New England States Touring (NEST) Grant Webinar 2024

let's get started then again good morning everyone and welcome to nea's webinar about the New England stage storing for because we love our acronym Nest rant program the session will be recorded and shared on our website so please keep your camera off if you prefer uh for your face to not be in the recording before we begin I'd like to acknowledge the land on which we are moving at the New England foundation for the Arts we believe that one of the roles of the Arts is to make the invisible visible we also believe that it is not the responsibility of those who have been made invisible to remind us that they are still here therefore as a committed Ally Nea acknowledges that the ground on which we work is the traditional land of the Massachusetts and MOG people we honor their ancestors past present and future and recognize their continued existence and contributions to our society Nea also acknowledges that all the places that our distributed staff live and work and where we provide support and hold events are indigenous SLS because we are gathering in Virtual space it is vital we acknowledge that not only are we tied through the lands that we are on but because because we are consuming resources through our cables and our electricity through our use of natural gas and heating oils water and occupation of space while we are gathered virtually whether we are in our offices or in our homes the history of technology in the United States including the platform we are using today Zoom is deeply tied to Silicone Valley the traditional and present homeland of theoni people we offer our to the elders past present and future of all indigenous peoples of all the lands that we live and work on both physically and digitally so uh again everyone thank you for joining us uh my name is f rard i use BM pronouns and I am the program coordinator for doing this presenting and touring and I am joined by my uh lovely colleagues today who I will let introduce I know which one of you wants to go first good morning everyone I'm Adrian patrello she her pronouns I'm the senior program director for New England presenting and touring here at Nea and good morning everyone my name is Audrey sarapin I use she her pronouns and I I'm also calling in from uh Boston uh nit buunk and nit land I probably but for all uh great to great to be here with everyone this morning thank you and I also want to acknowledge our colleague San Yu who is behind the scenes helping us out today say works with Bon Audrey and myself on our regional Grant programs thank you for joining us today s all right so today we are here to share information about nea's New England State storing or Nest uh grant program Nest is one of many Grant programs available to support projects based in New England I encourage you to review our website for information about the other Nea programs than resources uh so Nest is New England stage stouring and the nest program funds performances readings and screenings of work by Regional National and international artists presented by New England based nonprofit organizations Nest is nea's oldest program and the core of support for New England organizations that connect artists with communities in our region Nest is publicly funded and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts the Nea and the six New England State Arts agency I'd like to share a little bit about the program goals for nest which really inform then the program design as well as the funding criteria that we'll be talking about later in this session um so first is the first goal is to expand direct direct access to high quality artists and aesthetic diversity for all New England communities by artists from New England the nation and across the globe and I will say as Fallen mentioned Nest is supported by the Nea and the six State Arts agencies in New England and so supporting access to the arts for all is an important component of our partnership with those organizations we are also looking to Foster opportunities for collaboration and Partnerships among New England cultural organizations and between artists and organizations the field that we serve with these programs is the presenting and touring field here in New England and it's an interconnected ecosystem and Nest funds projects that really help support those creative Partnerships um and also build opportunities and that those opportunities can lead to long-term Partnerships and relationships that often exist well beyond the scope of a Nea funded project we also encourage projects that provide meaningful interaction between artists and communities extending beyond the stage activities that go beyond the stage provide deeper interaction to enhance the audience's experience of the Arts and the understanding of the artist's work um this also can lead to a much more meaningful connection for the artists and for the community being reached I will now pass it over to Audrey who's going to talk about the three different versions of the nest program thank you so much Adrien um as mentioned and as some of you may already know uh Nest exists in several different forms uh here at meifa in three different levels which are appropriately titled Nest one two and three um we're going to be going into detail um explaining those different roles today um first we have Nest one uh this is the most uh basic form of Nest uh it funds one New England it funds a new nonprofit applicant to bring a New England artist from outside of their state so one artist who is from a New England State performing in a different England State uh Nest two funds tours of New England based artists by one nonprofit based inside the artist home state and one other nonprofit base in a different New England State so sort of like a mini tour um with both local and uh another