How To Apply For A Grant

How to Apply

Overview of Application Process

Organizations and artists should jointly prepare and sign a letter of inquiry of no more than three pages (including a brief, preliminary budget) and the letter of inquiry cover sheet (a total of four pages). The lead artist also may include a professional resume of no more than two pages.

Letters should be sent or delivered to The Creative Work Fund, One Lombard Street, Suite 305, San Francisco, CA 94111. They must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

Media Arts and Traditional Arts letters will be reviewed separately. Each letter will be screened by between two and five readers. From among the letters of inquiry received in media arts, the Creative Work Fund will invite approximately 30 collaborating artists and organizations to submit more detailed proposals. These invitations will be mailed March 2, 2009.

Each invited project will receive detailed guidelines about how to submit a full proposal along with a $200 stipend to offset duplication costs. Full proposals, due June 3, 2009, include documentation illustrating the quality of the artists’ work, detailed budgets, and additional background information about the organizations.

Two panels (one in media arts and one in traditional arts) comprising arts and community representatives will review the finalists’ proposals and recommend projects to be funded. Representatives of the foundations that support the Creative Work Fund will approve the final awards.

Grants will be awarded to collaborating 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organizations, not directly to collaborating artists.

Letter of inquiry instructions: Media Arts

What to include in a letter of inquiry

The letter, no longer than three pages, should include:

Project description including information about how you will collaborate
Amount requested and summary budget (budget should be part of the three-page letter, not an additional page)
Description of the organization
Information demonstrating the range and quality of the artist’s work
Description of how the artist’s work relates to this project
Rationale for the collaboration between the artist and organization and a brief explanation of why the project is appropriate now
Discussion of how the work will reach audiences

How to present your letter of inquiry

Use plain, white or light stationery or paper (so it is easy for the Creative Work Fund staff to make clear photocopies)
Use a 12 point font typeface (no smaller)
Limit your letter to three pages of writing
Include the letter of inquiry cover sheet (in addition to the three page letter)
Do not staple your letter or submit it in a folder
Mail or deliver your letter (facsimiles and e-mails are not accepted)
Make sure it is received at the Creative Work Fund office by 5 p.m., Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The letter of inquiry screening and proposal award decisions will be based on:
Evidence of the range and quality of the artist’s work
Evidence that the project is an authentic collaboration between the artist and the organization
Evidence that the project stretches organizational thinking and artistic imagination
Demonstrated capability of the organization in its field
Evidence of fiscal responsibility and sound organizational management
Feasibility of the proposed project, based on required materials, time line, and budget

Examples of previously funded media arts projects

San Francisco human rights organization, Global Exchange, artist Sergio De La Torre, filmmaker Vicky Funari, and the Tijuana women’s organization Grupo Factor X creating an hour-long documentary film about the lives of workers in Tijuana’s maquiladoras, assembly factories. (2001)

The Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention collaborating with filmmaker Susan Stern and Compassionate Choices to create The Self-Made Man, a film and DVD exploring the philosophical and psychological issues surrounding assisted suicide. (2004)

Locus Arts and Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center collaborating with interdisciplinary artist vu t. thu ha to create an experimental video, Kieu, weaving the story of Viet Namese massage parlor workers in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district with Truyen Kieu (The Tale of Kieu), Viet Nam’s national epic poem. (2004)

The Legion of Graduate Students of the San Francisco Art Institute collaborating with filmmaker Jennifer Kroot to create a 90-minute documentary film synthesizing the work of pioneer underground filmmaker George Kuchar, featuring his current and past students, Hollywood filmmakers who influenced him in the 1950s, and numerous artists who have been affected by his work. (2006)

Collaborating with the Oakland Museum of California, John Jota Leaños to create an interactive net.opera and new media installation, “Imperial Silence: A Days of the Dead Internet Opera” that provides a creative platform for contemporary exploration of the Mexican tradition of Los Días de los Muertos. (2006)

Southern Exposure collaborating with artist R. Lee Montgomery and members of Neighborhood Public Radio on Radio Cartography, engaging artists, youth, Mission District residents, and Bay Area audiences in developing original radio programming about exploring and mapping public space. (2006)

George Mark Children’s House collaborating with media artist Deborah Roundtree to create and test an interactive game customized for children, ages three to 16, who have life-limiting or terminal illnesses. (2006)

For a full list of previously awarded grants, see CWF Grant Recipients.

