Artist Leadership Program

ARTIST LEADERSHIP PROGRAM FOR MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

• Overview
• Key Dates
• Who Is Eligible?
• Program Description
• The Washington Visit
• Call for Artists
• Artists’ Community Projects
• Project Option: Youth Public Art
• Project Option: Artist’s Community Workshop
• Video Documentation
• Financial Award
• Application Process
• Selection Criteria
• Application Submission

OVERVIEW

The Artist Leadership Program (ALP) for Museums and Cultural Arts Organizations invites local museums, arts organizations, and cultural institutions in the United States and Canada to collaborate with the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Smithsonian Institution (SI):

• To identify local and regional Native artists well qualified to research Native cultural objects in museums and other collections; document their research; receive arts management training, marketing and career strategies, and business and leadership skills; and network at the local institutional level.
• Then to support the artists on their return home empowered with new artistic skills and techniques to share with their communities and the general public the value of Native knowledge through art. Organizations do so by hosting a Youth Public Art Project or Artist’s Community Workshop.

This program aims to rebuild cultural self-confidence and enable artists to think more broadly about themselves and their art while perpetuating Indigenous cultures and reflecting artistic diversity. The program seeks to empower local museums and cultural arts organizations to support the needs of artists via collaborative learning opportunities, and to create a higher social impact through community art projects.

Two museum/cultural arts organizations will be selected each year.

KEY DATES FOR 2013

Applications must be submitted using the ALP online application by 11:59 PM eastern time, June 15, 2013. Only complete applications received by the deadline will be considered.

Each award recipient will be expected to be in Washington, D.C., December 1–6, 2013.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

• Applicants must be arts organizations, museums, and/or cultural institutions with sound fiscal management, including established methods for accepting cash receipts and making disbursements, documenting and reconciling income statements reconciling payments. Applicants must have been in operation for at least five fiscal years and be nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations committed to serving the indigenous communities of the Americas and Hawai`i.
• Applicants must demonstrate access to Native cultural materials supporting local Native artists; have staff to provide financial and logistical support for local Native artists; have access to local arts-management professional trainers, training facilities, and computer equipment; and have access to local video professionals.
• Applicants must be able to send at least one staff person to travel to Washington, D.C., in December to meet with NMAI staff and tour NMAI facilities. Upon proper invoicing, the applicant will be provided with a reasonable reimbursement for travel expenses, including airfare, airport transfers and baggage fees, lodging, and per diem. One additional staff member may attend the Washington program at the expense of each selected organization.
• Applicants must be able to collaborate with local security agencies to ensure security background checks on individuals directly involved with youth.
• If selected, applicants must provide a DUNS number.
• Applicants must be in good standing with U.S. Government agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and able to register in the System for Award Management (SAM), a database of individuals and companies that do contractual business with federal agencies. Registration in SAM is necessary to ensure payment of contractor invoices.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Washington Visit

Each of the two organizations selected will send one staff person to visit the NMAI Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland, and the NMAI on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to meet with NMAI staff in specialties such as collections, registration, conservation, photos services, photo and paper archives, media archives, library, publication, public affairs, administration, and media production, and to receive an overview of museum management and video oversight and direction. Up to one additional staff member is invited at the expense of the selected organization.

Each selected organization will provide a PowerPoint presentation to NMAI staff during the Washington visit.

NMAI will provide a detailed itinerary prior to the staff member’s arrival, give an orientation, and offer administrative assistance for presentations to museum staff.

Call for Artists

Each selected organization will next present a Call for Artists. Upon review of the regional and local artists who respond, the organization will host a minimum of six regional Native artists, both contemporary and traditional, to perform the following activities:

• Conduct research in the collections of the host organization and other local museum institutions to gain a higher understanding of the process of their art.
• Meet with the host organization’s staff.
• Visit other galleries in the area.
• Conduct art talks or other public program activities at the host organization, and/or other local museums or galleries.
• Participate in arts-management training.