state uh as the two stops um and then finally Nest three which is uh which for folks who have been around uh Bears a lot of resemblance to the Expeditions program uh funds tours of regional National and international artists presented by a minimum of three nonprofits and at least two different New England states um so as as it says uh you can have artists from anywhere in the world uh coming to uh three or um three or more uh nonprofit Arts presenters um in New England think I'm good for the next slide awesome so uh to speak a little bit about the who is eligible to um apply and receive a nest Grant um there you may have heard this a little bit from you already um but applicant organizations also known as Arts presenters um you'll hear us use the terms interchangeably uh eligible applicant organizations offer um Performing Arts programming and represent a wide range of different types of organizations um the one uh big piece here is that you that applicants do need to be a 501c3 nonprofit organization uh a school federally recognized tribal government and or other government entity uh we do not allow uh fiscal agents as this is federal funding and that is not allowed um by our uh funer the Nea um you must also be based in a New England State and as a little reminder here um those New England states are Connecticut Maine massachusett New Hampshire Rhode Island or Vermont um those are the six states of New England and it does not include New York um in terms of applicants that we have seen in the past um you don't necessarily need to be an Arts producing nonprofit but as I mentioned you do need to be an Arts presenting nonprofit um past uh examp of applicants include libraries municipalities uh historical societies really any organization um that has that 501c3 license and is interested in bringing uh an New England um or national International artists with an S3 um to their Community uh can apply um however all of these projects and present must include a Public Presentation of the artist um who is named in the application um and a Public Presentation is it as event that is open to the public and advertised accordingly uh as I mentioned uh this is a a federal part of a federal program so the feder federal government requires that all Nea organizational Grant recipients um supported by federal funding register for uh sam.gov UEI or unique entity ID um my colleague say has just dropped the website in the chat so you can link and learn more um this is actually a requirement for all um Nea grants so uh it is not a bad idea to check it out even if you're interested in other programs um and finally all applicants um applicant organizations who are applying to Nest must maintain an updated profile on Creative ground directory um which is nea's New England um creative economy database um and we'll talk a little bit about more about that later I'm good for the next slide okay so now we're going to go into detail a little bit more um I'm personally going to go into detail a little bit more about Nest one and two um those are our two levels that are specifically for New England artists um being presented by New England prors um so as I mentioned Nest One funds New England nonprofit applicants to present a New England artist from outside their state for example if you were a library um or a town halls in New Hampshire and you wanted to bring a artist from Boston you could apply uh to a nest one to bring that artist from Massachusetts over into New Hampshire um the this uh the deadlines for nest one um happen three times a year and they are the first business days and most often the first day of the month of August December and March um a new sort of uh tidbit here uh we do have some limits on how many Nest one and two applications folks can submit um so organizations May submit up to two uh Nest one and or Nest two applications in any combination for each deadline so for example our next deadline is in December you could submit one Nest one application and one Nest two application you could submit two Nest two applications you could submit to um next two applications but you could not submit total more than two applications so not not three or more um in your Nas onean application you are applying for the art for percentage of the artist fee um to present the artist to your uh community so grants provide up to 60% of that artist fee and range from $500 to $5,000 um important to note though that applications for artist fees of under $2,000 May request the full artist fee so that full 2,000 um and both the the Artist as well as we mentioned before the presenter um uh must be in the creative ground directory and that artist must um be listed as Nest eligible in the creative ground directory um and that is Nest one from one state to another one presenter and that's how you remember that it's Nest one okay I think now we can do Nest two Fallon thank you so much um so Nest two is our other uh Regional only uh program so Nest two funds the tours of New England based artists presented by one nonprofit based inside of the artist home state and another nonprofit based in a different New England State this is sort of a little mini tour that's set that um folks can set up and it also allows presenters to present New England artists from their state or Community um and uh ensures that um they are vouching for uh artists um locally to you know travel throughout New England and um present their work there as well um so similarly uh the application deadlines for nest two align with Nest one on August 1 or the first business days of August December and March um with Nest to each applicant organization must submit individual applications for that same deadline so um for example if you were presenting something in the spring and you wanted to apply for uh the uh next nest deadline you would both need