NATIVE AMERICAN FELLOWSHIPS, DANCE GRANTS, BIG MONEY FOR FILMMAKERS AND MORE!

Greetings all...naturally, the announcements below have the usual Mira's List annoying formatting issues due to her inability to figure out the easy transition from Word doc. to Blog (great solutions from people who use PCs but not Macs...oh well). Anyway, the following announcements are from the Artist Trust, The Chicago Artists Resource, the Foundation Center and my own little meandering through cyberspace....happy hunting....more to come of course. And by the way, thanks for the donations this week! Cheers,
Mira

(ALL) Artistay Residency in France: Artistay is a service for artists, writers, architects, academics, art teachers, curators, etc looking for a short term stay as part of a residency program in France in order to realize a personal artistic project. Artistay works with several art places in France - artists residencies, writers retreats, art colonies, art centers, etc., offering a professional support to artists from all over the world. Residencies can last anywhere from two weeks to six months. Artistay service is free of charge. For more information visit: http://artistay.com/home.html.

(FILMMAKERS) Cinereach Grants: Cinereach is now accepting letters of inquiry and sample work for their winter grant cycle. The deadline is December 1, 2009. They will request full proposals from selected projects in January. Grants range from $5,000 to $50,000 and are awarded to films at any stage. For more information, visit their website: http://www.cinereach.org/.

(PERFORMING ARTS) Travel Subsidy Grants: Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Arts Presenters, the Cultural Exchange Fund (CEF) Travel Subsidy Program is a travel subsidy program awarding grants from $2k - $10k to assist US-based presenters working to build partnerships and collaborations with international touring artists, companies, and their collaborators. In promoting the display of work by artists from around the world in its own cultural context, APAP strongly encourages travel to the the following locations: the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. More info: artspresenters.org

(DANCERS) Free Rehearsal Space for Chicago Dancers/Choreographers: DanceBridge is an initiative of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs to support Chicago's professional dance artists and choreographers and is now accepting proposals for its Winter 2010 sessionDanceBridge, an initiative of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Its goal is to foster the creation of new and innovative work by Chicago-based dancemakers/choreographers. DanceBridge offers 10-12 hours/week of free rehearsal space in the Dance Studio of the Chicago Cultural Center for 12 week periods in the winter, summer, and fall. Application Deadline: November 13, 2009 for the Winter session, January 11 - April 9, 2010. Guidelines as well as the application can be found at www.cityofchicago.org/CulturalAffairs. On the left side of the screen, there is a link "Apply to DanceBridge."

(PERFORMING ARTISTS AND WRITERS) Kresge Foundation's Detroit Fellowships: The Kresge Foundation's Kresge Arts in Detroit initiative provides financial support for eighteen Kresge artist fellowships annually. Each fellowship consists of a $25,000 award and customized professional development opportunities for emerging and established metropolitan Detroit artists working in the visual, performing, and literary arts.

Applications are now being accepted for fellowships in the performing and literary arts. Performing Arts includes choreography, music composition (in all genres — classical, country, electronic, folk, hip-hop, jazz, rap, rock, etc.), performance art, spoken word, sound art, and interdisciplinary work within the above disciplines. Literary arts include art criticism in all disciplines (including literary, performing, and visual arts), creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, playwriting, and interdisciplinary work within the above arts disciplines. Deadline Feb. 26, 2010. http://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/.

(NATIVE AMERICAN ARTISTS) Expressive Arts Grants: NMAI's Expressive Arts program awards grants of up to $10,000 to support the creation and presentation of new works through the collaboration of two or more Native artists. Awards will specifically support the creation of new works for public performance that may include, but is not limited to, music, dance, spoken word, electronic media, costume design, mask making, set design, performance art, photography, painting, and other forms of expressive culture. The award is open to all indigenous peoples who hold citizenship in the Americas. Deadline: January 15, 2010. Complete program information is available at the National Museum of the American Indian Web site.

(ALL) Black Metropolis Research Fellowships: The Black Metropolis Research Consortium is accepting applications for two fellowship programs: One-or two-month fellowships plus a stipend of up to $3,000 will be offered to scholars, artists, educators, writers, and researchers for studies relating to African-American and African diasporic culture, history, and politics. http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=272300024. Deadline: January 11, 2010.

(DANCERS) NEFA Production Grant: The New England Foundation for the Arts invites dance artists and companies to apply for a Production Grant for 2010. NEFA grants are highly competitive and award approximately 20 grants each year. The grants range from $25,000 to $40,000. Production grants will also receive touring support for the season following their works creation. The deadline for the first round for the grant process is March 2, 2010.

