Program Staff

Susan Feder, Program Officer
Diane E. Ragsdale, Associate Program Officer
Katie Turick, Program Assistant

Overview

The Foundation’s Performing Arts Program currently provides multi-year grants on an invitation-only basis to leading orchestras, theater companies, opera companies, modern dance companies, and dance-specific presenters based in the United States. Although the Foundation does not confine its support to large organizations with national visibility, it does seek to support institutions that contribute to the preservation and development of their art form, provide creative leadership in solving problems or addressing issues unique to the field, and which present the highest level of institutional performance. Grants are awarded on the basis of artistic merit and leadership in the field, and concentrate on achieving long-term results. In conjunction with regular program grants, the Foundation also makes a limited number of grants to research and service organizations that are doing work closely related to program goals.  The Performing Arts program runs a regrant program through the New York Foundation for the Arts that makes awards every three years to small and midsized producing theaters in New York City.  Guidelines and application for the 2008 New York Theater Program may now be accessed at www.nyfa.org (Intent to Apply due March 12, 2008; Application due April 7, 2008).  You may also click here to download NYTP Guidelines (only).

The Performing Arts Program currently does not make grants to:

• Individual artists
• Conservatories
• Schools of the arts
• K-12 arts education programs
• Presenting organizations, except as occasionally determined by staff to enhance goals of existing programs
• Organizations based outside the United States
• Capital campaigns
• Buildings and facilities, overhead, indirect costs, or administrative charges

Program Contact Information

You will find a list of past grantees of the Performing Arts Program in the Foundation’s annual reports, which you can access on this website.  Organizations that wish to inquire about the possibility of future funding should not call the Foundation. Instead, they should send a 2-3 page letter providing an overview of the organization, its history, mission, and goals, and the relevance of its work to the priorities and programs of the Foundation. Please refrain from sending additional materials — including brochures, press articles, education materials, etc. — unless subsequently requested by program staff, and do not request a grant from the Foundation unless requested to do so by the program staff.  While we will review and respond to all letters in time, organizations should check this site periodically for updates on future programming initiatives.  Please bear in mind that the Foundation is rarely able to respond positively to unsolicited requests.

Please direct all inquiries in writing (not email) to:

Diane E. Ragsdale
Associate Program Officer
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
140 E. 62nd Street
New York, NY 10065

Before writing, please review the Foundation’s general requirements for grant proposals in the Grant Inquiries section of this Web site.