New Directions Grants
Click here to download a PDF of the entire guidelines.
Program Description
New Directions Grants support more complex projects that involve a long-term residency with a PennPAT roster artist. Projects should develop relationships among artists, presenters and community members through collaborative activities while presenting at least one public performance.
New Directions Program Goals
To provide roster artists with the time and space to focus on their work, create new work and/or share the philosophical underpinnings, rationale and processes of their work with presenters and audiences.
To promote greater understanding of roster artists and their work, resulting in stronger presenter-artist relationships and larger, more diverse and well-informed audiences.
New Directions Project Eligibility
To be eligible, New Directions project applications must meet the Eligibility Requirements described here and must also:
be jointly submitted by one presenter and at least one PennPAT roster artist who is based outside the presenter's home community;
provide the PennPAT roster artist with an extended residency (at least seven days) that will allow time and conditions conducive to the artist's personal creative development; and
include activities that will promote greater understanding of the roster artist's work and/or increase or broaden audiences for the roster artist's public performance.
Grant Amounts
Grants will be awarded to a limited number of presenters for up to 50% of the total project costs. Eligible project costs may include artist fees and travel expenses, marketing/publicity, printing, space rental, technical costs and reasonable administrative costs for planning and implementing the project.
Because this is a competitive grants program, not all applications will be selected for funding. In some instances, grantees may receive less than 50% of the total project costs. Presenters must provide funds to cover the balance of project costs, but may not use grant dollars received from any PennPAT funding partner (see inside front cover) in support of the same project. The cumulative PennPAT award to any one presenter for engagements within a calendar year is $50,000. Generally, a roster artist will not be funded for more than one New Directions project per year.
Defining Your Project Goals
Applications must be planned and submitted by Artist-Presenter partners. Together, the co-applicants need to define two or more goals for their New Directions project and describe how they plan to address these goals. All projects should include at least one goal related to the artist-applicant's creative development and at least one goal related to developing audience for the artist-applicant. When developing project goals, Artist-Presenter partners should look for ways that the community's interests and the artist's vision intersect and energize each other.
The examples listed below represent only a sample of the types of goals that might be applicable to a New Directions project. Artist-Presenter partners may have different, more specific, and/or additional goals depending on the project and the partners.
Creative development
Goals may include (but are not limited to):
Providing an opportunity for the artist to create or learn new work while in residence at a particular community, perhaps in collaboration with other artists and/or community members.
Allowing the artist to explore and/or further develop creative aspects of existing work or work in progress.
Expanding the artist's knowledge, capabilities or creative growth through a process of exploration with other artists and/or communities.
Audience development
Goals may include (but are not limited to):
Developing new audiences for the artist-applicant by reaching individuals who do not have a history of attending performing arts events.
Developing culturally diverse or culturally specific audiences for the artist-applicant.
Deepening existing audiences' understanding and appreciation of the artist-applicant's work.
Providing opportunities for audience participation and/or engaging the artist-applicant as a community resource.
New Directions Evaluation Criteria
Applications will be reviewed by a panel composed of professionals from the field of presenting and touring based on two criteria:
Quality of the Proposed Project
Indicators may include:
Project includes a clearly defined creative development goal that will advance the creative vision of the roster artist/company.
Project includes a clearly defined audience development goal that offers the potential to increase, engage and/or diversify audiences for the roster artist/company.
Project includes activities that will support the defined project goals.
Project is thoroughly planned by all collaborators and includes a detailed description of planned artist activities, marketing of public events, project evaluation, financial and personnel support.
Presenter-Applicant's Organizational Capacity
Indicators may include:
A track record of successful presenting activity.
Proven fiscal and managerial ability to implement and evaluate the project.
Suitable facilities with appropriate technical support for all project activities.
Required Application Materials
Use the online eGrant, then be sure to mail all of the following materials to PennPAT, postmarked on or before the deadline. If you are unable to access eGrant, please contact us.
