The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was established in 1963 as the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts by artists

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

, John Cage, and others. FCA was founded on the principle of "Artists for Artists" support as visual artists united to sponsor performance artists through grants funded by the sale of donated artworks. The first benefit exhibition was at the Allan Stone Gallery in 1963. Among contributors to the Foundation's first benefit exhibition were

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

Elaine de Kooning Elaine Marie Catherine de Kooning (, née Fried; March 12, 1918 – February 1, 1989) was an Abstract Expressionist and Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era. She wrote extensively on the art of the period and was an edit ...

, Roy Lichtenstein,

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of the New York School, which also inc ...

, Barnett Newman, Robert Rauschenberg,

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

, and

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

. Since its establishment, FCA has awarded more than 2,500 non-restrictive grants to individual artists and art organizations through its seven grant programs: ''Grants to Artists'', ''Emergency Grants'', the biennial ''John Cage Award'', the biennial ''Merce Cunningham Award'', the annual ''Robert Rauschenberg Award'', the annual ''Ellsworth Kelly Award'', and the annual ''Dorothea Tanning Award''. FCA is located at 820 Greenwich Street in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, West 14th Street to th ...

neighborhood of New York City.

History

In late 1962, John Cage,

, and Robert Rauschenberg wanted to help

Merce Cunningham Dance Company Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

finance a season on Broadway. Each donated an artwork to be sold to cover the loss that would be incurred but realized that the sales might generate a bit more than would be needed. Asked what should happen to the excess, Cunningham remarked that other performers "are in the same boat" and should be helped. Cage and Johns expanded the idea by establishing the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. They invited other artists to contribute works to an exhibition at the Allan Stone Gallery, which opened February 25, 1963 — and firmly established the Foundation's roots in the community of artists.

Lee Bontecou Lee Bontecou (January 15, 1931 – November 8, 2022) was an American sculptor and printmaker and a pioneer figure in the New York art world. She kept her work consistently in a recognizable style, and received broad recognition in the 1960s. Bont ...

Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. Early life and career Alex Katz was born July 24, 1927, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, as the son of an émigré who ha ...

, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Barnett Newman,

, Robert Rauschenberg,

James Rosenquist James Rosenquist (November 29, 1933 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist and one of the proponents of the pop art movement. Drawing from his background working in sign painting, Rosenquist's pieces often explored the role of advertising a ...

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City. Biography Frank Stella was born in Ma ...

Elaine Sturtevant Elaine Frances Sturtevant (née Horan; August 23, 1924 – May 7, 2014), also known professionally as Sturtevant, was an American artist. She achieved recognition for her carefully inexact repetitions of other artists' works. Early life and educ ...

, and

were among the sixty-seven artists who contributed to this landmark show. With proceeds from the exhibition, the Foundation began making grants to individual artists. During its first year, FCA made grants to composers

Earle Brown Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since� ...

and

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

and underwrote a concert of their music presented at Town Hall in New York. Additional grants went to

Judson Memorial Church The Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson Street and Sullivan Street, near Gould Plaza, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. ...

, the

Paper Bag Players __NOTOC__ The Paper Bag Players are a New York City based theatre troupe for children and was founded in 1958 by Judith Martin, Shirley Kaplin, Sudie Bond, and Remy Charlip. Their goal was to create a theater for children that would incorporate ...

, choreographers

Trisha Brown Trisha Brown (November 25, 1936 – March 18, 2017) was an American choreographer and dancer, and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater and the postmodern dance movement. Brown’s dance/movement method, with which she and her dancer ...

Lucinda Childs Lucinda Childs (born June 26, 1940) is an American postmodern dancer/ choreographer and actress. Her compositions are known for their minimalistic movements yet complex transitions. Childs is most famous for being able to turn the slightest mov ...

Meredith Monk Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recordin ...

Yvonne Rainer Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental.

, and

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

; and composers Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and La Monte Young. As of 2020, the directors of the FCA include Cecily Brown, Anne Collier, Anthony B. Creamer III, Anne Dias,

, Jennie C. Jones, Julian Lethbridge, Dean Moss, Emily Wei Rales, and

James Welling James Welling (born 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American artist, photographer and educator living in New York City. He attended Carnegie-Mellon University where he studied drawing with Gandy Brodie and at the University of Pittsburgh where ...

Grant programs

Grants to Artists

Grants to Artists are unrestricted, annual $40,000 awards made to provide recipients with the financial means to engage in their choice of artistic endeavors. Recipients are selected from confidential nominations. FCA invites dozens of artists and arts professionals to anonymously propose one exceptional individual, collective, or performing group. Then, FCA’s Directors, together with an advisor in each discipline, select grantees based on the merit and imaginativeness of their work and the impact such support might have at this point in their careers.

Emergency Grants

Emergency Grants are awarded on an ongoing basis to emerging artists and collectives throughout the United States who are in need of timely, urgent support. Emergency Grants provides quick, grassroots support to artists who have unexpected expenses when projects are close to completion or sudden opportunities to present work to the public. Requests are reviewed monthly by a volunteer panel of established artists. Emergency Grants typically ranging from $200 to $2,500.

John Cage Award

The John Cage Award is a biennial $50,000 grant made in recognition of outstanding achievements in contemporary arts. It was established in 1992 in memory of the late composer, one of FCA’s founders.

Merce Cunningham Award

The Merce Cunningham Award is a biennial grant made in recognition of outstanding achievement in the arts that reflects the creativity and spirit of choreographer,

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

, an artist involved in the founding of FCA. It was established in 2015 with an endowment gift from the Merce Cunningham Trust.

Robert Rauschenberg Award

The Robert Rauschenberg Award is an annual $40,000 grant made to a visual or performing artist in honor of Rauschenberg's legacy of innovation, risk-taking, and experimentation. It was established in 2013 with a $720,000 gift from the

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954–1964), a ...

Ellsworth Kelly Award

The Ellsworth Kelly Award is an annual $40,000 grant made to support a solo exhibition by an emerging, mid-career or little-known contemporary visual artist at a regional art museum, or university or college art gallery in the United States. It was established in 2016 with a $1 Million gift from the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation.

Dorothea Tanning Award

The Dorothea Tanning Award is an annual $40,000 grant made in celebration of Tanning's fierce independence and limitless imagination. It was established in 2016 with a $1 Million endowment gift from the Destina Foundation.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts Arts organizations based in New York City Arts foundations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in New York (state) Organizations based in Manhattan Arts organizations established in 1963 1963 establishments in New York City