Vermont Artists' Space Grant | Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

Latest Announcements

Flynn Center Announces the Winter/Spring 2012 Vermont Artists' Space Grant Recipients: Carol Caldwell-Edmonds and the Guinevere Project Team
Press Release (3-9-12); showing information: Sunday, June 24 at 3 pm
Next application deadline: Monday, August 27
As of July 26, 2011 the New Art Space Assistance (N.A.S.A.) Grant will now be known as the Vermont Artists' Space Grant. Please read the information below (or application) carefully as the nature of the grant and the guidelines have changed as well as the title.

About the Grant

Supporting Vermont artists and the creation of new work are integral parts of the Flynn Center’s mission to build the artistic community in Vermont. Since 2000, the Flynn Center has offered artists development time and space in which to engage in process and thus to create new and meaningful work. The Flynn Center believes strongly in the inherent value of professional, dedicated workspace for artists. The grant—open to an individual artist or a group of artists for a project in theater, dance, music or a combination thereof—provides for the freedom to create and experiment, allowing the awardee to incubate ideas and change direction as the piece evolves. Emphasis therefore is not placed on the awardee presenting a finished and polished piece; in fact the opposite is true of this grant, which culminates in an informal, work-in-progress showing.

This space grant include six hours of creation time per week for 10 weeks in either the Chase Family Dance Studio or the Hoehl Studio Lab and an opportunity for an informal public showing of the new work in either of the two FlynnArts studios or in FlynnSpace. In addition, awardees will be considered for inclusion in the Flynn’s Vermont-centric Deeply Here Festival in the 2012-13 season. View a history of awardees.

Applications are reviewed twice annually. Flynn full-time employees are not eligible. Questions about the grant, criteria, and application are welcome and encouraged; please contact Madeline Bell at 802-652-4540 or mailto:mbellREMOVETHISBEFORESENDING@flynncenter.org

Mail to:

Vermont Artists' Space Grant c/o Flynn Center
153 Main Street
Burlington, Vermont 05401

Questions: Call Madeline Bell at 802-652-4540 or email mailto:mbellREMOVETHISBEFORESENDING@flynncenter.org

Deadline for application: Monday, August 27, 2012
Grant awardee announced: by Friday, September 7, 2012

Application Instructions

Download a Vermont Artists' Space Grant Guidelines & Application Packet and review the criteria (criteria also below).

If you have questions please contact Madeline Bell at mailto:mbellREMOVETHISBEFORESENDING@flynncenter.org or 802-652-4540. To receive the guidelines and application in the mail, please contact Tracey and provide your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address.

Complete the application form.

Make copies of your application. Please make eight copies of your application form, narrative, artistic history, timeline, and any written support materials. Please also three-hole-punch all copies. One copy of digital support materials, cued to a 3-5 minute segment, is sufficient.

Attach relevant support materials (see details below).

Applications should be post-marked or hand-delivered to the Flynn by close of business, 5 pm, on the application deadline.

Who May Apply

Applicants must be Vermont artists—defined as artists who live and create primarily in Vermont and are recognized as full-or part-time Vermont residents. Applicants previously awarded may reapply only with a different project after a one-year period.

Criteria for Award

The proposal must be for the development of new, original work. The application should demonstrate how the artist intends to grow and develop in new ways through the process; what risks are being taken, what is or are the artistic investigation(s), what questions you are proposing to explore and how are they new or leading to new, original work. The application should show how the artist or group of artists are experimenting, evolving, and growing rather than simply continuing previously learned and mastered methodologies.

The artist's proposal must show that work to be accomplished during the grant period demonstrates an intent or emphasis on process, rather than on producing a polished "product." The grant is awarded to the applicant clearly expressing their engagement in an artistic investigation and who is most likely to benefit from an intensive, self-guided learning process. It is not awarded for rehearsal space, classes, discussion groups, or for the refinement of an existing and/or a finished, already highly polished production. Applicants should demonstrate the ability to be self-reflective about their learning process as artists.