The artists selected for the program will receive assistance from the host organization in making appointments for training and museum research visits. While at the host organization’s site, artists will also be provided professional training services that may include grant-writing; creating PowerPoint presentations and web portfolios; identifying marketing and career strategies; and developing business and leadership skills. Training sessions are to be community based at the host organization’s site and may include up to 15 participants, including the selected artists.

Each host organization will provide a detailed itinerary prior to artists’ arrival, give an orientation, and offer administrative assistance for presentations to museum staff. Local travel and hotel lodging costs associated with the trip will be reimbursed to each artist by the organization. Organizations are to provide the artists with funds for travel, artist fees or honoraria, supplies/materials, and per diem. Organizations are encouraged to seek outside financial or in-kind resources to help support program goals and objectives.

Artists’ Community Projects

The next part of the program enables the selected organization to support each artist as he or she returns home to facilitate a community project sharing the knowledge learned from the experience and from research conducted at the organization’s site. The artists’ community projects should be completed within six months following the organization site visit.

Organizations are encouraged to engage community members and leverage local resources to facilitate community projects in the arts for local artists and young people.

Project Option: Youth Public Art

After visiting the organization, each artist will return to his or her community and identify a local youth group to design, develop, and complete a public art project that will result in a finished artwork such as a sculpture, mural, theatrical production, musical performance, or video that will serve the local public. The goals of the Youth Public Art Project include offering an opportunity for program participants to mentor young artists in collaboration with elders, sharing ideas and resources and exemplifying the values and knowledge held by local Native artists while offering the community a means for healing and for sustaining cultural information.

Suggested themes for Youth Public Art Projects include youth identity, suicide awareness, substance abuse, bullying, gangs, racially insensitive mascots, language revitalization, sustainable environments, or developing an exhibition for the organization. Each artist will provide ten art or production lessons to at least five community youth during the project.

Project Option: Artist’s Community Workshop

After returning home, each artist will plan and manage a free workshop for a community of artists to share knowledge and demonstrate skills gained from collections research at the selected organization. Each artist will select the workshop location, create the agenda and syllabus, obtain materials, and facilitate advertising and registration. Each workshop should provide one to three days of instruction to at least ten community members interested in learning artistic skills.

Suggested themes for workshops include skills that the artist has mastered, new techniques learned as a result of the collections research visit, or new or revised cultural art techniques in support of an exhibition in development at the selected organization.

Video Documentation

Each selected organization is asked to identify a local video contractor to document the staff visit to Washington, D.C., and the artists’ community projects; interview individuals key to the community projects; and produce a video—seven minutes or less in length—documenting the community projects; the video is to be posted on the NMAI YouTube channel.

The purpose of this video is to share with a larger audience the meaning of the staff visit to Washington, D.C.; the setting and location of the host organization; and the impact of the community projects. Examples of videos from earlier years’ NMAI Artist Leadership Program for Individual Artists are viewable here.

FINANCIAL AWARD

Two museums or cultural arts organizations will be selected each year to take part in the Artist Leadership Program. Each organization will receive a $25,000 contract award to cover project costs, including one staff member’s travel to Washington, D.C., artist fees, training services, supplies, and video production and materials. Award recipients are responsible for appropriate federal and state taxes on this award amount.

Award recipients are asked to provide the following during the course of the project:

• The organization’s Call for Artists and a summary of the response.
• An email evaluation of the training session and community workshops.
• An email sharing audience comments made during public or staff art talks.
• A final evaluation report by the organization on contract activities, accomplishments, and discoveries; a financial accounting of expenses.
• A project video, no longer than seven minutes, of Youth Public Art Projects and Artist’s Community Workshops that shares with the NMAI’s YouTube audience the meaning of the visit to Washington, D.C., the setting and location of the selected museum/organization, and the impact of the community project for the participants.
• Evidence of outside funding for community projects and identification of local community resources involved in the projects.