It is essential that the project applying for production grants engage audiences, explore collaborations within or across disciplines and involve creative and dynamic partnerships with one or more U.S. presenter partners. Touring grants also available. Visit the website for more information. Complete information can be found here: http://nefa.org/grants_services/production_grants.

(WRITERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS) Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Documentary Prize: The year 2010 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor documentary prize, a $20,000 award given annually by the Center for Documentary Studies. The Lange-Taylor Prize is offered to a writer and a photographer in the early stages of a documentary project. By encouraging such collaborative efforts, the Center for Documentary Studies supports the documentary process in which writers and photographers work together to record the human story. For more information, go to: http://www-cds.aas.duke.edu/l-t/index.html. Deadline: January, 31, 2010.

(ALL) Puffin Foundation Grants: The Puffin foundation is accepting grant proposals from emerging artists in the fields of art, music, photography, theater, and video. For more information, go to: http://www.puffinfoundation.org/grants/prospectiveapplicant.html. Deadline is December 15, 2009. This grant does not provide funding for the writing of books, nor does it provide for travel.

UPDATE ON THE RICHARD FLORSHEIM ART FUND FOR ARTISTS OVER SIXTY

Good morning all...
A couple of you have recently written me asking about the Richard Florsheim Art Fund for artists over sixty and one or two other foundations that seem to have disappeared into some netherworld. I can't keep up with everything that happens in these changing times, however, I think it would behoove me to start doing periodic updates regarding foundations that have closed down or have merged with other ones so as to keep afloat, which is what I found out happened to the Florsheim Fund. It merged with the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation and there's an article on that website explaining the merger. That said, I found nothing at all on their site about how to apply for a grant so I wrote them this morning and I'll let you know what they say if and when I hear back from them. You can find out more about the merger and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation here.

In the meantime, if any of you have clicked on my links and found that a place doesn't exist anymore or has suspended their program, please let me know! I want to keep everyone as up-to-date as possible. I have a few new opportunities to post in another note....so check that out when it appears a little bit later.

Cheers!
Mira

INTERVIEW WITH MIRA TODAY

Good morning, Gentle Readers,
Recently, I was interviewed by writer Alexis Grant, who keeps a blog called Aspiring Author. Alexis is a journalist, travel writer and is currently writing her first book, a travel memoir. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find that the interview is up and you can now view it online! The link is here. I talk a little about how I find grants and residencies for you but I also talk a bit about how I made my living over the years as well as my upcoming book, The Memory Palace. I hope you check out Alexis Grant's site and my interview. And I highly suggest you spend a little time perusing her site and checking out some of the other articles she has on writing. She is one of the people you'll be reading more about when I start posting interviews. (Coming soon!).

Keep working hard....as Virginia Woolf once said (and I hope I'm getting it right), "To be carried on passively is unthinkable."
Cheers,
Mira

LATE-BREAKING FELLOWSHIP DEADLINE FOR WRITERS

You lucky dogs: three posts in one day. And after a week of being a slacker. (And yes, that picture IS my little dog Sadie. I thought it was about time you found out who really is writing these posts.) This one below is from Poets & Writers:

(WRITERS) University of Louisville Axton Fellowship in Fiction: Writers who have received their terminal degree within the last five years in Creative Writing are invited to apply for an Axton Fellowship in Creative Writing. The purpose of these fellowships is to provide recent graduates with time to further their own work, to associate them with a distinguished faculty, and to allow them to contribute to a vibrant creative writing community. This year one fellow in fiction will be appointed for the academic years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, and will be awarded a stipend and benefits. The fellow will give a reading in the Axton reading series during her or his tenure, will run a two-day literary seminar, and will teach one course each semester. Of these courses, one will be of the fellow’s design, another will be on the teaching of creative writing, and the other two will be creative writing or literature courses. The fellow will be expected to be in residence in Louisville during their fellowship period. The fellowship will provide a stipend of $25,000 a year plus benefits for two years. Candidates for the fellowship should submit the following documents: a) a current CV; b) a one-page proposal for an undergraduate course; c) a writing sample-no more than 25 pages; and d) at least three letters of recommendation. Applications must be postmarked by November 1, 2009. Mail applications to: Axton Fellowships, Jeff Skinner, Acting Director of Creative Writing, Department of English, Bingham Humanities 315, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, 40292. I JUST got the announcement in my mailbox today and the deadline is obviously SUNDAY, so you might want to double-check that deadline.

