Instructions to Apply

Proposals for NEAR and CO-UP residencies are to be submitted online via SurveyMonkey Apply at https://dca-la.smapply.org/.

An eligible application will consist of the following components:

  • NEAR/CO-UP Proposal
    • Cover Page (general applicant information)
    • Project Info & Proposed Host Venues
    • Project Narrative (three narrative questions detailed below)
  • Series of Attachments (A through E as detailed below)

Project Narrative Questions

  1. Project Specifications, Qualifications, and Collaborating Artists:
  • Demonstrate your ability to research, plan and implement a residency project by describing who will be involved, what the residency will consist of, when the residency will take place, where the residency will take place, and how the residency will be conducted .Conclude your response with a timeline of project, listing the dates, topics and objectives of each session, and anticipated public culminating event(s).
  • Briefly summarize your key qualifications for this project (i.e., special training, similar experiences, fluencies, or expertise). Will there be collaborating artists? If so, list them, and describe your selection process and their roles.
  1. Community to be Served and Host Venue Partnership:
  • Describe the participants and audience to be served by the project and any special needs of this group. Include gender, family type, age group, economic class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and/or any other relevant information. How will you generate an atmosphere that encourages artistic expression and ensures active participation? How will your culminating event tie together your proposed project? Describe the creative methods or innovative approaches that make your project unique.
  • Describe how you have/will collaborate with your host organization for outreach, solicitation and multi-week engagement. Describe similar venues in at least 2 other City Council Districts. Include the amount of time and money you estimate will be spent on marketing.
  1. Impact and Evaluation:
  • Describe the measurable short-term and hopeful long-term community benefits that may result from your proposed residency. What specific mental wellness or social change are you planning to measure in your participants (such as: awareness, depth of knowledge, skills, and/or confidence)? Who will evaluate your project (a peer or objective scholar)? How much time and money do you estimate will be spent on evaluation?  What before-and-after assessment strategy (observed or embedded in an objective manner) will be used to gauge the challenges (risks) and benefits (outputs) of your participants, workshops, and outcomes? How will the proposed residency benefit your own artistic development?

Series of Attachments

Attachment A: Project Host Letters

Letters demonstrating alignment of project-responsibilities between the teaching-artist and proposed partner host organizations. Upload a Project Host Letter from the proposed venue in each of the one to three proposed districts (DCA recommends including no fewer than two letters of support to reflect your 1st choice partnership and at least one backup partnership). Note that if a single partnership has two hosts (for example: host organization provides enrolled-participants while a second venue provides workshop and performance/presentation space), then please ensure your uploaded document includes letters from each host.

Each Project Host Letter should follow the format below:

  1. The partnering/applicant organization’s name and mission;
  2. The partnering/applicant organization’s current client demographics (and the amenities of the organization’s facility if this same organization is hosting the workshops and final-presentation);
  3. The organization’s readiness to partner successfully with this specific teaching-artist for the proposed project-residency by describing;
  4. Currently offered core creative/art programs (if any);
  5. How the proposed artist residency project differs from the regular programs/services;
  6. The anticipated impact of the proposed residency on the target participants and estimated audience;
  7. Match of donated materials, free space rental, underwritten insurance, in-kind project partnership coordination hours, marketing support, supplementary artist fees, and/or any other support host will provide for the proposed residency; and
  8. Statement of commitment by partner/applicant organization to coordinate, recruit, or enroll a core audience of no less than 20 people for consistent attendance at the proposed workshop-activities
  9. If you are proposing a CO-UP project please follow the Partner/Host Letter with a copy of the 501c3 nonprofit designation letter for the organization that will receive the DCA grant and employ the teaching-artist

 

Attachment B: Artistic Work Samples 

Documentation that demonstrates at least one prior experience of the proposed teaching-artist with a community engagement project that is similar to the proposed workshops. To ensure your artistic work samples showcase the quality of the experience of the workshops or collaborative sessions, as well as the culminating presentation, samples should consist of video footage or images of the sessions, and video footage or images of the work created by the participants. Samples of the applicant’s own artwork should not be submitted; the experience and artistic qualifications of applicants will be assessed by reviewing the CV or resume. The artistic work sample can consist of no more than 5 minutes of footage or audio, or 5 to 10 images. For literary projects, published material may be provided. Applicants may choose to provide artistic samples via: Three (3) URLs to online videos, audio tracks, webpages, and/or online resources, or up to ten (10) static images.

  • Video clips:  Up to 5 minutes. In general, panelists prefer to review substantive artistic excerpts rather than short edited clips with heavy narration.
  • Audio track(s): (Optional for Music-themed projects when more appropriate than video footage):  Up to 5 minutes.
  • Published Material:  This format may be used for literary themed projects when more appropriate than images to show a culminating project. Digital versions of these publications may be linked or uploaded as artistic documentation
  • Images/Photos: Up to 10 images of workshops/sessions or completed artwork. Digital image files must be in JPEG format, 72 DPI, 5 MB or smaller.

Attachment C: Teaching Artist Professional Resume & Guest Artists’ Resumes

Attach a current resume to the application which shows the lead teaching artist’s community work, teaching experience, artistic accomplishments, education/training, degree(s) earned, and prior residency experience.  If you are a Traditional/Folk artist, include a separate statement describing the extent and basis for your expertise within your discipline. If applicable, attach current resumes for each collaborating artist who will work on this project. Note: if you have multiple collaborators, you will need to combine multiple resumes into one document for the upload.

Attachment D: Project Budget

Complete the NEAR CO-UP Budget Form framed around a $12,000 DCA grant (NEAR applicants) or a $15,000 DCA grant (CO-UP applicants), breaking down how funding would be allocated for each category. (Adobe Acrobat or Reader is recommended to complete the Budget Form)

The Cultural Affairs column should total up to the requested DCA grant amount, and the donated column should reflect any cash, materials, and/or donated in-kind services provided by other sources, including the host venue and lead Teaching Artist (here is a sample budget, for reference purposes).

Attachment E: Supplementary Materials (optional, but strongly encouraged)

Provide no more than three supplementary items that support the quality, content, relevance, and/or intended impact of the proposed project. Examples of such items are brochures, program materials, educational curricula, newsletters, letter of support from past participants, published articles, etc.