to apply for uh December 1st you couldn't have somebody wait until the March 1 deadline so you both apply December 1st um and we do look for some coordination there um between uh the two presenting organizations um uh so organizations as I mentioned can submit a maximum of two so again those maximums for each deadline are con are um inclusive of Nest one and two applications so you can submit them in any combination but no more than two uh similarly to Nest one grants uh provide up to 60% of the artist fee and range from 500 to $5,000 um and application applications with artist fees under 2,000 can can apply to request the full artist fee and the artist must be listed as Nest eligible in the creative ground directory um but essentially in in summary uh Nest two um two different presenting organizations one from the artist home state and one from any other state in New England so for example if uh you are looking if if you were a vermont-based presenter looking to uh present a local musician um you could do so through Nest to but you would need to partner with an organization in another state like Massachusetts or Rhode Island uh to uh organize a little mini tour for that Vermont musician and both of you both you and the out of state presenter would complete Nest two applications um and submit them on the same deadline um to be considered um and I think I'm passing it over to Fallon for nest three which is slightly more complicated thank you Audrey uh so as Audrey mentioned earlier n three uh most closely resembles out of the three different versions of Nest uh a previous program that we had Expedition uh Nest three found stores of regional National and international artists uh presented by a minimum of three nonprofit organizations in at least two different New England states um so ways that this can look is that uh you have two presenters in Massachusetts let's say one from Eastern Mass and one from Western mes and then one presenter in Vermont and they can present an artist from anywhere in the world it could be another New England artist um from whichever State uh it could be a national artist from say California or it could be an international artist from say Pakistan um and three is the minimum number of presenters that you need but it is not the maximum that you can have uh so we have seen tours uh featuring like up to seven presenters in the past and that is totally fine uh again as long as they are from at least two different New England states um so Nest three has one annual deadline and that is on the first business day of March each organization each presenting organization is responsible for negotiating the terms of the engagement with the arst and completing and submitting a S3 application so everyone submits their own application here uh organizations May submit up to three Nest three applications um and we um we have those limits for nest one and two uh where you can submit up to two applications uh per deadline and that sort of facts with the nest3 application so if you wanted to come in for the March deadline and submit uh three Nest three applications you can also in addition to that submit up to two Nest one and or Nest two applications uh grants for nft three provide up to 60% of the artist V uh but our maximum Grant size per next three is $10,000 uh and like Nest one and Nest two applications with artistes under $2,000 uh May request the full artist Fe if you are presenting a New England artist through Nest 3 then that artist must be listed as Nest eligible on Creative ground and for any artists that are from outside of New England uh one of the presenting Partners please just one uh must submit a work sample uh for the artist and um any projects funded through S3 uh must occur between June 1st 2025 and August 31st 2026 uh and of course that is just for this most uh this upcoming deadline here um but in general is uh between June 1st of the year that you apply and August 31st of the following year uh and I will pass it back over to Audrey um so I am gonna spend a minute here talking about um things that all three levels of Nest one two and three do not fund um Nest does not fund uh private events to is those that are not open to the public and not advertised accordingly we also do not uh fund events taking place outside of uh the New England geography uh we do not um fund fundraisers though of course we do um encourage ticket sales at these events for a wide variety of reasons you can uh make money on these events but we will not be funding um a performance at a Gala or similar um fundraising event um uh we uh do not fund activities and programs which take place exclusively in schools during class time or performances in which the majority of uh performers are students um we do not we uh do not fund self-produced presentations by artists or ensembles um and uh we do not um we do not fund artists who are visiting in a guest artist capacity to a performing uh producing organization such as a conductor or soloist um if they are performing with the organization themselves for example an orchestra someone's coming to sing with them but it's mostly the orchestra um you could not apply to fund that guest artist um and finally uh we do not uh fund presentations of artistic work um that have funding available through our national programs the national dance project and the National Theater project these are two other um nefa Grant programs uh that offer support to New England organizations um and uh we and also offer um funds for those project there there is opportunities for New England presenters to uh bring those projects through those programs so for organizations Who present dance and theater it's always worth checking out what projects are available through the national dance project and the National Theater project um and we encourage you to apply for