporates one or more art forms and includes a minimum of three (3) sequential hands-on learning sessions; In-depth, age and skills appropriate learning opportunities; Hands-on, participatory creation and/or learning opportunities in one or more art forms that may culminate in exhibitions, productions or demonstrations; Stated learning goals, methodologies and outcomes and a means for evaluation.

Funding Priorities:
-Artist’s and teaching artist’s fees
-Activities of local arts and cultural organizations
-Marketing and publicity costs
-Direct project-related supplies, materials, and administrative costs
-K-12 AE in-school and after-school AE community-based learning programs

Review Criteria:

Review panels consist of community representatives reflecting the artistic, geographic, and demographic ranges of Broome, Chenango, and Otsego counties.

The panels will evaluate applications according to the following criteria:
-Artistic merit and quality of the proposed project
-General community/student benefit generated by project
-Clearly defined, planned objectives and the demonstrated ability to achieve those objectives through an assessment component
-Organization/artist history, including stability, record of achievement, and fiscal accountability
-Other available support, whether monetary, in-kind, or other

Greater consideration will be given to projects that:
-Support local artists and nonprofit arts and cultural organizations
-Indicate community collaborations and the use of community resources
-Provide interactive projects and events that involve public engagement and participation
-Have a strong outreach and marketing plan, with efforts to reach and serve diverse audiences
-Target affordable (low cost or free) and accessible family, youth, and senior-oriented live cultural experiences
-Promote historically significant projects that increase public awareness of local history
-Promote cultural activities by smaller groups with new ideas presently under-represented in Broome, Chenango, or Otsego Counties, especially in under-served areas of each county (CA)
-Encourage creativity and original thinking with hands-on learning, preferably focused on local culture (AE)
-Promote skill-building and teach students how to make a practical living in the commercial arts field through exposure to teaching/professional artists so they can engage more freely with these individuals about their work, their livelihoods, training, and other aspects that support a career in the arts (AE)
-Clearly demonstrate collaboration and planning efforts between the school/teacher(s) and artist(s) (AE)
-Projects that involve faculty/family and connect students to their own communities (AE)
-Projects that reinforce mandated curricula and trigger interest in both the arts and subject matter (AE)
-Indicate cash or in-kind support greater than 25% of the total project expenses
-Celebrate diversity in the community
-Have the potential to reach large audiences and support a sense of community belonging