To be eligible, you must submit all of the following materials. Please do not staple them; do not bind them into binders; do not insert them into folders; do not double-side or print on non-white paper or paper larger than 8.5" x 11".
Collate and paper clip together 2 sets of:
1. Information/Summary Page (eGrant - 2 copies)
2. Project Budget (eGrant - 2 copies)
Below are definitions for several budget lines that may need explanation.
Roster Artist Fees: fee to be paid to roster artist as listed in the contract - may or may not include travel/lodging.
Roster Artist Lodging: estimated cash amount to be paid by the presenter for roster artist lodging, if not included on line 1. If presenter is paying directly for lodging, this must be stated in the contract.
Roster Artist Transportation: amount presenter intends to pay roster artist for transportation expenses, if not included in line 1. This amount must be in the contract.
Applicant Cash: funds used to pay for the balance of project costs not covered by earned income, contributions or grants (savings, student fees, college/university contribution, etc.)
Extraordinary Technical Production Costs (ETPC): Complete this section ONLY if you are applying for funding towards ETPC. This funding is intended to help presenters to hire an artist they would not normally be able to present, due to higher than normal technical production costs. Please provide information in this section on ONLY those expenses that exceed your normal capacity. Expenses shown in this section should also be reflected in the Estimated Cash Expenses section of the budget, under the appropriate line items. If requesting this funding, question #10 in the narrative must also be completed.
In-Kind Contributions: Donations of goods or services related specifically to this project, for which your organization would normally have to pay. For example, a graphic designer donation of design costs would be considered in-kind. Design done by another department at the university (applicant organization) would be a cash cost, not in-kind. Although in-kind contributions do not directly impact your grant amount, it is important
to acknowledge and include them in your application.
3. Project Outline (click to download a writable Word form or printable PDF form - 2 copies)
This should describe all public performances and other activities that involve the roster artist and are part of this project. You may type into the writable Word form, or you may replicate the grid on your own computer. If you have more than six activities/performances as part of this engagement, please copy this form as needed.
Below are descriptions of the information requested.
Activity: Use one row of the grid for each activity. Include public performance(s) and all activities involving the roster artist. Also include any activities that support the public performance and enhance the audience's understanding of the work that are conducted by experts other than the roster artist. List the type of activity, such as performance, master class, workshop, etc., name of person(s) conducting the activity, and a brief description of the activity's focus. If this engagement is part of a festival, do not include other performers' activities unless they directly relate to this artist.
Day/Date/Time: Day of the week, date and time for each activity - be specific.
Target Audience:Briefly describe the targeted audience or participants for this activity.
Projected: Anticipated number of audience members or activity participants.
Admission: List the ticket price or admission fee structure for this event.
Facility: Include name and type of facility, and seating capacity for each event.
Please list all activities in chronological order.
4. Narrative (create on your word processor - 2 copies)
You must submit a narrative that answers the following questions and addresses the evaluation criteria.
Please format your narrative as follows:
No more than 2-3 typed, single-sided, 8.5" x 11" pages (New Directions applications may be longer).
Use 10 point or larger type.
Retype each question number and heading in bold, followed by the corresponding answer.
Include a header on each page with your organization's name and the artist requested.
Do not staple-please use paperclips.
1. Mission and Goals What is your organization's mission? What are your goal(s) for this project and why did you select this particular artist/group? Explain how this project will address your goal(s). (For New Directions projects, be sure to include both creative development and audience development goals.)
2. Community Briefly describe your community, both the overall community in terms of geography, economics, population, etc., and the specific community you aim to serve, if different. Include demographic and other information that will help the panel understand why this project is relevant.
3. Proposed Project Describe project details beyond those listed on the Project Outline to provide a more complete understanding of your project. Include more detailed descriptions of roster artist activities, educational materials to be provided, target audience and/or residency participants, technical capacity of the facilities to be used, and other relevant information. If this engagement is part of an outdoor event, include your plans for inclement weather. If this is a return engagement, how will this project build on the previous experience(s) with this artist?