touring funds for those project through their program respectively um but we uh do not fund um those projects while they are uh being funded by another Nea program and I'm gonna I think hand it to Adrian for the next bit um thanks so I'm going to talk about the funding criteria and this gets into the big question we always get which is how do you determine who gets funded and who doesn't and it really comes down to the funding criteria so there are four criteria that we look at uh when assessing a Grant application um and each application is reviewed individually based on this criteria and for nest three we also look at the Collective Strength of the overall tour as well um so first and foremost is that we are looking for a clear rationale for how the project aligns with the organization's Arts programming goals and its significance for the community so this is the place to talk about the artist name the artist um this is why we want to hear why you are presenting this artist right now for your community um the next question or the next criteria which uh is that we are looking for collaborative planning among tour partners and artists and the featured artists should be included in Project planning this criteria is only relevant for two and three where partners are required um and this is where we're looking to find out more information about how you've worked with the tour Partners as well as with the artist some examples of this might be have you all been on conference calls together are you sharing resources like marketing materials or study guides um has some or maybe one presenter has developed a set of resources that can be shared with other presenters um are you talking to each other are you learning from each other are you building those relationships um so that is what we're looking for with that criteria and then we are also looking for additional activities beyond the performance which provide opportunities for the artist in this specific engagement to meaningfully connect with various sectors of the community cross- sector exchange and collaboration are strongly encouraged and by cross- sector we mean Arts organizations partnering with nons organization so partnering with a healthcare organization or a climate change organization or a social justice organization um but is there an opportunity to to make the project cross sector and additional activities these are the things going back to the program goals that reflect that off stage beyond the stage um so additional activities could include panel discussions they could include workshops they can be informal events like dinners or other meals um but what are the opportunities for your community to connect with this artist Beyond just the performance and then finally we are looking for projects that expand access to the arts for all New England communities including Rural and or black indigenous and people of color also known as bipo communities nefa acknowledges 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 strive to counter those inequities in our work and I recommend looking at nea's Value statement regarding Equity diversity inclusion and accessibility um organizations that are serving rural communities Andor deeply engaging bipac communities are highly encouraged to apply to the nest program so the applications which best address these funding criteria are the most likely to receive funding the funding amount also is based on how well the criteria is met so the stronger the application in meeting these criteria the higher the likelihood of the Grant and the higher the grant amount um Nea staff is available to advise you throughout the process so if you have questions um you're welcome to to reach out to us um the full application for nest one and two uh the next deadline's December so that deadline the applications are usually posted about six to eight weeks in advance so it's not available just yet and similarly NES 3 will be available in early 2025 um so while you can't look at the full application at the moment because we don't have one open um you can preview the narrative questions on our website um you will see a link thank you say for dropping that in the chat and if you look at those narrative questions you'll see a direct correlation between the questions and these funding criteria um my sort of pro tip for everyone is if your answer to one of the narrative questions is no or not applicable then this grant program might not be the right fit for you we are looking for an answer to those questions so for instance if we ask how you've collaborated with Partners we want to hear how you've collaborated with partners and if you haven't then you are going to have a hard time meeting the second funding Criterion um my other piece of advice in terms of answer answering narrative questions is specificity uh the most common piece of feedback we hear from panelists is that they want more details um so you know we've tried to provide you with enough space to give that that information um there is a 2000 character limit per question but I encourage you to take up that entire space because we do want to hear about your project we want to hear about your partners we want to hear about your community the other piece is you know you should never assume panelists or Nea will know anything about what you're talking about um write it as if you are writing for someone who has no idea of what you do or what who's in your community who you serve anything like that um one side note to also mention Audrey kind of mentioned it earlier um which is that we do encourage charging admission for project projects um we are not necessarily looking for projects that are free um there are certainly events where that makes more sense for certain either practical or um reasons related to the goals of the event um but in general we