Rocket Grants 2011-2012 Call for Proposals

Rocket Grants receive support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and are implemented through a partnership between the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO and the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. The 2011-12 program will provide $40,000 in cash awards of up to $4,000 each to support the creation and presentation of new work and projects.

Eligible applicants include artists, curators, collectives, collaboratives, partnerships, and artist-run spaces residing within an 80-mile radius of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Artists must be over 21 at the time of application and may not be full-time students during the application or award period (April 1, 2011 to June 15, 2012). College graduates must have graduated prior to June 30, 2009. Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations are not eligible. Artists may not be awarded Rocket Grants for two sequential rounds; 2010 awardees may not reapply in 2011.

Supported projects may include visual art, performance, film screenings, video, new media, social practice, and interdisciplinary projects. All projects must have a public life and be made accessible to the public via process, presentation, production, or publication. Projects should happen outside established institutions, challenge mainstream methods of production or presentation, and encourage development of new audiences. Projects using traditional or established arts venues such as galleries, museums, theaters, and arts districts will not be strong candidates. Exhibition venues operated by Spencer Museum or Charlotte Street Foundation are not allowable.

A panel of local and national artists and arts professionals will evaluate proposals based on creative and conceptual strength, overall vision, capacity to realize the project, and potential for meaningful impact on the community and regional art ecology. Funded artists must maintain prompt communications with the Program Coordinator, make regular entries on a Rocketblog to track project progress, and complete a short report after project completion. Ten percent of each grant will be withheld and released upon completion of the final report. The award gathering and fund release is scheduled for June 15, 2011, with all projects due to be complete by June 15, 2012.