Museums and cultural arts organizations selected to participate in the Artist Leadership Program must provide a DUNS number and must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM); registration in SAM is necessary to ensure payment of contractor invoices.

As a contractor, the award recipient will be responsible for making staff airline reservations and purchasing air travel to Washington, D.C. The name of a recommended hotel in Washington will be provided by the NMAI. Award recipient staff will be responsible for paying their hotel bills upon departure and for paying all their meals and incidental costs, including any taxis, airport transfers, and baggage fees. Upon proper invoicing, the museum or cultural arts organization will be provided with a reasonable monetary reimbursement for travel-related expenses including airfare, airport transfers, and baggage fees, lodging, and per diem. It is recommended that SI contractors secure a U.S. bank account to receive invoiced amounts and a credit card with a balance and limit that will cover all travel costs. Reliance on debit cards is strongly discouraged.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The organization is responsible for ensuring that its application includes all required components, adheres to all requirements, and is submitted using the ALP online application by 11:59 PM eastern time, June 15, 2013.

Only complete applications received by the deadline will be considered.

Online Application
The ALP online application requires each organization to provide pertinent contact and other information—the organization’s name, community affiliation, address, and website, if applicable; the point of contact’s name, phone, and email, etc.

The second part of application requires you to upload:

• A narrative proposal
• A proposed budget
• A digital portfolio
• Two letters of support
• Resumes of key staff

Be sure to place the organization’s name, the date, and the project title on each page.

Narrative Proposal (1,000 words, maximum)

• Describe the intended goal for your project and provide a description of supporting activities to reach your goal.
• Describe the cultural area or community, type, and time period of the cultural material that the Native artists will be able to access during their visit to the organization. Describe the facility, staff, and location of these collections.
• Without listing any names, describe the potential genre of artists and communities that might most benefit from the type of cultural material available. Describe any previous experience in working with Native artists and cultural materials.
• Describe potential arts management training needs and the intended results of training sessions for local artists.
• For the museum/organization staff identified to travel to Washington, D.C., in December, describe which areas of the NMAI museum, staff, and facilities you are most interested in visiting. Areas may include collections management, conservation (pest control), exhibitions (mount-making, design, etc.), registration (collection loans), repatriation, retail shops, restaurant, etc.
• Describe potential video support and your organization’s experience in creating YouTube videos.
• Create a Word document (e.g., .doc, .docx, .txt) or .pdf of your narrative proposal.

Proposed Budget

• Identify budget line items to include fees, travel, lodging, per diem for local artists (using the GSA website), facilities costs, artists’ supplies, etc. Include any in-kind contributions.
• Identify travel costs for one staff person to travel to Washington, D.C., December 1–6, 2013, to include airfare, lodging, per diem, luggage fees, and airport transfers.
• Identify the potential costs for a local trainer to provide the visiting artists information and resources that may include creating web portfolios, drafting resumes, developing marketing and career strategies, and learning other business and leadership skills.
• Identify the potential costs for a local video contractor to document the staff visit to Washington, D.C., and the community projects (if possible), including interviews with key individuals of the community projects. The video contractor should be able to produce a high-definition video—seven minutes long or less—of the community projects to be posted on the NMAI YouTube channel.
• Create an Excel spreadsheet of your proposed budget.

Digital Portfolio

• Your digital portfolio should be a PowerPoint file with up to ten slides containing both text and images and fully representative of the museum or cultural arts organization’s experience and creative ability to develop and manage the proposed project. Give the title, date of activity, location, and any other pertinent information about each slide.
• CDs, DVDs, videotapes, and computer disks are not acceptable unless exemption is granted by the NMAI prior to the application deadline.

Letters of Support

• One letter from the museum director or director of the board of the museum or cultural arts organization associated with this award that identifies the roles and responsibilities of those overseeing the project.
• One letter from a local or regional Native organization that is familiar with the experiences and accomplishments of the museum or cultural arts organization and can explain how the local Native community regards the proposed activities.