Although the Flynn Center encourages artists at all levels to apply, the applicant should be able to demonstrate skill and competence in their primary art form and be able to show a past history of successful work. The artist's proposal and attached artistic history must demonstrate the ability—through past accomplishments, resources, skills, and scope of the proposal—and thus feasibility to undertake the project successfully. The application should clearly state at what stage you are in as an artist and how this grant will support your development.

The artist's proposal must include a realistic timeline showing how the 10-week time period will be utilized. Applicants should consider their goals for the project and build a timeline that realistically meets those goals while allowing room for the process involved in an artistic investigation. The 10-week, up to 60-hour grant cycle inherently limits the scope of a project and may mean the timeline only allows for the incubation of one part or one segment of a larger process. A brief discussion of the future of the work or a vision for the future of the work—beyond what this creation grant would assist with—is encouraged.

Support materials (to be provided with application and project narrative):

Lead applicant artistic history—please list other works created, including brief descriptions and relevant dates, etc.
A timeline showing how the 10 weeks will be spent.
A work sample such as a video or audio sample (cued for 3-5 minutes of viewing/listening) or 5-10 pages of an original manuscript.
No more than two pieces of additional artistic support materials should document past work and/or demonstrate skill and competency in the applicant’s primary art form (audio clips cued for 3-5 minutes of listening, video clips cued for 3-5 minutes of viewing, press reviews or articles (one article equals one support material), a quote sheet (abbreviated press quotes listed on one page), 5-10 pages of an original manuscript). All support materials will be evaluated on length maximums stated; materials exceeding these maximums will only be evaluated up to the maximum lengths stated for that particular support material.
The work sample and additional artistic support materials should each be accompanied by a brief (50 words or less) description to include: what it is, why it was chosen, what it illustrates, and your artistic role.

What the grant provides

Up to 60 hours of work/creation time in the Chase or Hoehl studios at the Flynn Center. This time will be coordinated around the FlynnArts program of classes and workshops.
A public informal “work-in-progress” showing at the end of the grant period.
Limited marketing and technical support for the “work-in-progress.”.

What the grant does not support

Classes or discussion groups
Rehearsal space
Extensive/polished technical support (final showings are low-tech or no-tech as described in introduction paragraph)
Substantially completed work that is being revised or restaged

What the Flynn Center expects of awardee(s)

Responsible, secure, and respectful use of the studio space and time awarded.
Completion of the project with an understanding that there may be a natural evolution from proposal to showing due to the creation process.
Documentation and reflection on the goals of the project by the participating artist(s). To accomplish this, awardees are expected to articulate their artistic process through short weekly reflections posted on the FlynnBlog, at a post-showing audience feedback session, and in a short final reflection piece after completion of the grant period. The work proposed and the process involved should be documented in some form, be it written, video recording, voice recording, or a combination thereof.
An informal work-in-progress showing of the piece at the end of the grant period in one of the Flynn studios or in FlynnSpace followed by a question-and-answer session with all artists (moderator to be chosen by or in consultation with the Flynn).
Credit for the Flynn Center and the Vermont Artists’ Space Grant program in future presentations of the work.

Mail to:

Vermont Artists' Space Grant c/o Flynn Center
153 Main Street
Burlington, Vermont 05401

Questions: Call Madeline Bell at 802-652-4540 or email mailto:mbellREMOVETHISBEFORESENDING@flynncenter.org \

Deadline for application: Monday, August 27, 2012
Grant awardee announced: by Friday, September 7, 2012

Photo credits: Selene Colburn by Daisy Benson, Marianne DiMascio and Angela Albeck by Chris Ryan,Hanna Satterlee by Arthur Fink, Hanna Satterlee by Arthur Fink, Margot Lasher head shot by Sylvia Ferry Smith, Heat & Hot Water Productions by Myesha Gosselin, Kara Golux by Kathryn Blume, and Joy Madden by Autumn Barnett.