THEATER & MUSICAL THEATERGuidelines Webinar

Doug Sonntag, Performing Arts DirectorEleanor Denegre & Carol Lanoux Lee, Program Specialists

Katie Patterson, Division SpecialistApply: http://arts.gov/grants/organizations-apply

What we’ll cover today:• Welcome• Theater & Musical Theater Overview• Applying to Art Works• Q & A

WelcomeThe National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to advancing artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA awards grants to arts organizations of all sizes across all 50 states and 6 U.S. territories.

Discipline Overview:Theater & Musical Theater

The National Endowment for the Arts seeks to fund groundbreaking, innovative theater and musical theater in the American spirit that is bold, passionate, profound, creative, and engaging and that demonstrates serious, exceptional, and rigorous aesthetic values. Projects funded by the Arts Endowment should help to fully realize an organization's mission and may provide support for organizations and artists in the creation and refinement of work, the public presentation of plays and musicals from all cultures and periods, and opportunities for professional development.

Discipline Overview:Theater & Musical Theater

This encompasses the entire spectrum of the nonprofit theater and musical theater field, including the production or presentation of traditional or classical repertoire, new plays and musicals, development laboratories, showcases, artist residencies, work for young audiences, experimental work, community-based work, outdoor historical dramas, and puppetry.

Art Works Outcomes

• 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.

• Livability: The strengthening of communities through the arts.

Eligibility Requirements• Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations; • Units of state or local government; or• Federally recognized tribal communities or tribes • Three-year history of programming• Meet the reporting requirements on any previous NEA

awards

Application LimitsOrganizations may submit only one application under the Art Works guidelines, with limited exceptions such as:• Parent (and Related) Organizations• Applicants to Media Arts (July deadline)• Applications to another category such as Our TownPlease see the “Applicant Eligibility” section of the

guidelines for more information on application limits

Grant Amounts

• Grant requests range from $10,000 to $100,000, and

require a one-to-one match.

• No grants will be made for less than $10,000.

• In the past few years, more than half of the agency’s grants

have been for less than $25,000.

We Do Not Fund• General operating or seasonal support• Individuals• Individual schools• Facility construction, purchase, or renovation• Commercial, for-profit enterprises• Creation of new organizations• Academic degrees• Re-granting• Projects that replace arts instruction provided by a classroom

teacher or an arts specialist in schools

Art Works Processing TimelineApplication Deadline: NEA-GO Upload: Panel

Review:

National Council on

the Arts Review:

Notification:Earliest

Project Start Date:

February 20, 2014 March 6-20, 2014 Summer 2014 October 2014 November

2014 January 1, 2015

July 24, 2014 August 7-21, 2014 Fall 2014 March 2015 April 2015 June 1, 2015

DeadlinesFebruary 20, 2014, Application Deadline

January 1, 2015: Earliest Beginning Date for Arts Endowment Period of SupportCreation

• Commissioning, development, and production of new work, translations, and adaptations.• Development programs and labs for new work, which may include the hosting of artist residencies, showcase productions of new work,

development workshops, and festivals of new works or works in progress. • Development of innovative new works that involve media, technology, or new models.

Engagement

• Production or presentation of existing contemporary or classical work that is planned for the 2014-15 season (with project activities beginning on or after January 1, 2015).

DeadlinesJuly 24, 2014, Application Deadline

June 1, 2015, Earliest Beginning Date for Arts Endowment Period of SupportEngagement• Production or presentation of existing contemporary or classical work.• Local, regional, and national touring.• Community-based projects.• Documentation and preservation of America's theater and musical theater heritage.• Services to the field that assist organizations or artists in administrative, developmental, technical, and related areas.• Innovative methods of engaging audiences.

Learning• Professional training.• Exposure and enrichment projects for youth, adults, and intergenerational groups. • Professional productions of Shakespeare's plays performed for middle- and high-school students in underserved schools.

Livability• The development of plans for growth of the theater and musical theater sector in the local community.• The development of artist live/work spaces.• Festivals, performances, and other activities in public spaces that are intended to foster community interaction and/or enhance the unique

characteristics of a community.• The engagement of artists and theater and musical theater organizations in plans and processes to

improve community livability.• Community-based partnerships that integrate theater and musical theater with livability efforts.

Reminders: What is new this year?• Deadlines have changed• Our website (arts.gov) has a new look• Most application materials are now submitted online via NEA-GO;

see the How to Apply instructions for details• No grants will be made under $10,000• Letters of support are required• Program evaluation resources are available

How to ApplyFind our guidelines

online at: arts.gov

in the “Apply for a Grant” Section.

How to ApplySelect “Grants to Organizations.”

How to ApplySelect

“Art Works” to learn more about the

category.

Browse through “Key Information for

Applicants” for other important information.

How to ApplyAfter you read about

the Art Works category, select

Theater & Musical Theater.

How to Apply

Read about the project types

supported at each deadline.

Then select “How to Prepare and Submit

an Application.”

How to Apply

Step 1 of 2: Submit through Grants.gov (February 20 or July 24 deadline):

• SF-424 (Application for Federal Domestic Assistance)

This is the only item you submit through Grants.gov. If it is not successfully submitted by the deadline you will be unable to submit your other materials in NEA-GO.

About Grants.gov

• Grants.gov is an online, government-wide electronic application system through which all applicants must submit.

• Don’t wait until immediately before your deadline; submit no later than 10 days prior to the deadline.

• You are required to change your password every 60 days.

• Obtain a DUNS number and register with SAM (System for Award Management) in order to use Grants.gov—allow at least 2 weeks for registration or renewal.

• See www.grants.gov for more details or call 1-800-518-4726.

How to ApplyStep 2 of 2: Submit through NEA-GO (March 6-20; or

August 7-21):

• NEA Grant Application Form (including answers to narrative questions, financial information, bios)

• Items to Upload (Programmatic activities list, statements of support, special items, and work samples)

NEA GrantsOnline™ System (NEA-GO)• You will submit the Grant Application Form and

electronically upload other items using the NEA-GO system two weeks after your Grants.gov application deadline.

• Prepare these materials well in advance of the application deadline and have them ready to upload once NEA-GO becomes available to you.

NEA GrantsOnline™ System (NEA-GO)Accessing the system:• After your SF-424 is successfully submitted through Grants.gov, go to

“Track My Application.”• The notes box there will have a link to NEA-GO and information about

when the system will be open.• User Name = Grants.gov Tracking Number• Password = NEA Application Number

This information will be available 2 days after you submit your SF-424 to Grants.gov (but no earlier than 10 days before the application deadline).

Tips for Successful Applications• Please read the guidelines carefully.

• Be aware of the new application deadlines.

• You should attempt to submit your SF-424 through Grants.gov no later than 10 days prior to the deadline, so that, in case you encounter any unexpected issues with Grants.gov, you will still have time to resolve the issues and submit your application successfully by the deadline of record.

• If you have questions, please call us!

Resources: FAQs

Resources: Recent Grants

Resources: Sample Application

Materials

Questions?Organizations whose names begin with A-M

Eleanor Denegre202-682-5509

denegree@arts.gov

Organizations whose names begin with N-ZCarol Lanoux Lee

202-682-5020leec@arts.gov

Apply: http://arts.gov/grants/organizations-apply