are looking for projects that charge admission um because admission can help provide that Revenue that is so important to all of us these days um they also remind the audience that the artists doing this work that their work has value and should be compensated and then on a practical level um paid admission can also help with attendance at events as well as helping to collect data about patrons that might be helpful in marketing and fundraising so that's the funding criteria and if you really want kind of the inside view or you're really wondering how Nest works or how you get a nest Grant this funding criteria is the key to that so I encourage you to spend some time looking at that and ing um how you would address the questions uh so we can go to the next slide uh so just a little bit about the review and the award process so Nest one and two applications are reviewed by Nest advisors these advisers are representatives from each of the New England State Arts agencies um and applicants are encouraged to contact the nest advisor from their state while they're applying we do have that information on our website um because these are the folks looking at your Grant so it can be a good idea to just give them a heads up or check in with them or ask them a question um for nest one and two applicants are generally notified about six to eight weeks after the deadline for nest three applications are reviewed by panelists from the presenting and touring field so it is a pure panel review process these panelists might include presenters artist agents managers or others who are just familiar with the presenting in touring field they may be from New England but more likely they may not be as we are a small region um and so it can be hard to find folks who don't have a conflict of interest and so this means that nest3 panelists might be familiar with your organization they might be familiar with your your community but don't assume that um you know you want to be sure to explain what you do and who the community is that you serve um I would not assume they have knowledge about that and just to be clear that Nea staff while we facilitate the process we do not actually weigh in about the decisions um that is really up to the panel and the final decisions are made by the panel um and with NES three applicants are notified about 8 to 10 weeks after the deadline with all Nea Grant programs we offer panel feedback once the process has concluded um and we even recommend even if you received funding you still might want to reach out for feedback we find that people are often surprised to learn why something was funded um in addition to sometimes learning why it wasn't funded and both things can really help with future applications so you're more than welcome to reach out to us once the process has concluded um should you receive a nest Grant a final report will be required um and Nest Grant are generally paid as a reimbursement after that final report is submitted uh partial Grant payments can be made before the project is completed if there has already been a partial payment to the artist then we can reimburse but it's good to know from the beginning that Nest grants are generally reimbursement grants and we do recommend um say just dropped another Link in there reviewing the final report requirements before applying to just make sure sure that you feel like you have the capacity to meet those requirements as that's an important part of receiving a grant as well and I will pass it back to Fallon thank you Adrian um so we've mentioned deadlines are the first business days of August December and March and so here are exactly when those days fall uh with in this current Grant cycle uh so we have the deadline pass on August 1st the next upcoming Grant deadline will be on December 2nd and then um the final deadline for the cycle will be on March 3rd um as a reminder the August 1 deadline was just for nest one and two grants the December 2 deadline will also be just for nest one and two grants uh but the March 3rd deadline will be uh for nest one two and three grants um and all applications to all EA Grant programs are submitted through our online grants portal um and please note that we do not accept late applications so if your uh Grant has not been submitted by 11:59 p.m. on whichever day uh that the deadline falls on it will not be accepted um please make sure you hit submit uh when you have completed your application we have seen a few people uh stumble there um but yes no late uh submissions are accepted for the next grant program um and I will pass things back to Adrian so we want to touch on a few resources that are complementary to the grant programs that we offer uh first uh I think can we go back aside thank you uh so first is the creative ground website so creative ground.org is New England's Community generated free let me say it again free arts and culture directory that provides visibility connection and information to support a regionwise creative Network so this is an opportunity for artists and arts organizations to promote their work to find collaborators and connect with creative New England um it is an excellent tool it is a very very robust directory I think there's about 30,000 profiles on there at the moment um all cultural nonprofits uh are represented on there as well as a lot of the artists and creative businesses who are based in the region you can search it a variety of ways including by organization type by discipline by geography um so you can that's a great tool if you're looking to find Partners like outside of your state you can narrow it down to particular state or even a particular Town um you can also use creative ground to find Nest eligible artists so with Nest one and two all artists need to be what we call Nest eligible on Creative ground um and this essentially