AMERICAN MASTERPIECES: VISUAL ARTS TOURING

Description: American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius is a major initiative to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy. Through American Masterpieces, the National Endowment for the Arts will sponsor performances, exhibitions, tours, and educational programs across all art forms that will reach large and small communities in all 50 states.

This component of American Masterpieces will celebrate the extraordinary and rich evolution of the visual arts in the United States. Through the creation and touring of major exhibitions, art of the highest quality -- that otherwise would not be available -- will be experienced by Americans in communities across the nation.

Exhibitions may focus on schools, movements, traditions, subject areas, and themes that include but are not limited to:

• The Hudson River School
• American Impressionism
• Native American Art
• American Masterworks from Unique Collections including private collections
• Aspects of American Art Post-1945 to the Present
• Art of the W.P.A.
• Latino Art
• The Portrait in America
• American Naïve Art
• African American Art
• American Photographers and Photography
• American Decorative Arts
• The Art of the American West
• Industrial Design
• Architecture
• Costume and Textiles
• Folk Arts

The tour of an existing exhibition is eligible.

Exhibitions must be:

• Scaled so they can be shown in small and mid-sized exhibiting institutions.
• Shown for a period of 8-12 weeks at 2-5 venues which may include the organizing institution. The number of venues should be appropriate to the nature of the works on view.
• Accompanied by related educational and interpretive components including brochures and catalogues. Educational material for children and youth must ensure the application of national or state arts education standards.

Substantial efforts should be made to reach underserved communities.

Fit for Public Broadcasting: This competition is a good fit for stations that are planning to partner with community arts organizations to show exhibits highlighting arts movements of the United States. An arrangement where stations handle an outreach, public education, or online campaign and an arts organization provides the physical exhibit may be very attractive to the NEA.

Eligibility: Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations; units of state or local government; or federally-recognized tribal communities or tribes may apply. To be eligible, the applicant organization must:

• Meet the Arts Endowment's "Legal Requirements," including nonprofit, tax-exempt status, as detailed in the FY 2008 Grants for Arts Projects guidelines, at the time of application.
• Have a three-year history of programming prior to the application deadline.
• Have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all Arts Endowment award(s) previously received.

For touring exhibitions that involve collections from multiple organizations, one organization that meets the eligibility requirements above must act as the official applicant, submit the application, and assume full responsibility for the grant.

Limitations: Organizations are limited to one American Masterpieces: Visual Arts Touring application per year.

How to apply: The NEA strongly encourages applicants to apply online through Grants.gov.

Anticipated funding: The Arts Endowment anticipates awarding fewer than 10 grants, generally ranging from $30,000 to $300,000. All grants require a nonfederal match of at least 1 to 1.

Program website: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?oppId=48228&mode=VIEW