APAP BUILDING BRIDGES CAMPUS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM

Contact information:
Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP)
1211 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-833-2787

Scott Stoner, Director, Programs and Resources
sstoner@artspresenters.org

Website:http://www.apap365.org/knowledge/grantprograms/pages/buildingbridges.aspx

Type of foundation: The Association of Performing Arts Presenters administers grantmaking programs funded by national foundations. This project is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

Types of grants: Project

Description: The Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), based in Washington DC, is a national service and advocacy organization with nearly 2,000 members worldwide dedicated to bringing artists and audiences together. APAP members include the nation’s leading performing arts centers; municipal and university performance facilities; nonprofit performing arts centers; culturally specific organizations; artist agencies; managers; touring companies; national consulting practices and artists.

The Building Bridges: Campus Community Engagement program will support U.S.-based performing arts presenting organizations interested in building interdisciplinary cross-campus and community collaborations that expand awareness, knowledge and understanding of Muslim societies. Projects should primarily target young adults, age 18-30. This project builds upon the achievements of the Creative Campus Innovations grants program established in January 2006 with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

The Building Bridges: Campus Community Engagement program is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. (This latter Foundation operates the Building Bridges Program which supports initiatives that use the arts and media to highlight the diversity of Muslim populations around the world for American audiences in order to dispel negative stereotypes and increase cultural understanding.)

The Building Bridges: Campus Community Engagement grants will support projects that advance the following goals:

• Develop and apply campus-based, arts-integrated, interdisciplinary and innovative community engagement strategies and resources for specific audiences (especially 18-30 year-olds).
• Develop dynamic initiatives that present contemporary Muslim cultures from abroad or from the various American Muslim communities in the United States through thoughtfully crafted projects.
• Demonstrate change in knowledge and attitudes about contemporary Muslim culture in communities where there has been limited exposure or where opportunities exist to strengthen and expand existing partnerships and resources. The program is looking to support new and innovative projects, rather than to continue something that is already being done.
• Document, define, and diffuse "best practice," strategies, and resources that meet the above goals (i.e. increasing exposure and changing knowledge/ attitudes about contemporary Muslim culture through campus-based interdisciplinary and innovative community engagement strategies with the artist at the center).

Partnerships are important to this project. Partners may include visual arts and other cultural organizations and institutions in addition to community service providers who focus on the target population. Applicants should identify potential partners who:

• Have a demonstrated interest in interdisciplinary work.
• Have the capacity and commitment to participate in the project from beginning to end.
• Clearly understand the value of and process for accomplishing anticipated project outcomes.

The central artist(s) involved in the project should be a practicing artist who demonstrates a history of solid public performance experience, knowledge, and direct experience with the arts and culture of Muslim societies. Artists must be committed to openly sharing their creative process as part of the development of new work or through residencies that are connected to project goals and objectives. This includes such activities as master classes; co-design and instruction of new curriculum-based courses; workshops for students, faculty, and/or community members; pre and post-performance discussions, and other opportunities.

Sample grants: This is a new initiative. See this page for examples of other projects funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Fit for public broadcasting: One of the program’s directors told the Grant Center that "public media organizations based on or working directly with campuses would be good potential partners for a Building Bridges project." However, the lead applicant needs to be a campus-based or a designated campus performing arts presenting organization. This program may be a fit for university-licensed stations, in particular. The program staff expressed an interest in community colleges, so stations licensed to these institutions may want to investigate this opportunity. Interestingly, in the APAP webinar about the program, one of the presenters talked about how "the media" typically focus on "negative" aspects of Muslim communities/populations, and noted that this program uses the arts to counter that. Public media outlets are in an excellent position to leverage the impact of and engage communities with campus-based initiatives that present alternate perspectives. Public media is also well-positioned because of its established openness to diverse and global voices and views.

Eligibility: Applicants must be designated as the performing arts presenting organization or presenter for the college or university. The presenting organization applicant does not need to be physically based on a college or university campus, but it must have a formal arrangement with a college or university to provide performing arts programming for the campus. Applications from a consortium of arts presenting organizations will be considered.

Definition of an arts presenter (from the guidelines): "Arts presenters form a sector of the performing arts field comprised of a variety of sizes, functions, configurations and artistic and curatorial interests – all of which share the mission of providing opportunities for artists and audiences to share the performing arts through performances, commissioning projects, and education initiatives. For the purpose of this grants program, arts presenters are expected to develop and implement interdisciplinary partnerships between artists, campus and community partners to create audience engagement opportunities that build knowledge and informed attitudes about contemporary Muslim societies."

Applicants must be able to:

• Document the commitment of the academic institution and other partners at the highest level (i.e. letters of support from top level administrators) to support the project goals and sustainable outcomes.
• Demonstrate and document a history of diverse and high quality performing arts presenting that has included associated interdisciplinary educational and/or community-engagement programs.
• Demonstrate capacity and experience in tracking sustained audience and community engagement in performing arts programs presented by the organization and, if possible, the extent to which targeted campus-based and surrounding community audiences engage in arts and cultural programs.
• Demonstrate experience in working with external community partners to engage target audiences in arts and cultural programs.
• Participate in a learning community that will contribute to an evolving knowledge base for the field.
• Demonstrate that funding received from this project will be financially supported in part through other funds specifically directed to the project from campus and community partners (i.e. Building Bridges grant funds cannot be the sole support for project activities, however, there is not a minimum match required).

Applicants are not required to be current APAP members, but any applicants invited to submit a full application in Round II must become an APAP member.

Deadline: The application process includes two rounds. The Round 1 application deadline is April 24, 2013 (5:00 p.m. EST). By July 1, up to 15 Round 1 applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal in Round 2. Selected applicants will be given $7,000 planning grants. The full proposal will be due October 17, 2013. Grants will be announced in December.

How to apply: APAP held one informational webinar (available online) and will hold another on March 5, 2013. Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend and will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the program and application process. The application process will include two rounds. The first-round application must be submitted both online and in hard copy. The guidelines (available from this page) include a full list of review criteria that applicants should address in their applications. Funded projects may be up to two years in length.

The guidelines reference multiple resources related to engaging communities. In particular, the program staff recommend that applicants read the Creative Campus white paper, "Placing the Arts at the Heart of the Creative Campus," available from this page.

Giving range: Up to eight grants will be awarded, in the amounts of $100,000 - $200,000 each. The requested grant funds should not be the sole support of the proposed project.