AGENCY: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

PROGRAM: American Masterpieces: Presenting

OBJECTIVES: The American Masterpieces program is a major initiative to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy. Through American Masterpieces, the National Endowment for the Arts will sponsor performances, exhibitions, tours, and educational programs across all art forms that will reach large and small communities in all 50 states. This component of American Masterpieces will celebrate the extraordinary and rich contribution that presenters make in American communities. Through American Masterpieces: Presenting, presentations of the performing, visual, media, design, and literary arts of the highest quality will be experienced by Americans in communities across the nation.

This category is for projects that embrace multiple arts disciplines. Projects must consist of either a single multidisciplinary presentation or a multidisciplinary series comprised of several different single-discipline presentations. Projects with components that primarily feature or support a single discipline (e.g., dance, music, musical theater, opera, visual arts) will not be considered. The Arts Endowment plans to support a variety of multidisciplinary presentations that are artistically, historically, and culturally significant and that reflect the full breadth of genres. Presenters may define master artists or masterworks within their own context, community vision, or goals.
Projects or series may focus on but are not limited to:

• Masterpieces from the American classical canon.
• Revivals, reconstructions, or restagings of collaborations of master artists.
• Revivals, reconstructions, or restagings of works by master artists.
• Masterworks of historical or cultural significance.
• Masterworks representing newer works or art forms.
• Lesser known masterworks or works by master artists unique to the nation, region, or community.

Commissions and new works are not eligible. Projects must be accompanied by related educational, interpretive, or contextual components. These may include discussions, master classes, seminars, exhibitions, program material, or cooperative learning projects with educational or community institutions.

ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: Organizations are limited to one American Masterpieces: Visual Arts Touring application per year. Presenting organizations of all sizes, genres, and aesthetics are encouraged to apply. Projects may be initiated by: networks of presenters, college or university presenters, local, regional, or national presenters, or national service organizations and their networks.

DEADLINES:
BU Internal Deadline: August 15, 2008
Agency Deadline: September 26, 2008, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time

FUNDING INFORMATION: The Arts Endowment anticipates awarding up to 40 grants, generally ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. All grants require a nonfederal match of at least 1 to 1.

AGENCY CONTACT:
Mario Garcia Durham
Director, Presenting
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506
Phone: 202/682-5469
Email: durhamm@arts.gov
Web: http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/AMPresenting.html

INTERNAL REVIEW PROCESS: To screen potential proposals for this competition and coordinate institutional cost-sharing commitments, an internal deadline has been established. Faculty members interested in submitting an application should provide the following proposal information to their Associate Dean by Friday, August 15, 2008 for internal review purposes:

(1) a draft project description of no more than three pages;
(2) a draft budget representing both the request to NEA and the cost-sharing required to carry out the program, as well as an indication of your plans to meet the cost-sharing requirement; and
(3) a curriculum vitae for the project director.

Following the Dean’s assessment of the internal application, it will be forwarded to Associate Provost Joan Kirkendall for review and then to the Office of the VP for Research for final selection.  PIs will be informed if their proposal is selected for submission and advised of institutional cost-sharing commitments in time to complete and process their proposal for final review.

REMARKS: Applications must be submitted electronically using the Grants.gov system. Instructions and forms are available on the Grants.Gov website (http://www.grants.gov). Additional information about Grants.gov for BU Investigators can be obtained on the OSP website at: http://www.bu.edu/osp/electronic/index.html. Please contact the OSP Assistant Director assigned to your school or department as soon as possible to coordinate submission through the Grants.gov system.