Mega Grants Incubator 2026

DEADLINE: April 12, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST
 

WHAT: Seed Funding ($500 - $8,000) for new research projects/ideas/questions demonstrating potential for securing significant external funding ($100,000 - $1M+)
WHO: All full-time faculty members (Arts Professors, Tenure/Tenure-Track) are eligible
WHEN: Two-year commitment: May 2026 - January 2028

Mega Grants Incubator 2026

In early 2020, Tisch Creative Research launched a resource program designed to support a small number of faculty-led research proposals that demonstrate potential for securing significant external funding. Now in its third cycle the goal of the Incubator is to nurture new projects (ie, those that may have received internal funding but have not yet secured external support) and create a pipeline for NYU’s Mega Grants Initiative and other institutional resource programs. Learn more about past Tisch Mega Grants Incubator cohorts here.

What Does That Mean?

In the short term, it means you can apply for seed funding from Tisch, and NYU, to develop your ideas and make strong, competitive interdisciplinary research proposals. In the longer term, TCR will help you navigate applications for significant, multi-year FUNDING from external sponsors to support YOUR RESEARCH. 

What We Want

Your projects. Your ideas. Your questions. Fully formed or half-baked, what are the things you’re thinking about - that you’d like to keep thinking about, making about, researching about? Your proposed research project/idea/question should occupy and/or connect with a landscape of other ideas you could stay interested in for a while. You should be able to identify ways in which your idea will benefit from engagement with other disciplines, other practices and modes of thought. But you do not need to have a draft funding proposal at this point - that’s what the Incubator is for. 

What Makes a Project/Proposal “Mega?”

Two things: scale and impact. Does your proposed project have the potential to attract significant external funding - six figures or more? Is the work you’re proposing to do likely to have broad, sustained, systemic, cultural, socio/political impact? It’s ok if you can’t quite see all the potential yet. That’s what the review process will do: identify a set of projects/proposals that can evolve into “mega” potential. However, a successful “mega” project is one that addresses scale and impact, not one that simply requires a lot of funding. 

How to Respond

Fill out this Google Form, by April 12, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET 

The form will require basic contact info and a brief description of your idea/project/question. A panel review of proposals will take place in late April. Notifications will be sent by Monday, May 4th. View the full timeline below.

As always, you can reach out to Tisch Creative Research with any Qs about this opportunity: tisch.research@nyu.edu.

What Happens Next?

With help from a group of advisors, we will review all submissions and then follow-up with you individually to explore the best ways for TCR to help you “incubate” your project with seed funding, participation in a cohort of other Tisch researchers, and connection with other advisors, experts and advocates. The overall goal is to create a pipeline (1, 2, 3 or more years in advance) of activity that could be successful in NYU’s Mega Grants Initiative. 

What Do You Mean by “incubate?”

We mean: to develop safely, protected from external conditions and pressures. In the Mega Grants context, we can offer a variety of support to help you incubate your ideas - and then we’ll see where those ideas lead. Specific "incubation" activity might include researching, identifying and "woo-ing" potential collaborators; conducting interviews, roundtable discussions or site visits to understand how a project might be scaffolded across disciplines and/or institutions; hosting workshops or other preliminary experiments to inform the direction, scope, or scale of a multi-year, mega grant project; or any other suitable activity that strengthens a proposed project.

And Then What?

We hope this process yields a handful of project proposals that can be submitted to NYU’s Mega Grants Initiative at some point during the two-year Incubator. (Some may require additional time.) Seed funding from NYU will help further refine your ideas and prepare you to submit large-scale, six-and-seven figure proposals to external sponsors. Following the Incubator’s end (Fall 2025), participants may continue to receive guidance on their projects from the Incubator cohort(s), advisors and staff as necessary. The catalyst is your interest in pursuing this stream of support. We’re standing by, ready to help!

TISCH MEGA GRANTS INCUBATOR 2026 TIMELINE

Dates are subject to change.

Questions? Reach out: tisch.research@nyu.edu