ATTENTION MASSACHUSETTS ARTISTS! THE ARTISTS CONGRESS 2009

Creative Massachusetts: The Artists Congress 2009
Welcoming Artists of All Disciplines to a Discussion of Our Creative Future

November 7-8, 2009
Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

For more information, go HERE:
http://www.artistsunderthedome.org/program.html

I wanted to tell Massachusetts artists about this event coming up on November 7th and 8th in Boston. I was supposed to be on one of the panels and couldn't make it but there are many other arts professionals participating who you really should hear. Some of the topics discussed on panels will be: Networking tools for artists, Free and low-cost technology for artists and artist-run businesses and projects, grants and resources, copyright and IP protection, how to market, price, network and negotiate, info on artists residencies and more. This event is FREE and open to artists of all disciplines and is co-sponsered by the Kirstein Business Branch of the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition.

Grantwriting Resources, Professional Development Tips et al...

Well, after my post a few weeks back about people sending me grant proposals, I began thinking about what resources are out there to help artists write grants and learn more professional skills to further develop their careers. A couple grant writers also sent me the links to their sites and I will post those soon. I can't attest to how good these people are so if you hire them down the line and have either a great or a not-so-great experience, please let me know. Anyway, I thought that today I'd just take a minute to talk about hiring grant writers and also let you know about a couple resources that you might find helpful.

People have asked me how much consultants charge to help an artist write or edit her/his individual grant (not for non-profit organizations). Readers have also asked if I would do that for them in the future. I'm on the fence about doing that fee-for-service right now but it is possible in the future I will. I certainly will let you know if I do. In the meantime, here are just a couple things you should know:

* You should be paying the consultant per hour, NOT paying a percentage of the 'possible' grant award. That is considered unethical in the biz. What I mean is: if you are applying for a $20,000 grant and the consultant says his fee will be 10% of that award up front (which you may or may not get!), you are being scammed.
* People who do this for a living tell me they charge around $50 an hour on average, although some grant consultants do a sliding scale price and go as low as $20. Some people charge by the page to just edit your grant. It really varies.

I can't tell you if it's worth the money or not. All I can say is that having someone look over your proposal and application IS a good thing, if they know what they are doing. One way to get help, if you don't have any brilliant and experienced grant writing friends around or extra cash to pay a consultant is to check out your local arts council (and not just in the US but I know England and other countries have some great regional arts councils too) and see if they offer free or low-cost professional development workshops for artists. A great example of this is the Artists' Toolbox Program in Boston, sponsered by the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts, Inc. Other cities have such programs too. In Seattle, Washington, Artist Trust offers lots of great professional development programs.

There are also individuals who teach workshops and classes on grant writing, etc. Gigi Rosenberg gives regional (in Oregon) and National workshops for artists and writers. You can find her at: http://www.gigirosenberg.com. I met Gigi recently when she interviewed me for her book on grantwriting, due out from Random House in 2011 and although I have never taken a workshop from her, I have a feeling she is the real deal and that you would learn a lot.

Also, visual artists should really check out GYST (Get Your S**T Together), an artist-run site for artists. They offer software, professional development workshops and other services. They also have a blog so check them out.

Oh, I've also seen free grant-writing workshops at local libraries so check those out too. Many of them offer these kinds of classes or one-day intensives so drag yourself down to the library, check out a book or two and ask if they offer any professional development programs for artists. If they don't, suggest it. If you build it, they will come.

That's all the ranting and raving for today. I'm going to also post something right after this---an event coming up in Boston for artists. And coming soon....interviews! I'm lining them up---the response has been fantastic. A nice variety of peeps coming your way.

Your Faithful Servant,
Mirabee

COMING SOON

Hi everyone. Just a quick note to say that I have not abandoned you but rather, I have been quite a busy bee, doing a couple interviews for other blogs, preparing some Q and A's for this one (with grant funders, artists and writers whose lives have been changed by residencies, etc.) and of course, searching for great opportunities for all.

I have more things for you to see....I'll get to them as soon as I can. In the meantime, keep working hard and don't forget all those fall deadlines!
Best Wishes,
Mira

p.s. A few of you have written to ask when my book is coming out and where you can see my work (art and writing) on the web. My book, The Memory Palace, is due out sometime late 2010 or early 2011 from Free Press (Simon & Schuster). I'll be starting a blog for it and my editorial/publishing process soon and when my official website goes up, you'll be the first to know! And don't forget to check out my bookstore at the bottom of this blog. Anything you buy from this site, even not grant related books, will help keep this blog going!