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REALLIFE FOUNDATION grant application (from the ART/NY Nancy Quinn Fund grant)

Application Overview

You are applying for a grant of up to $2,000.00 The application consists of the questions below. The questions must be answered on no more than four single-sided 81⁄2" x 11" pages using the specifications in the box below. Anything over four pages will not be seen by the panel. Applicants submitting fewer than four pages have an equal chance with those submitting the maximum. Before each answer, please type the boldfaced portion of the question (not just the question’s number) and underline or bold it.

Specifications:

Margins: Typeface size: Pages:
Email:

Deadline:

1" or more on all sides
12 point or larger, do not handwrite
No more than four 8 1/2" x 11" sheets
as pdf or word file. NOT "docx".
Write the name of your company and grant in the subject line, i.e. CRESCENDO THEATRE grant proposal
DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE DOCUMENT.
two days before your final exam (or earlier)

The class will meet promptly at your designated exam time, replicating a grant panel; i.e. we will formally discuss all the projects. Again: DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE GRANT PROPOSAL.

As a panel we will be evaluating your answers using these criteria:

•  Does this theatre company have a clear mission?

•  Does the programming support this mission?

•  Does the company work with an appropriate management structure?

•  Is the company deeply rooted in its community(ies)?

  The panel's funding choices for the session will be entirely based on how well they feel each application has met the review criteria when compared to the entire pool of applications. The questions have been chosen to help the panel evaluate how well you meet the review criteria. It is in your best interest to read each question carefully and answer it completely.

  It is also helpful to remember as you write your application, that you're talking to people like yourself. The panelists are students like yourselves, all of them making their own grant proposals. A successful application excites the panel about your work and makes them want to participate in it by funding you. Talk to them as you would to the director you're trying to entice to work on your next show. There is no special language to master. Just use honest, straightforward prose. Understand that the panel knows what it is like to produce theatre on a very small budget. Inconsistencies in your story; overly “happy” talk; claims of uniqueness, unless truly justified; or other attempts to mask reality are easily detected and usually a turn-off. As are negative statements about the field or other organizations. What does help is to articulate your artistic goals and to describe the journey you are taking to achieve them.

  In order to make sure your application will be clear to the panelists, it is helpful to have someone else proof it for clarity and consistency. In other words, feel free to show a draft of your proposal to a friend, roommate or family member, but NOT someone in our class. Ask your reader if they would attend plays at "your" theatre!

  Finally: edit, edit, edit. Rewriting is everything.

The Application Questions

1: Tell us the name of your imaginary theatre company. Briefly summarize your current programs and activities. Describe how they reflect your programming interests and goals and the communities they serve.
When discussing the community each program serves, you may define community any way that seems appropriate for that program. The community could be artistic (for example, your company of actors); or it could be your audience (for example, family audiences); or it could be some combination. But it should answer the questions “For whom are you making this work?” and "What is your mission?"

It is helpful when discussing your current programming to give a brief overview of your artistic goals.

2: Who makes your artistic decisions? How are they made and/or what are they based on? There could be one head artistic director, a triad of directors, a producer, a committee compiled of a company of artists, a particular developmental process, or anything else that helps determine your programming.

3: Looking at the last year, choose one of your (imaginary) productions/programs and discuss its impact on your company. Please use a specific example that you feel represents your company well, and the evolution of its programming interests and goals, or was particularly pivotal in your development during the last year. Please address the following questions:

1. How does it reflect your theatre's programming interests and goals?
2. Has it had an impact on your decisions about this year's programming?
3. How would you define success for this piece/program? How well did you meet these goals? 4. What community(ies) did this piece/program serve?

Please, read the question carefully and make sure you answer it entirely. You do not need to discuss every piece that you produced last year. Pick one piece or program that you feel gives the best picture of your development and direction. More details about one truly representational or pivotal piece is more helpful than a little bit about everything. The example you choose does not have to be a fully-staged performance. It can be any part of your artistic output including: a reading series, a school program, or play development workshops. If you have not yet produced a piece, you may discuss an upcoming piece.

For the piece you choose, you must address all four subquestions. In particular, you must discuss how you define success for the piece. Please note that it's okay to acknowledge that a piece didn't succeed as you had hoped, or only partially succeeded. We're looking for an honest evaluation of your artistic journey, not a marketing brochure! The panel finds a discussion of what you learned from working on a project, and how it modified and/or expanded your goals, much more compelling then quotes from the reviews you received.

You will note that this question does not ask for a synopsis of the piece. Only include a synopsis if it is relevant to the four subquestions asked. As with Question 1, you may define community any way that seems appropriate for the piece/program you are discussing.

4: What are your company’s two greatest strengths?
Given that a theatre company can’t survive long without dedicated and talented personnel, what are two other assets that your company possesses that help you achieve your goals? These can be highly concrete (for example, an annual lease on a rehearsal space at reasonable cost) or more abstract (a long history of working together which has helped you develop a common approach to the work).

