New & Experimental Works

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation’s New & Experimental Works (NEW) Program provides flexible support to small and mid-size dance, theater, and multidisciplinary arts organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Since its inception in 2015, the program has distributed over $6 million in funding to 204 arts organizations. The NEW Program offers unrestricted support and artist fee funding to advance the work of local artists, particularly those pushing the boundaries of performance and working in nontraditional or community-focused formats. This program is designed to uplift projects that are visionary and highly relevant to the communities they aim to serve. Organizations can request grants ranging from $5,000 to $30,000, with an emphasis placed on projects that provide significant artist compensation, engage in deep artistic exploration, or expand the limits of conventional dance and theater. Additional focus is placed on works that utilize outdoor, site-specific, or alternative venues, and those that originate or occur in San Francisco or Oakland. Artistic collaboration and innovation are also strongly encouraged through this program. To qualify, organizations must be nonprofits or have a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor with a formal agreement in place. They must operate within the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, or Santa Clara, and maintain a minimum annual budget of $10,000, either in their most recently closed fiscal year or within the last three years. Projects must support a majority of artists with established connections to the eligible counties, though artists do not have to reside there currently. Organizations that received a NEW Program grant in 2025 are not eligible for the 2026 cycle, while those funded in 2024 may reapply if they have completed and reported on their prior project. The application process for the 2026 cycle runs from March 3 to March 24, 2026, and is conducted through the Foundation’s GivingData online portal. The application format aligns with The Common Application for the Arts, though some additional NEW Program-specific questions are included. Required elements include project budgets (with optional use of a Common App Excel template), work samples, and optional DataArts reports (mandatory for grantees post-award). Financial statements are only required from applicants being considered for funding. There is no pre-application LOI or concept paper phase; the process is single-stage. A panel of Bay Area dance and theater artists will review submissions, scoring them across four key criteria: experimentation, relevance and timeliness, community connection, and project capacity. Scores are assigned numerically (1, 4, 7, or 10) and weighted for consistency, although final decisions are not solely based on score. Declined applicants may request anonymized feedback. Grantees must present some form of public-facing activity, whether a performance, showing, film, or other event, beginning after July 1, 2026. Projects must be completed within the grant period of July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2028. A pre-application webinar was held on February 24, 2026, and applicants can access a recording and slide deck. Office hours are available with Arts Program Officer Sarah Williams for direct inquiries. Though the DataArts report is not required to apply, it is encouraged. This program does not require matching funds and prioritizes fully funding project requests but commits to awarding no less than 70% of the amount requested for selected projects.

Projects should strongly support artistic experimentation, community relevance, and significant artist compensation to align with panel criteria.