Announcing Open Call for
Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide (SPARC)

Application Deadline: October 31, 5PM

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) is pleased to announce Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide (SPARC), a community arts engagement program that places artists-in-residence at senior centers across the five boroughs of New York City. The program provides selected artists with a stipend and access to workspace in senior centers in exchange for the creation and delivery of arts programming for older adults. Participating older adults will be engaged in an art project or series of cultural programs over the course of the residency, which will also include a public program component of exhibits, readings, performances, open houses, and other cultural interactions open to the surrounding community. This initiative seeks to connect artists with older adults in senior centers and positively impact the well-being of older adults through arts-based activities.

Information Sessions:

Information sessions will be held on Tuesday, October 16 at 5:30PM and Wednesday, October 17 at 10AM at the Department of Cultural Affairs, 31 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007.

To apply, and for more information, click here.

SPARC Program Partners:

SPARC is a collaboration among the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Department for the Aging and the City's five local arts councils situated in each borough — Brooklyn Arts Council, Bronx Council on the Arts, Council on the Arts and Humanities of Staten Island, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Queens Council on the Arts. It was developed as part of Age-Friendly NYC, a citywide effort to make the City more livable for seniors, and previously ran in 2011-2012 after a successful pilot called Space for Art in 2009. The 2012-2013 SPARC program is supported, in part, by public funds from the Department for the Aging.

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Make your mark on culture by supporting LMCC! Your gift will allow us continue to fulfill our mission to serve artists and arts audiences Downtown and throughout Manhattan's diverse communities.

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Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has been a leading voice for arts and culture Downtown and throughout New York City for nearly 40 years, producing cultural events and promoting the arts through grants, services, advocacy, and cultural development programs.

LMCC's Artist Residency Programs are supported, in part, by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Charina Endowment Fund, Cowles Charitable Trust, F.B. Heron Foundation, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, Lambent Foundation, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, New York Community Trust, and Pollock-Krasner Foundation. SPARC is supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.

LMCC's Artist Residency Programs are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts; and the National Endowment for the Arts.