5: What is your company's greatest challenge and how do you plan to address it?
We all know times are tough and money is always a challenge. While money is important, clear vision is even more crucial. The argument “If we just had more money, everything would be fine.” is unlikely to be persuasive. Instead, tell us something specific about your company. What will your company achieve by focusing on this goal?

6: What will you use this grant for and why is this important to your company?
When deciding what to apply for, consider your greatest challenge. Could this grant address the issue directly? Could it address the issue indirectly by freeing up other resources of time or money? If this grant will not be addressing your greatest challenge, you should discuss why you feel that what you're applying for is more compelling. The panel is much more inclined to fund applications with a clear link between the challenge and the request. Include in your answer a budget outlining how the money will be used and listing sources of additional income (if needed). The budget does not have to be highly detailed, but it does have to show that you have considered the cost of your request.
NOTE: This request for a budget is often ignored. Please don't. It's one of the best ways for the panelists to assess the reasonableness of your request. Requests they find reasonable are more likely to be funded.

Don't forget to proofread your application!!!

A SAMPLE GRANT

This sample will give you an idea of what is expected. The grant request below is neither good nor bad. Only when it is judged against other proposals can we see its merits. It could be the best grant in a group or the worst. One panel would fund this company while another might dismiss it. Use your own imagination to write the best grant proposal you can. I'm particularly interested in seeing what kind of theatre YOU would make if you had the resources and desire.

CRESCENDO THEATRE GRANT PROPOSAL

1: Briefly summarize your current programs and activities. Describe how they reflect your programming interests and goals and the communities they serve.

Our company, Crescendo, allows teenagers to explore and develop their creative voices by creating and collaborating on musicals. While the participants’ schools occasionally put on musicals, most of the local school theatre programs do not have the time or resources to attempt them more than once every two years. Our program allows them to explore the form both more frequently and more thoroughly. We believe the musical allows young artists from many different backgrounds, such as theatre, writing, music, or visual art, to refine their skills while learning to cooperate with others their age. Our program also allows the children to receive input and support from experienced adults who serve as consultants to the production. We hope to help the young people involved to mature both as artists and as members of the community by encouraging artistic expression and teamwork.

2: Who makes your artistic decisions? How are they made and/or what are they based on?

The teenagers involved in our program make the artistic decisions within the productions, although adult advisors frequently discuss the productions with the children and aid them to assure the feasibility of their wishes given our limited resources. Crescendo’s Production Director chooses which productions to pursue based on potential and plausibility and mediates conflicts between the children.

3: Looking at the last year, choose one of your productions/programs and discuss its impact on your company.

Crescendo produced Exclamation Point, a musical written, directed, designed, and performed by the teenagers in the program. While we believe there is merit in reviving musicals and do this as well, Exclamation Point is a realization of our mission. It allowed the young people involved to follow a production from conception to performance and use the skills they had learned in workshops and previous productions to create something of their own. The collaboration was a heartening step that encouraged us by proving that a teen-created production can succeed. The final product of the teenagers’ contribution was a blended musical of artistic merit to which its audience responded well. The success allowed the young people in our program to see the potential of their talents as well as experience the creation of a production. We plan to attempt another original musical this year.

4. 4:  What are your company’s two greatest strengths?

   We were recently lucky enough to receive a venue from Herb Geller, a friend of Crescendo who left his music store and some of his instruments and equipment to us upon his death. The acquisition of a central area in which to gather and create music, costumes, and scripts has helped us achieve solidarity in the program. The youth in Crescendo treat it as a second home (sometimes it seems a few of them actually live there).

   The response from the public has been stellar. Not only do we have a steady audience, but they are also willing to provide performance spaces. While we do not have a theater of our own, we use found-spaces thanks to the generosity of our community. We were able to perform Exclamation Point in a public library after- hours, and the schools in the area frequently allow us to use their auditoriums in order to rehearse, perform, and hold lighting workshops some weekends.

5. 5:  What is your company’s greatest challenge and how do you plan to address it?

   While we are grateful for our headquarters, it is not always the easiest place in which to create theatre. We can often hear the teenage musicians developing songs from the old office and this can be distracting to others working on different projects. We also hope to start buildings some of our own costumes and props, and engage the students in these activities. Although we have the space to do this now, music stores do not come equipped to make these things. The children have proved themselves capable of producing a musical, however, we believe we cannot yet provide them with the most nurturing environment.

6. 6:  What will you use this grant for and why is this important to your company?

   We hope to use the grant to transform an old music store into a place to write and realize musicals. By soundproofing the old office, we could have a practice room and with the supplies to make costumes we could foster more involvement in design and production.

   Budget:
   $300 – Soundproofing

   $1000 – Sewing machines and tables

   $700 – Costume supplies