Flushing Town Hall Receives $525,000 Grant to Expand GO Queens Regranting Program

Flushing Town Hall (FTH) announced today that it has received a $525,000, two-year grant from a private charitable foundation to expand its GO Queens Grant program, which provides direct funding to Queens-based performing arts and culture organizations.

The GO Queens Grant was launched in 2024 with support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, providing 25 annual $10,000 general operating grants to performing arts nonprofits across the borough. Over two grant cycles, the program made clear that Queens’ performing arts ecosystem needs even further support. With the new funding, GO Queens grants will build on the groundwork provided by Howard Gilman Foundation, and awards will move from a one- to a two-year funding cycle for eligible organizations, with $20,000 in total award funding available to awardees. The funds will support Queens-based arts and culture nonprofits with annual operating budgets under $250,000 for whom the performing arts are a core focus. Combined funding from both foundations will enable FTH to expand from 25 to 46 grantees. These two-year awards will give organizations the runway to plan ahead, deepen their programs, and build long-term sustainability.

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Says FTH’s Executive & Artistic Director Ellen Kodadek, “Flushing Town Hall was founded in 1979 as an arts council for Queens, and supporting the borough’s artists and arts organizations has always been at the heart of what we do. The GO Queens Grant is one of our most direct expressions of that commitment—allowing FTH to put unrestricted resources into the hands of the small performing arts organizations that are the lifeblood of communities across the borough. This extraordinary new investment means we can reach nearly twice as many organizations as before. For so many of these groups, this funding is transformative. We are deeply grateful, and we look forward to seeing what Queens’s artists do with this largesse.”

Applications for the new two-year grant cycle will open in September 2026. Selected organizations will receive their first year of funding in Spring 2027, with a mid-cycle interim report due in December 2027 and second-year funding disbursed by January 2028.

Founded in 1979 as Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, FTH has served Queens as a de facto arts council for Queens for nearly five decades—awarding grants, providing space and professional development to emerging and mid-career artists, and building the infrastructure that allows small arts organizations to grow. The GO Queens Grant, now expanded through this new partnership, extends that mission directly: unrestricted general operating support for performing arts nonprofits with budgets under $250,000, the organizations most often working without an institutional safety net.

Flushing Town Hall thanks this private foundation as well as the Howard Gilman Foundation and NYSCA for their generosity and continued investment in the Queens performing arts landscape.

About Flushing Town Hall

Flushing Town Hall (FTH), a Smithsonian affiliate, presents multi-disciplinary global arts that engage and educate the global communities of Queens and New York City, in order to foster mutual appreciation. As advocates of arts equity since 1979, we support local, immigrant, national, and international artists, developing partnerships and collaborations that enhance our efforts. As a member of New York City’s Cultural Institutions Group (CIG), we serve to restore, manage and program the historic 1862 landmark on behalf of the City of New York. FTH celebrates the history of Queens as the home of Jazz, by presenting the finest in Jazz performance. We are committed to arts education and hands-on learning, for the arts-curious, arts enthusiasts, and professional artists. We serve one of the most diverse communities in the world and strive to uphold the legacy of inclusiveness that has defined our community since the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657.