Letter of inquiry instructions: Traditional Arts

What to include in a letter of inquiry

The letter, no longer than three pages, should include:

Project description including information about the tradition in which you are working, its cultural context, and how the artist and organization will collaborate
Amount requested and summary budget (budget should be part of the three-page letter, not an additional page)
Description of the organization
Information demonstrating the quality and authenticity of the lead traditional artist’s work and that artist’s role in his or her community
Description of how the proposed project builds upon the artist’s previous work
Rationale for the collaboration between the artist and organization and a brief explanation of why the project is appropriate now
Discussion of how the work will be shared within its cultural context or with a wider audience

How to present your letter of inquiry

Use plain, white or light stationery or paper (so it is easy for the Creative Work Fund staff to make clear photocopies)
Use a 12 point font typeface (no smaller)
Limit your letter to three pages of writing
Include the letter of inquiry cover sheet (in addition to the three page letter)
Do not staple your letter or submit it in a folder
Mail or deliver your letter (facsimiles and e-mails are not accepted)
Make sure it is received at the Creative Work Fund office by 5 p.m., Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The letter of inquiry screening and proposal award decisions will be based on:

Evidence of the artistic quality and adherence to tradition of artists involved in the project
Evidence of the cultural significance of the tradition in the context of its community
Evidence that the project is an authentic collaboration between the artist and the organization
Evidence that the project addresses goals shared by the organization and the artist
Demonstrated capability of the organization in its field or community
Evidence of fiscal responsibility and sound organizational management
Feasibility of the proposed project, based on required materials, time line, and budget

Invitation of detailed proposals

Letters in the traditional arts will be read by between two and six readers—including artists, curators, folklorists, and/or ethnomusicologists from outside of any of the contributing foundations. From among the traditional arts letters of inquiry received, the Creative Work Fund will invite approximately 25 collaborating artists and organizations to submit more detailed proposals. These invitations will be mailed March 2, 2009. They will include instructions about how to complete the proposal and a check for $200 to assist with the costs of copying materials.

Traditional Arts Documentation Grants

Because many traditional artists lack audio or video recordings, CDs, photographs, or other documentation of their work, every traditional artist and organization invited to submit a full proposal also is invited to request a $500 documentation grant. The Creative Work Fund will provide a simple one-page request sheet for these grants. Applicants must submit their documentation grant requests by May 1, 2009.

Examples of previously funded traditional arts projects

The Center for Art and Public Life at the California College of the Arts collaborating with multidisciplinary artist Siu Tuita and with members of the Bay Area Tongan community to create, document, and exhibit the making of Tongan tapa-cloth–or bark cloth–using island-grown plant materials and dyes. (2003)

La Peña Cultural Center collaborating with bandleader and percussionist Jesus Diaz, Cuban master musicians and dancers to create De Aquí p'Allá Con Clave, a new work featuring Cuban folkloric music and dance alongside contemporary Cuban jazz and timba that draw from the traditional forms. (2003)

Pacific Islanders’ Cultural Association collaborating with Kawika Hiwahiwa Keawehakuahu’ula Alfiche and Halau Aloha Pumehana o Polynesia to create “Nä Ali’i,” a new performance work about four members of Hawaiian royalty and their affect on the culture’s history. (2003)

Afro-Peruvian percussionist Lalo Izquierdo and Bolivian musician Oscar Reynolds collaborating with one another and with the California Academy of Sciences’ Traditional Arts Program to create new musical compositions that combine Bolivian Indian and Afro-Andean music, drawing attention and paying homage to the co-existing Indian and African cultures in the region. (2005)

Door Dog Music Productions collaborating with Azerbaijani pianist Chingiz Sadykhov and Afghani, Iranian, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, and Assyrian master artists to create a program combining traditional and newly composed music with poetry, dance, and film. The binding thread among the artists is observance of the vernal equinox or Nowruz, whose pre-Islamic origins are embraced in different ways throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. (2005)

East Bay Center for the Performing Arts collaborating with Ubirajara Almeida and CK Ladzkepo
to create Lamentation for Freedom Fighters for the 2008 opening of the Center’s new theater and its 40th anniversary. Joining Mr. Almeida and Mr. Ladzkepo will be a cast of artists from Ghana and Brazil along with teens and young adults from Richmond who study at the East Bay Center as apprentices in the West African Music and Dance Ensemble. (2007)

Asian American Dance Performances collaborating with Charya Burt, Vishnu Tattva Das Odissi Vilas, and Melody Takata to create Of Spirits Intertwined, exploring the rituals that three different Asian cultural dances use to make offerings to their spiritual ancestors. A series of symposiums, dance workshops, and outreach projects are part of the work. (2007)

Centro Legal de la Raza collaborating with weaver Martina Jimenez to create, document, and preserve Guatemalan loom working. The project will result in five full-size traditional Mayan textiles that celebrate and visually represent the cultural heritage of the hundreds of Mayan workers who meet within the Oakland Worker Center, developed by Centro Legal de la Raza. (2007)

For a full list of previously awarded grants, see CWF Recipients 1994-2007.