Plus Introducing Life@LitNYS on LinkedIn!
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Representing Literature
for New York State
LitNYS is the nation's largest ecosystem of literary arts organizations, building literary capacity, community, and culture for 25 years.
February 2026 Letter
SAVE THE DATE
2026 Literary Arts Convening
October 4-6 at Cave Canem, NYC
The 2026 LitNYS Statewide Literary Arts Convening will be held October
4-6, 2026 at Cave Canem in New York City. Friends old and new, please save the date! This is a special gathering you won't want to miss.
Capacity Building
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
Up to $7,500 To Build Your Capacity
Deadline: April 7, 2026 | Award Notification late June 2026
LitNYS invites literary arts organizations currently funded by the New York State Council on the Arts to apply for capacity building Advancement Regrants of up to $7,500. Advancement Regrants will be awarded to support thoughtful development and expanded capacity within literary arts organizations that produce excellent work and need help to increase and sustain their capacity as institutions.
Eligible requests may address, but are not limited to, strategic plan creation or implementation; consultancies; staff and board development; software and hardware purchases or upgrades; and website development. Building on an organization’s strengths, projects may expand a program’s capacity to promote equity and belonging in communities.
Eligibility
To apply, your organization must primarily be a Literary Arts organization that receives funding from the New York State Council on the Arts. Awardees must wait a year before re-applying so if you received an Advancement Regrant last year in 2025, you can’t apply again until next year 2027.
- Project timelines must be detailed and begin no sooner than July 2026, since Advancement Regrants do not fund projects retroactively.
- Advancement Regrant Awards through 2025 on the resource sheet may be reviewed to see the kinds of projects that have been successfully funded.
- If you are requesting seed money for a new or expanded project or position, demonstrate how it will be maintained by other funding over time, since Advancement Regrants are singular opportunities, and not intended for ongoing expenses.
- You must demonstrate that your project request is the result of careful needs assessment and has meaningful capacity building outcomes.
- Financial information provided on the Cover Sheet of the application must agree with that in your Organizational and Project budgets.
- Show that staff, interns, fellows, writers, and consultants are being paid at industry standards.
Resources
If your organization would like a consultation as it thinks through submitting a proposal, feel free to reach out as you consider a concept or prepare an application! We are here to help along the way if needed.
Leadership Building
MEDIA SHOWCASE
Podcast & Blog Series
Last year we shared the untold stories of LitNYS leaders on Girls Write Now's podcast, Lunch with LitNYS.
This year, we're taking the conversation to LinkedIn, where members within the network will discuss their Life@LitNYS for a behind the scenes look at our LitNYS mentorship pairs, convening planning, and the literary landscape at all levels.
LIFE@LITNYS
“Our survival depends on our interconnectedness..." Anne Townsend & Asari Beale
In Issue One of Life@LitNYS, we catch up with LitNYS mentorship pair Anne Townsend, founder of ART+ Strategy, and Asari Beale, Executive Director of Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Here's a sneak peek at their special relationship, including the idiosyncrasies that make them great thinkers and leaders.
"I was reminded that leadership doesn’t have to be loud or fast to be effective. Asari reinforced for me the power of listening, reflection, and moving with intention, lessons that are easy to forget and always worth relearning."
— ANNE TOWNSEND, FOUNDER ART+ STRATEGY
What is your favorite tool for writing or creating: Pencil, pen, keyboard?
A Uni-ball Roller Pen, Micropoint
0.5 mm, black.
What's one thing you wanted to be when you grew up?
A professional whistler.
Stay tuned! The first issue of Life@LitNYS will be released February 9th.
Community Building
COMMUNICATIONS TOOL
LitNYS LinkedIn Group
Exchange and promote news, resources, opportunities, publications, and more with your esteemed colleagues. Join our LinkedIn group to stay connected!
LITNEWS PARTNERS
LitNYS
LitNYS is a coalition of New York State-based literary arts organizations committed to field-building work and collective thriving. We connect individuals of shared interest and purpose helping them build and sustain capacity to foster, promote, and present the literary arts. Founded in 2001 as a New York State Council on the Arts Literature initiative, LitNYS responded to national literary leaders’ call to professionalize the field. Our comprehensive collaborative approach—through our Advancement Regrants, Mentoring Program, and Facing Pages Statewide Literary Arts Convenings—has made us the nucleus of field-sustaining work for Literature in New York State.
Girls Write Now
Brought to you in partnership with Girls Write Now, LitNews NYS is a monthly digest of features, resources, and opportunities from the LitNYS network. With attacks on our freedoms mounting daily, now is the time to strengthen and project our collective voices, and Girls Write Now is committed to facilitating connections between LitNYS partners to further this goal. For nearly three decades, Girls Write Now—a nationally award-winning nonprofit, media incubator, and multi-generational community—has broken down the barriers of gender, age, race, and poverty to mentor, teach, and connect writers and leaders across disciplines and around the nation.