4. Personnel What is your organization's staffing structure? List administrative, artistic and technical personnel, both paid and volunteer, especially those who will be involved in this project, with brief information regarding their qualifications for the work they will do.
5. Curatorial Process How do you locate and select artists for your series or festival? What is the process? Who makes the selections? What are the selection criteria?
6. Collaborators Are there other organizations that will be collaborating on this project? Who are your collaborators? What are they doing in relation to this project? (Please read the definition of "Collaborators" here.)
7. Project Planning List the steps you have taken to plan this project. How has the roster artist been involved in planning? Who else has been involved in planning and how have they been involved?
8. Project Marketing How do you plan to market this public performance and any residency activities? College/University or School-Based Presenters: How are you reaching out to a broader community beyond your campus? Quantify your successes in drawing non-campus audiences.
9. Project Evaluation How will you evaluate your success in reaching your goal(s)? Be specific-describe methods, tools and people involved in evaluation. How do you use evaluation data to shape future programming?
10. Technical Production Costs Answer this question only if applying for funds to assist with extraordinary technical production costs. What are the technical requirements for presenting this program and how does it exceed your normal production capacity?
5. Season Listings (click to download a writable Word form or printable PDF form - 2 copies)
You may type into the writable Word form, or you may replicate the grid on your own computer. This grid should include a listing of both your 2008-2009 season of performing arts events and your 2009-2010 season. Do not include rentals or events that do not feature touring performing artists/groups. For each engagement, list:
Use actual attendance figures when possible; indicate estimated figures with an asterisk.
At the beginning of each season listing, indicate the year and the total dollar amount of artist fees paid, or to be paid, for the season.
6. Statement of Expenses and Income (create your own - 2 copies)
For your most recently completed fiscal year, submit a maximum of 2 pages, 8.5" x 11", detailing your actual expenses and income for public arts programming. If the applicant is part of a larger organization or college/university, submit only the appropriate departmental or total arts programming actual expenses and income. This does not need to be an audited statement. If you would like to see several sample statement formats, please contact us and we can fax them to you. If the income and expense totals on this document differ from the totals shown on the summary page, then please explain in a brief note. Please do not submit budget projections or full audit reports.
7. Contract/Letter of Agreement (2 copies)
Submit a preliminary contract or letter of agreement that includes at a minimum:
We do not need original ink signatures. PennPAT will accept contracts that are contingent upon PennPAT funding, if the artist is in agreement.
For New Directions projects, this letter/contract must state that the artist (not the agent/manager) has participated in planning the project and has read and agreed to the grant proposal and it must be signed by the artist. The letter should also include 1-2 paragraphs, written by the roster artist, that describe the project from the artist's perspective.
Also submit, uncollated:
8. Support Materials (2 copies)
Submit 2 copies of up to three different pieces of printed support materials. These support materials should help panelists understand your marketing capacity, evaluation capacity and/or planned educational activities.
Suggestions:
most recent season or festival brochure, and/or other marketing pieces (send original printed materials, not photocopies)
educational materials developed for this engagement
evaluation instruments for this or a recent engagement
If this project is a co-presentation, a letter of agreement/support from the co-presenter that describes roles and responsibilities would also be helpful.
For New Directions projects: If a non-roster artist is involved in the project, please also submit biographical information for that artist.
9. PennPAT Addendum (eGrant - 1 copy)
This checklist is used for statistical reporting purposes only and is not reviewed by the panel.
10. PennPAT Presenter Profile (eGrant - 1 copy)
Only PennPAT roster artists and staff will have access to this information. It will not be reviewed by the panel.
11. Certification (eGrant - 1 copy)
This page must be completed, and signed in blue ink, by a person who is authorized to sign contracts for the applicant organization.
12. Proof of Non-Profit Status (1 copy)
One copy of either a 501 (c) (3) letter from the IRS or other appropriate proof of federal non-profit status. State tax exempt certificates are not acceptable.