New England States Touring (NEST) 3 Webinar
thank you all for joining us as you just heard this session will be recorded and shared on nea's platforms before we begin I'd like to acknowledge the land on which Nea is based while we are meeting virtually nea's offices are on the traditional lands of the massachusett and nipmuck people and we honor their ancestors past present and future and recognize their continued existence in contributions to our society at nefa we believe that one of the roles of the Arts is to make the invisible visible and it is not the responsibility of those who have been made invisible to remind us that they are still here we also acknowledge that all places where we provide support and hold events are indigenous lands and we offer our respect to those who have and continue to Steward the land on which we meet we'll take a mo moment to pause and I invite you to reflect on the Deep history of these lands and its people thank you I would now like to formally introduce myself I am Adrien Petrillo my pronouns are she her and I am the senior program director for New England presenting and touring and I am calling in today from massachusett NMU and Bland I'm happy to be joined by my colleagues Audrey and Fallon who will also introduce themselves Fallon if you'd like to begin hello good afternoon everyone my name is Fallon rosard I use them pronouns and I am the program coordinator for New England presenting and touring here at the New England foundation for the Arts I am located on the traditional land ofo nanit and po people in Providence Road Island hi everybody uh my name is Audrey sarapin I use she her pronouns and I am the newish uh program manager for regional grants and initiatives here at Nea um I'm also calling in from nitm and massachusett lands in uh Boston thank you both our agenda today includes an overview of the nest program and the application process as well as a brief mention of our creative ground website and we will have time at the end um for some questions you can also use the Q&A uh function in the chat as well um and we'll do our best to answer questions throughout the presentation but we'll also have time towards the end so today's webinar is focused on New England states touring or Nest as it's known Nest is one of many Grant programs available for support um for projects based in New England I encourage you to review our website for information about other nefa programs at resources Nest is the oldest of nea's Grant programs and it is really our the core of our support for the New England region particularly for organizations that connect artists with communities in our region it is a program that is publicly funded supported through our partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the six State art agencies in New England I'll start by sharing the goals of the program which helped uh inform the program design and the funding criteria broadly speaking Nest supports access to high quality artists and aesthetic diversity for New England communities connecting people to artists from New England other parts of the US and the world supporting access to the Arts is an important goal for our partners at the Nea as well as our state Arts agency partners we do this um through stimulating collaboration and partnership between New England cultural organizers artists and communities the larger field of regional presenting and touring is an interconnected ecosystem and Nest funds help to support creative Partnerships between Arts presenters and artists you will hear a number of different words today including the word presenters organizations toour Partners some of which may be used interchangeably apologies for that but there is some jargon that we tend to use as much as we try hard not to um but we largely are working with organizations to support their work in supporting artists the goals of Nest are to expand direct access to highquality artists and aesthetic diversity for all New England communities um and stimulating those opportunities for collaboration and partnership among New England cultural organizations and between artists and the organizations we also encourage projects that provide meaningful interaction between artists and communities and looking for those opportunities that go beyond the stage so that is the those are the overall goals for the nest program which again really impact how the program functions there are currently three versions of Nest Nest One funds New England nonprofit applicants to present a New England artist from outside of their state so a Massachusetts based organization can apply to bring an artist from Vermont Nest 2 Funds tours of New England based artists presented by one nonprofit who is inside the artist home state and another nonprofit from outside of the artist home state so in this case there are two organizations that apply if one organization is in Boston they and they are presenting a Massachusetts artist they can apply as long as there is also a partner based in New Hampshire that's presenting the same artist and they both organizations apply then there is Nest three which which funds tours of regional National and international artists presented by a minimum of three organizations in at least two New England states so Nest one and two are exclusively for support by per performan for performances and activities by New England artists today's webinar is going to focus on Nest three because that is the program most closely aligned with our upcoming idea swap which we will talk about a little later in this presentation if if you're interested in learning more about Nest 1 and two you can see the full guidelines on our website and you're always welcome to reach out to us with any questions moving into the nest three grants so as I said these grants are funding tours of artists from anywhere in the world they might be Regional national International and those artists are presented by a minimum of three organizations in at least two New England states the organizations that are applying must be a nonprofit organization so they must have 501c3 status and they or be a school a federally recognized tribal government or other government entity they also must be based in New England and just for the sake of clarity I will say New England includes Connecticut Massachusetts Rhode Island Vermont New Hampshire and Maine it does not include New York that is the key thing to know the organizations applying also do not need to be an Arts organization so they could be a theater or Performing Art Center a festival a museum they could also be a university-based art center a public school or other kinds of educational programs we also regularly fund libraries Community Arts centers municipalities ities Parks historical societies as long as the