The Democracy Cycle – RFP

In January 2024, The Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) and Civis Foundation partnered to launch The Democracy Cycle, a commissioning program designed to support new works that illuminate the promise, practice, imperfection, and opportunity of democracy.

Over a five-year period, The Democracy Cycle will commission and develop 25 new performing arts works across the fields of theater, dance, music, opera, and multi-disciplinary performance. The commissioned works, to be selected over the course of three annual Rounds of Open Calls (2024, 2025, and 2026) will explore themes relating to the nature, practice, and experience of democracy.

Civis and PAC NYC have come together because of our shared beliefs to create this commissioning program. These shared beliefs are:

• We believe that democratic values are a global expression of humanity’s striving to live with one another with respect and in peace.
• We believe that democracy, as practiced in the United States of America, includes a history of founding exclusions and that it has been, and must continue to be, the ongoing work of our society to expand upon the inclusive ideals embedded in our founding documents.
• We believe that democracy faces significant perceived and actual threats in the current moment, both domestically and internationally.
• We believe that the intersection of capitalism and democracy creates both opportunities and tensions.
• We believe that artists are the beating heart of democratic values because of their ability to imagine new worlds, envision new possibilities, and provoke meaningful discourse across any number of divides.

Our hope is that projects commissioned as part of The Democracy Cycle will enrich and expand the discussion around and participation in democracy – be it in the national, state, regional, or hyperlocal community realm – as it is practiced both within the United States and worldwide.

The Cycle will provide $60,000 in support to each awarded project, consisting of a $30,000 commission as well as an additional $30,000 towards each commissioned project’s development process (research, readings, workshops etc.). The commissions will be awarded across three annual Open Calls, beginning in January 2024. In each Open Call, The Democracy Cycle will commission at least eight projects.

For more information, please read the following material and review our FAQs and Submission Guidelines, which will be updated before the start of each Open Call.

Alongside this Request for Proposals or RFP, applicants are encouraged to review PAC NYC’s mission and Civis’ mission before submitting proposal materials.

You may register here for our live webinar which will be held on February 12, 2026 at 1:00 PM ET. The Democracy Cycle staff will give an overview of the steps to apply and the application elements, with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end.