Changes to NEA guidelines info - more MI orgs need to apply!!

Announcement below was contributed by Carolyn Damstra, Program Manager at Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs:

Good morning,
I want to share the following important message from the Endowment, please distribute. I strongly encourage organizations to look into applying for direct NEA grants, Michigan doesn’t always get its share of these due to lack of applicants—not due to lack of quality programs because I know they exist! Please note the education program deadline change and the innovation program in particular.
Thanks,
Carolyn


Changes to NEA Guidelines

To help you plan for your application to the NEA in 2011, we'd like to give you a preview of some changes to the NEA's Grants for Arts Projects application guidelines that will be posted in January 2011.

Here are the highlights of the changes:

* The Access to Artistic Excellence and Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth categories have been replaced with a new funding category called Art Works, which will embody the agency's guiding principle: "Art works."

*Art Works will support the four outcomes mandated by the Agency's 2010 Strategic Plan:
- Creation: The creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence,
- Engagement: Public engagement with diverse and excellent art,
- Learning: Lifelong learning in the arts, and
- Livability: The strengthening of communities through the arts.

You will be asked to select the outcome that is most relevant to your project and that reflects the results expected to be achieved by your project. If you receive a grant, you also will be asked to provide evidence that the outcome was achieved.

* Within these outcomes, innovative projects are encouraged. To ensure that innovative ideas and formats for artistic expression are supported, the NEA is requiring that Consortium applications be for innovative projects (see below for a definition).

What does this mean to you?

If you've been applying to Access to Artistic Excellence, you now will apply to Art Works.

* The two application deadlines are at the same times as last year (March 10 and August 11, 2011).
* You'll continue to go to the discipline that is most relevant to your project as your starting place.
* All types of projects supported in the past continue to be eligible in Art Works.

If you've been applying to Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth, you now will apply to Art Works through the Arts Education discipline.

* If you have a pre-K through 12 curriculum-based project that aligns with national or state arts education standards, your new starting place for funding will be with the Arts Education discipline.
* You will need to make a schedule adjustment within the Arts Education discipline. You may apply to either the March 10 or August 11, 2011, application deadlines; there no longer is a June deadline. The March deadline will be for community-based projects with project start dates of January 1, 2012, or later. The August deadline will be for school-based projects with project start dates of June 1, 2012, or later.

If you will be applying for an official Consortium project in Art Works, you must apply for an innovative project. An official Consortium project is an exception to the one-application rule and represents a partnership of organizations that undertakes a shared project. In general, innovative projects are characterized as those that may prove transformative with the potential for meaningful change; are distinctive by offering fresh insights and new value for the field and/or the public through unconventional solutions; and may be shared and/or emulated, or lead to other innovations.

A note about Challenge America Fast-Track: This funding category will still be available with an application deadline of May 26, 2011. This year we're implementing a policy to limit consecutive-year funding. If you've received a Challenge America Fast-Track grant for the last three years, you are not eligible to apply to the Fast-Track category this year. You may apply to other NEA funding opportunities including Art Works.

Grants.gov update: Grants.gov has implemented new security requirements for the use of the Grants.gov system. Among the changes, you are required to change your password every 90 days. See www.grants.govfor more details.

Once the Grants for Arts Projects guidelines are posted in January, take a look, and if anything is unclear, contact the discipline staff that is appropriate to your project (see "Agency Contacts").

The National Endowment for the Arts www.arts.gov

THIS NEA ANNOUNCEMENT FORWARDED BY:
Carolyn Damstra
Program Manager, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs
Michigan Economic Development Corporation
300 N. Washington Square
Lansing, MI 48913
(517) 241-3968
FAX (517) 241-3979
damstrac@michigan.org
www.themedc.org/Arts