New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has partnered with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to administer a new national grant program called Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants. It was created in recognition of the particularly extreme impact that the pandemic has had on dancers. The Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants program will initially provide one-time grants of up to $5,000 to professional dancers who have experienced dire financial emergencies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including lack or imminent endangerment of essentials such as housing, medicine/healthcare, utilities, and food. It will award a total of $300,000 over the course of three award cycles that will run through Spring 2022. The first application cycle opened today, November 9 with a deadline of January 7, 2022. Funds may be requested for emergency expenses for up to a three-month period between September 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022.