Resumes (three pages per person, maximum)

• Provide resumes of key staff and contractors involved in your proposed activities. Include the applying organization’s name and the date on each page.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The following will be considered as positive factors in choosing successful candidates:

• Complete and accurate application package.
• Project feasibility supported by the narrative proposal, digital portfolio, letters of support, and resumes. Is there a clear link between each of these components and the organization’s stated goal?
• Budget feasibility. Are the budget line items clearly explained and relevant to the project? Evidence of financial collaborations or partnerships in support of project activities is highly encouraged. Explain how you can leverage the award amount to gain additional financial support.
• Evidence to reflect artistic, professional, and community needs and how these needs are addressed in the proposed activities. How do the mission of the NMAI and local needs integrate with the goals of the project activities to create high social and artistic impact?
• Capacity to create a long-lasting community impact that is positive, educational, and culturally acceptable. Ability to reach out to diverse participants and encourage reception by a wide audience.

An independent panel will review all completed applications, images, and supporting materials and make recommendations to NMAI program staff. NMAI staff will then make the final selections and send letters of acceptance.

All awardees will be announced and letters of non-acceptance will be sent out by August of each year. Participants must complete their visit to NMAI in December of the award year. Community projects must be completed by June of the following calendar year.

All applicants understand that selection and participation in the NMAI Artist Leadership Program is also based on available funding.

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Prepare each of the application components (using a minimum 11-pt. font size for any document you have to type) for the project option for which your organization is competing. Your typed responses should be saved in file formats that can easily be opened in Microsoft Word (e.g., .doc, .docx, .txt) or Adobe Reader (.pdf). If you scan a document or save a photo or other image, save it as a .jpg or .tif.

Save all of the required documents (using the recommended file formats) in a single folder on your computer drive.

Open the online application form; fill in your contact information and your responses to questions about your submission.

When you have finished the application form, the second part of the online application will ask you to “Browse” to the folder where you have saved the required documents and images. You will be prompted to upload each of the required files. When you have finished uploading everything, hit “Submit” to complete your application. You will receive a message that your application has been submitted successfully.

Exceptions to this paperless application process will be made on a case-by-case basis and must be agreed upon by the first Monday in May.

Only complete applications will be reviewed.

All application materials become the property of the NMAI/SI and are not returned to applicants.

All components of the application must be submitted electronically online and received by the NMAI by 11:59 PM eastern time, June 15, 2013.

Be sure you have read and complied with the details for each of the required components summarized below:

• Completed ALP online application
• Narrative proposal (1,000 words, maximum)
• Proposed budget (in Excel spreadsheet)
• Digital portfolio (PowerPoint with up to ten slides of text and images)
• First letter of support
• Second letter of support
• Resumes for key staff and contractors (three pages per person, maximum)

READY TO APPLY?

Once you have prepared and organized all of the required information and application components, submit everything via the ALP online application.

Organizations supporting Native arts, artists, and cultural vitality

• American Indian Language Development Institute
  Workshops and other programs; online publications
• The Endangered Language Fund
  Grant programs; methods and resources for revitalizing languages
• First Peoples Fund
  Grant programs
• Indian Arts Research Center, School for Advanced Research
  Artist-in-residence fellowships; internships for undergraduates, graduate students, and junior museum professionals
• Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
  Grants, residencies, arts services
• National Association of Tribal Historic Presentation Officers
  National Native Museum Training Program
• National Endowments for the Arts
  Funding opportunities for organizations, awards to individual artists, federal partnerships
• Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
  Artist fellowships and other programs
• New England Foundation for the Arts
  Grants, workshops and community gatherings, network building
• Peabody Essex Museum
  Fellowships for graduate students and cultural professionals of Native American, Native Hawai‘ian, or Alaska Native background
• U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services
  Grants in library and museum fields, and in community engagement, including programs for institutions serving Native American and Native Hawai‘ian communities
• Vision Maker Media, Native American Public Television
  Training opportunities, grants, and other resources supporting Native media