Agnes Questionmark
Allan Gorman
Annastasia Victory
Blair Simmons
Carlos Rosales-Silva
Daphne Arthur
Dáreece Walker
Elisabet Valasquez
Eskor David Johnson
Gabriel Ramirez
Jemila MacEwan
Jesica Blandon
Kely Pinhero
Lamya H
Lidia Ramirez
Mac Rogers
Margy Hayes
Medar de la Cruz
Meg Toohey
Nat Cassidy
Raul De Lara
Riw Rakkulchon
sTo Len
Thapelo Masita
Zac Zinger
Contact fortheARTIST
Please note that we don’t take unsolicited artist submissions. For more information about our process, please review our Granting Process.
Location
270 Lafayette Street
Suite 1402
New York, NY
Make a Donation
Our organization is structured to keep overhead at a minimum and have all general operations covered by board support. As a result, all funds donated to the organization will go directly to artist grants and services.
fortheARTIST is a federally registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. EIN: 33-2327540
Impact Hypothesis
If we support artists as whole human beings—strengthening their financial stability, practical capacity and sense of agency then they are more likely to be successful in building a sustainable career and well-balanced life.
Our Vision of Sustainability
For us, a sustainable career means an artist has the ability and agency to design a life in which their practice can endure and grow—supported by reliable income, practical systems for managing their work and life, and the personal capacity to maintain their practice across a lifetime.
Our Goal
Our goal is to help mid-career artists avoid the “career off-ramp” by providing 12 months of holistic support, allowing them the autonomy to focus on themselves and build resilience for the future.
Our Model
Ours is a holistic grant model including:
- GUARANTEED INCOME: Unrestricted monthly income of $1500 for 12 months.
COACHING: Monthly sessions with a life coach, tailored to each artist’s needs—such as setting and tracking goals, developing practical systems for managing work and life, and building accountability practices. - COMMUNITY: Monthly in-person community gatherings, workshops and peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Access to services such as legal, financial, and other professional support paid for by fortheARTIST.
What We Hope to Learn
Through this work, we hope to learn more about what helps artists build sustainable, fulfilling careers, and balanced lives. If that contributes to broader change in the arts ecosystem, all the better—but our work focuses on one artist, then another, and another. Each thriving artist enriches the world around them, and lasting change is built one life at a time.
Granting Process
Our Process
We have learned that the best way to create a diverse cohort of artists that represent New York City is to use a nominator process and not an open call. We utilize a diverse group of nominators from all areas and levels of the NYC arts scene. After nominations are made, we do as much research on each artist as we can before extending an invitation to apply. We hold the value to say “no” to the least number of artists possible.
General qualifications for artists we support
- Are working on, or still trying to figure out, a long term sustainable plan for their life as an artist.
- Have a current and visible presence and body of work online
- Have worked professionally making money with their art for some time.
- Maintain an active presence in NYC and have a residence within a commutable distance of the New York City Metro area.
Who We Are
Founders’ Story
Eric Laufer and Andrew Frank have been friends for over four decades. From growing up on the same street on Long Island to collaborating on theater and musical projects in New York City, they’ve spent a lifetime creating, supporting, and celebrating the arts. Their shared passion for the arts and deep gratitude for what artists bring to society drive the mission of For the Artist.
Staff
- Andrew Frank — Executive Director
- Gwen Brownson — Program Director
- Jason Howard — Systems/Technology Manager
- Boris Kievsky — Digital Comms Nerd (consultant)
Eric Laufer
Eric Laufer has a long history as a musician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, with work spanning wind energy, climate change, and voting rights.
Andrew Frank
Andrew Frank has spent the last three decades being an artist, personal coach and non-profit executive who supports the arts community. In his twenties, he was the founding Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatre Source. At that organization he directed, wrote, developed and produced dozens of new works and adaptations of classics.
As an organizational leader, Andrew has held several Executive Director positions with: New York City Children’s Theater, Queens Symphony Orchestra, TYA/USA and LAByrinth Theater.
Andrew became certified in Personal and Executive Coaching at NYU in 2010 and founded Frank Ventures LLC, an arts/artists consulting firm. Through this enterprise he has worked with hundreds of artists and created strategic plans for dozens of theater companies.
Andrew’s artistic work includes: In Search of a Goddess – Ruth St. Denis and No Apologies – Isadora Duncan at New Duke on 42nd; collaborations with Doug Silver, Sidd: A New Musical based on the novel by Hermann Hesse at New World Stages; The Greenwich Village Follies at Manhattan Theatre Source; and New York City Children’s Theater’s productions of Young Charles Dickens, Love that Dog, and The Traveler.
Andrew attended the BMI musical theater workshop and was a producer on Broadway for Lombardi at Circle in the Square. Andrew was also the Director of the Cultural Institutions Group at the Department of Cultural Affairs from 2008 to 2011.
Gwen Brownson
Gwen Brownson is an arts leader, program strategist, and nonprofit capacity builder focused on helping artists and arts organizations thrive. She has designed programs that align people around shared values, build sustainable practices, and measure meaningful impact.
Her career began in arts education, where she helped develop the nationally recognized Literature to Life program and its methodology, connecting applied theatre and contemporary American literature to identity, justice, civic dialogue, and critical literacy. She also expanded its Teaching Artist Training Program, creating a shared framework that helped the program scale nationally.
She later focused on helping small to mid-size arts nonprofits grow sustainably through strategic planning, governance, and values-based decision making. As Interim Executive Director of Literature to Life, she guided the organization’s transition to independence, preserving its 30-year legacy. At Nimbus Arts Center, she helped lead and fund a multi-year capacity-building initiative for long-term growth.
Gwen is excited to join fortheARTIST for its inaugural pilot year, bringing experience in mission-driven program design, clear objectives, continuous learning, and impact assessment. She is especially glad to collaborate again with her longtime colleague and friend, Andrew.
Gwen lives in Jersey City with her husband, Paul, their daughter Olive, and Pepper, their delightfully bossy poodle.