above eligibility criteria are met it can be any type of nonprofit I'm now going to turn it to my colleague Fallon to talk a little bit more about how the nest3 grants work nest3 funds presentations of regional National and international artists hosted by new england-based organizations at least three organizations in two different New England states must submit an application for the same artist or Ensemble this is the definition of a tour for the nest grant program tours may include more than three organizations and more than two states organizations supplying May request up to 60% of the total artists Fe the fee may include travel accommodations and PDM if the total artist fee is $2,000 or less the organization May request up to 100% of the fee Grant amounts range from $500 to $10,000 these Grant amounts are per organization on a tour so if you have three organizations on a tour it's possible that each one could get $10,000 typically grants fall within the $5,000 to $7,000 range applications must include include at least one public performance open to the public and advertised accordingly we are happy to support activities within School setting but there must also be at least one performance open to the general public online performances and Community engagement activities are acceptable organizations May submit up to three applications meaning that a single organization can be part of up to three different tours the grant period is from June 1st 2024 to August 31st 2025 and all funded activities must take place within that time frame but tour dates do not need to be contiguous for example one organization can be doing events in June and another in September Nest does not fund events that are not open to the public and advertis accordingly events outside of New England fundraisers which isn't to say that you can't make money on your event what we don't want to fund is an exclusive high-priced event where the performance is just background music Nest also does not fund activities and programs which take place exclusively in schools during class time performances in which the performers are primarily students self-produced presentations by artists or ensembles producing organizations inviting a guest artists such as a conductor or soloist to perform as part of a performance by the producing organization and finally presentations of artistic work with funding available through the national dance project and DP or the National Theater project ntp ntp and ntp are are other Nea Grant programs which offer support to New England organizations for presenting projects that have previously been selected there's a new roster of funded projects each year for organizations Who present dance and theater it's always worth checking out the projects available thank you Fallon I am going to talk a little bit about the funding criteria nest grants are awarded through a competitive selection process and the amount of funding awarded is based on the extent to which the project meets the criteria so this is always the question how do we decide what gets funded the these criteria are what the panel use in assessing each individual Grant application the first criteria is clear rationale for how the project aligns with the organization's Arts programming goals and its sign significance for the community this is the place to talk about the artist name the artist describe their work in your application please don't make assumptions about what a panelist may or may not know we want to see that you are excited about working with this artist and bringing them to your community we also look for collaborative planning among tour partners and the artists the featured artists should be included in the project planning so we will ask how the tour Partners have worked together as well as with the artist what are those opportunities for collaboration have there been conference calls or Zoom meetings between the partners and with the artists is that there a sharing of resources or ideas one thing we see a lot is that one presenter May develop marketing or educational materials that then can be shared with other partners what assets do does each partner bring that can be contributed to the overall tour and help everyone do their best in bringing the artist to their Community we also look for additional activities beyond the performance which provide opportunities for the artist to meaningfully engage with various sectors of the community cross- sector exchanges and collaboration are highly encouraged um cross- sector meaning Arts partnering with non-arts so that might be with a Health Care Organization environmental organization a social justice organization what are those cross- sector relationships and the types of activ activities we're looking for can be panel discussions workshops other types of classes they can also be more informal like dinners receptions but what are the opportunities for the local community to engage beyond the performance and then finally we are looking for projects that expand access to the arts for all New England communities including rural Andor black indigenous and people of color also known as bipo communities we acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race gender disability sexual orientation class age language culture and geography and we look to counter those inequities in our work I encourage you to read our value statement around Equity diversity inclusion and accessibility for more information also organizations serving rural communities Andor deeply engaging with bipot communities are highly encouraged to apply to nest and I will pass to Audrey who will talk a little bit about the application process thanks Adrien um so we have a couple uh tips and tricks for you through this application process the first of which is getting in touch with us um we would encourage you not to spend time on something without first making sure that the project you're hoping to submit is eligible our contact information will be on the last slide and we do encourage you to reach out uh before submitting an application especially if you are a firsttime applicant um all applicants are also responsible for uh negotiating the terms of their engagement with the artist uh that is um pricing availability we're not managing the tour for you um your organizations are also responsible for developing um the additional activities that happen outside of the performances Community engagement as Adrian mentioned is a central criteria for the grant program so if there's no or minimal engagement it's not going to be a strong application um when our panelists uh look at it um also worth noting that uh the deadline um for this application is going to be March 1st of 2024 and that our deadline is always at 11:59 p.m. on the day that a grant