means that they have filled out certain Fields within their creative ground profile um those are things artists would want to fill out anyway so it's like things like having a description having a photo um having a link to a video talking about past engagements things like that um there is more information on the website about those specific Nest artist requirements but any artist who wants to be considered for a nest one or two Grant must complete the nest eligibility on Creative ground um I will say any artist can also become Nest eligible at any time so it's just a rolling process um that everyone can do at their own time um it is reviewed by human beings so it's also not automated and just want to note that so if you do it and you don't get approved within 90 seconds it's because a human being is going to look at it and may email you if there are any questions um and organizations who apply to Nest to all three versions of Nest are also encouraged to have a creative ground profile it's a resource that we share with panelists so they may be using creative ground to learn more about you or your organization or your community um so it's and again it's a great way to promote your work so nest3 does require those Partners throughout New England creative ground is a great resource for that but we also want to talk about another event that we do that helps to Foster those Partnerships so this fall we are hosting our annual idea swap event um this is an annual Gathering of new england-based Arts presenters cultural organizations and artists and they come together to share networking and project ideas specifically for the nest three program um this year's event is being held November 12th in Worster Mass um it's a one-day event and it's a great opportunity if you are interested in nest3 and you need to you have a project you're interested in touring or you just want to hear what other people are talking about it's a really good opportunity to network and gather with peers from around the region it's generally about 150 to 175 people for one very packed today of information um but it's a nice chance to also connect with people in person um um and use that time to start building some relationships so I think we will we're moving into the final parts of this presentation um and as we're doing that I encourage you to also drop any questions you have in the chat and we will do our best to answer them and I'll pass it back to Fallon thank you Adrian uh so just shout out to our funders that we mention earlier the National Endowment for the Arts and the six New England State Arts agencies uh they enable us to do what we do so thank you to them uh and lastly uh we will be moving into the uh questions part of this webinar now um and so we encourage you to uh drop questions in the chat but also um if there is a question that we're not able to answer in the time we have alloted or you think of something later uh you can reach us um we have our contact info just shared right here on this slide um and we very very strongly encourage you to reach out to us if you are new to the nest Brant program uh and thinking of submitting an application uh it's always good just to check in and make sure you are understanding program guidelines uh correctly um and if you have any questions at all we are here to help and to answer um with all that being said um in addition to dropping questions in the chat you can also feel free to use the uh raise hand function in Zoom uh and then speak your question as well uh again just please note that this is recorded and will be going up on our website so if you do not want your likeness uh posted on our website then we advise that you use the chat instead I see a question in the chat that said would you please review the project timeline for the different application deadlines I saw one for nest three but could use a refresher for nest one yes um Fallon do you want to go back to the deadline slide which might be helpful so for nest one and two uh so the August deadline that we just had is for projects that start after November 1st the December deadline is for projects after March 1st and the March deadline is for projects after June 1st so they are all approximately three months in advance of when projects need to start and then projects should generally take place within about a year of that time that start of that timeline um and then Nest three as Fallon had noted is about a year and a half a little less um is basically two summers so it always starts June 1 and runs through the following August so for folks who do exclusively do summer programming There's an opportunity to apply for both the upcoming summer as well as the following summer yes and as noted this is all on our website as well there all of the information we've shared today is on the website so I hope no one was trying to take frantic notes um it is all there but we are happy to to answer questions we know is sometimes a little easier to hear it kind of said verbally if there aren't other questions we'll just go back to one question that was posted in the chat about whether there's a limit on the number of applications that an artist can be listed in and the answer to that is that there currently are no limits on in terms of the artists the only limits are on the number of applications that a presenter can submit all right well if there are no further questions uh we want to thank everyone for joining us today um again we are available and here to answer questions at any time feel free to call or email us um and we appreciate you joining us and this recording will be posted on nea's website within a few weeks so also if you really want to watch it again uh you are welcome to come back and do that um but thank you for joining us and I hope everyone has a wonderful day

2024-10-03 02:06

Other news