Purpose
The Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) offers Arts Research Grants to provide support for TAMU faculty to conduct and disseminate arts research. The supported activities should enhance the experience of the arts on campus and in our communities.
These grants may be used to support short-term projects but are also intended to provide seed monies for larger projects that may be able to obtain external funding for long-term support.
Priority will be given to new projects with the potential to have positive transformative effects on students, faculty, and our local and regional communities; these impacts should be clear and compelling. Outcomes of the supported activities must be accessible to the community in a public presentation, as a sharable artifact, or in a related format.
Eligibility
All Texas A&M University faculty are eligible to receive the AVPA Arts Research Grant. Co-authored, interdisciplinary proposals are eligible and encouraged. Collaborations with faculty from other member schools within the Texas A&M University System are also encouraged.
A faculty member’s name may not appear on more than one application in a single grant cycle. No more than two Arts Research Grants may be awarded to any principle investigator in any three-year period.
The AVPA Director and the AVPA Advisory Board will adjudicate grant applications. Board members who submit a grant proposal will be excused from the entire Arts Research Grant review process. Award Limit: $7,500
Application Format
All proposals must be submitted electronically as a single PDF file, uploaded via the Grant Application Portal. Two or more PDFs must be combined into a single file. Proposals must include:
Statement of Support: A brief, signed statement of support from the principle investigator’s Department Head or Section Chair.
Abstract: A summary briefly describing the planned artwork; participating students, faculty, staff, and others; and plans for public exhibition. The abstract should not exceed 150 words and must use Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced with one-inch margins. List five keywords associated with this proposal listed directly underneath the abstract.
Project Description: A narrative description of up to 3 double-spaced pages using Times New Roman 12-point font with one-inch margins. The project description should include any illustrations, figures, data, or other pertinent information and state the specific objectives of the project. A complete project description should:
- Discuss the research methodologies to be employed as well as the aesthetic and scholarly frames through which the project will be evaluated.
- Place this project within the larger context of your creative or scholarly work.
- Provide background information about the project and discuss its potential impact on the Arts at TAMU; including the direct impact on TAMU students, faculty, and the wider community.
- Describe the anticipated outcome(s) of the project expected within one year of the award, and any outcome(s) anticipated beyond one year following the award. Indicate how these outcomes will be accessible to the wider Texas A&M University community. Applications must demonstrate the capability and credibility of the principal investigator to perform the research. If graduate students are to take part, describe the work’s relevance to their graduate study and how their participation will be supervised.
Investigator Curriculum Vitae: Up to two pages listing recent publications or creative works for all investigators.
Current and Pending Support: List the source, title, date, and amount of relevant internal and external funding support received and pending, as well as for applications submitted but not funded during the previous three years (for all investigators).
Budget and Justification: Up to one page, specifically itemizing each budgeted item. Justify each item in the budget in terms of the goals of the project.
Evaluation Criteria
The Grant will consider the following:
- Practice and/as Research: The potential of the proposed project to result in outstanding arts scholarship, or performance/exhibition and production work that combines theory with practice and contributes to an understanding of performance or visual arts as a form of research and analysis.
- Impact: The potential for significant scholarly or creative outcomes from the proposed project that will directly enhance the experience of the arts in the Brazos Valley. Applicants are required to state the impact of the activity for which they seek support and how/by what metric that impact is to be assessed (series of peerreviewed articles in major journal; a book manuscript published by a major academic press; performance/exhibition and documentation; etc.).
- Budget: The clarity and appropriateness of the proposed budget. Applications must include a complete and itemized budget of projected expenses. These expenses may include but are not limited to publication/recording subventions; research-related travel; graduate or undergraduate research assistants; purchase of equipment, materials, and data for the completion of the project; and other normally reimbursable expenses. If equipment is to be purchased, a detailed explanation of why the equipment is integral to the project and a plan for the future use of the equipment must be provided. Expenses beyond the amount of the grant will not be reimbursed by AVPA.
- Investigator: The potential and previous qualifications for the proposal applicant(s) to successfully complete the proposed project.
Project Period
Grants are awarded for one year from the transfer of project funds to the Principal Investigator. One ninety-day extension may be requested. Any unused funds at the end of the project period will be returned to the AVPA.
Reporting
Dissemination of project results is expected to be in appropriate scholarly form, such as applications for external grants; articles in journals; presentations at professional meetings; scholarly books; peer-reviewed creative works, performances, or exhibitions; or practice-as-research projects.
At the conclusion of the project period, awardees must provide a final report and a budget report to the AVPA. The final report should include:
- documentation of the project (such as texts, photos, videos, and/or recordings, etc.),
- a summary of the execution of the project, and
- publications, performances, exhibitions, and/or external grants resulted from the project. The budget report should itemize expenses. In the event of publicity as well as publications or recordings and liner notes resulted from this grant, the Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts should be appropriately acknowledged.
If supported activities take place in association with a specific course, the faculty member is required to provide an evaluative report with specific feedback from the students regarding the impact of the activities on their education.
These reports will be summarized in an annual AVPA Final Report, which will be publicly available. Documentation of the project will also be posted on the AVPA website.
If the awardee fails to submit a report on time, he/she will not be eligible to apply for any APVA grants for three academic years.