is due um please note that Nea staff are only available until 5:00 p.m. um we're available 9 to5 typical business hours where we're only available until 5:00 P p.m that day so we do recommend that you submit um while you can still reach us in case you encounter technical problems um we would also uh like to make sure that you verify Nest eligibility of the New England artists uh that you are programming through this grant um New England based artists do need to be listed as Nest eligible on Creative ground uh which as you all probably know is uh nea's creative economy database uh it means that the an artist needs to fill out certain fields in their profile and enter our eligibility queue um neaa is available to support and assist in this process um but you'll want to make sure uh before you submit your application that that artist is marked as Nest eligible um finally you also want to make sure that uh all of your other tour partners are submitting their own applications um as uh Adrian mentioned all three um applications can receive funding um but we need to see all three of them to consider each individual application um and make sure that they're submitting by the date um and that you are coordinated in that um if you are submitting a project featuring an artist based outside New England one partner on the tour must submit an artist work sample um since non- New England based artists aren't featured on Creative ground um I believe that's everything I'm going to hand it uh over to Fallon thank you Audrey Nest three features a peer panel review process panelists include presenters artists agents managers and others with knowledge of the presenting and touring field they may be from New England but many are not because it's hard to find people in New England who don't have any conflict of interest they may have familiarity with the New England Arts landscape or they may not keep that in mind when talking about your audience or Community don't assume that they have knowledge about your organization or your city or town Nea staff facilitate the panel meeting and may Supply contextual information run across it but we do not participate in the review process final decisions are made by the panel applicants will be notified in early may we realize that this is challenging timing for organizations presenting in June and that's something to consider when applying and it's why the grant period includes two summers The Summer of 2024 and the summer of 2025 with all Nea Grant programs we offer panel feedback once the process has concluded we even recommend that funded organizations reach out for feedback it's a great way to strengthen your application in the future Nea grants are generally paid as a reimbursement it's important to understand this prior to applying we can make partial payments in advance when requested as was mentioned earlier the deadline is March 1st 20124 we do not accept late application the application form will become available online in early 2024 nest3 requires Partners throughout New England and you may be wondering how do I find Partners nea's creative ground website is an excellent tool it's a robust directory of new englands artists and cultural organizations Nest applicant organizations must maintain an updated profile in the creative Grand directory for their cultural nonprofits and a nest eligible artist profile is required for projects featuring a New England based artist you can search in a variety of ways including by organization type discipline and geography you can also use creative ground to find Nest eligible artists whom organizations can apply for funding through the nest one two or three Grant only artists that are based in New England May create a profile on Creative ground applicants should also update their own profiles within creative ground it's good to do because you're also a part of the New England creative economy and panelists will use it in their review another resource available to you is nea's annual idea swap the ideas swap is an annual Gathering of New England Arts presenters cultural organizers and artists for networking and sharing touring project ideas this year the idea SW will be on November 13 2023 in nashaa New Hampshire organizations based in New England are encouraged to attend the ideas spop to learn more about potential Nest gr tours and ident to our partners great thank you Fallon thank you Audrey and most importantly you always should remember to thank your funders so we want to acknowledge our Partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the six New England State Arts agencies we are so happy that we continue to work with them in supporting the nest program we thank you all for joining us we have our contact information available it's also available on our nefa website and please reach out if you come across questions about our programs you are welcome to email or call us we will actually respond to you I swear um and if you are applying for the first time we highly encourage having a conversation with us previously so that we can address any questions that may come up um we're also happy to support applicants in the application process and provide input on program plans and how those plans may meet the funding criteria so with that if there are additional questions I invite you to raise your hand using the raise hand uh button at the bottom of the screen and we can unmute you and you can ask your question um if you prefer to type it you are also welcome to enter uh your question into the Q&A portion of using that button as well um but I'll give it a minute in case anyone has questions they would like to ask about the nest program there is a question does a project with one New England lead artist and remaining New York artists qualified qualify as a New England artist so that's a conversation we should have there are different scenarios but keep in mind that the intent of the nest program is to support artists who are living and making work in this region we recognize people move around a lot and you know that's we live in a global world so we're happy to talk to you about your specific situation um but we would need the group to be considered a new england-based artist and have a eligible profile on Creative ground if you are truly based in New England but more than Happ to follow up on a specific scenario okay with that well I thank everyone for joining us today we're so glad you could take the time as a reminder this webinar will be recorded and posted on nea's website shortly so you will be able to access this information again all of which also is on nea's website if you want to do some deep reading and you're welcome to reach out to us at any time with questions feel free to email or call us thank you all for coming today
2023-10-29 22:55
