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Grant Application & Guidelines

Project Period and Size of Grants
Each spring, Choral Arts New England decides on grant awards for the following season. Applications for projects taking place between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009 are due February 29, 2008. While the size of the request is up to you, most of the grants awarded are in the $1,000–2,000 range. Requests for larger amounts, however, will be considered. Grant recipients may expect to be notified by June 1.

Download the Grant Checklist and Application
(2008 forms posted 6 February 2008)
Word 97+ • Adobe Acrobat / PDF

Eligibility: Who May Apply
Our grants support choral music in New England. Grants are thus awarded to:  (1) New England choruses, both amateur and professional; (2) parent organizations of New England choruses; and (3) New England organizations that provide support to choral music. Church choirs and school or college choruses are also eligible.

Applicant organizations must be non-profit and tax-exempt. Groups or consortia planning a collaborative project can apply under the auspices of a designated fiscal agent (e.g., local historical society, arts council, library, museum, etc.) if desired.

The Application Process
The following instructions must be followed in order to be considered for a grant:

  1. The application form, including the budget and attachments, must be typed and submitted as an ORIGINAL and NINE COPIES. Confine the summary on page 1 to the space provided, and attach additional materials supporting your application, if desired, as addenda. There are no exceptions to this!
  2. Include TEN copies of your annual financial statements for your organization's most recently completed fiscal year, to provide us with an overview of the organization's financial health. (This is different from the project budget on the back of the application form, which is for the specific project for which you want Choral Arts New England funding.)
  3. Include ONE copy of your organization's IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status form.
  4. Include THREE IDENTICAL copies of a recent CD of about 30 minutes duration that contains in its first ten minutes the material you would most like our Artistic Advisory panel to hear. Mark both the jewel case and the CD itself with the name of your group. Include a contents listing (separate from the CD directory) that gives the title, composer (and, where indicated, the period and country of origin) for each selection to be considered. The CD may be of a performance, a rehearsal, or a combination of the two and must not contain any material submitted with previous applications to Choral Arts New England or to the Alfred Nash Patterson Foundation (Choral Arts New England's previous name). Do not include any extensive non-choral segments. The CD need not include complete pieces or movements of pieces.
  5. Additional supporting materials are welcome: program books, press clippings, samples of scores, etc. We suggest that you send us expendable materials, as it is difficult for us to retrieve cassettes, etc., from our Artistic Advisors.

Application Deadline
Application packages for each project period must be complete at the time of submission and MUST BE POSTMARKED NOT LATER THAN FEBRUARY 29, 2008, or they will not be considered. There are no exceptions to this requirement. Applications should be sent to: Choral Arts New England, P.O. Box 608, Newton, MA 02456-0608. We suggest you keep a copy of your submission for future reference throughout the grants process. 

Criteria for Funding 
The foundation tries to distribute its grants throughout the New England area. Organizations in rural or otherwise musically underserved areas are urged to apply. Choral Arts New England is interested in: the programming of new works and important neglected music of the past; educational programs; technical assistance projects; and organizational development projects that show potential for moving grantees toward greater strength and self-sufficiency, in such areas as audience development, fund raising, board development, and business planning.

Grants are awarded for: salaries for artistic personnel (including orchestral musicians); consultant fees and/or other costs involved in organizational development projects; composer commissions; rental or purchase of music; and costs associated with a performance, festival or other special project. We are unlikely to fund general operating expenses, capital equipment purchases, or traditional regular programs such as an annual Christmas concert, community sing-along or performance of Messiah.

The Grant Awards Process
Choral Arts New England's Grants Committee, which consists of members of its Board of Directors, meets in early March to screen grant applications. The committee evaluates the eligibility of each application, the strength of the applicant, and the suitability of the proposed project, eliminating applications that do not meet the guidelines, funding objectives or artistic standards of Choral Arts New England. The remaining applications are forwarded to the Artistic Advisors, three eminent musicians selected annually for this purpose, who evaluate the applications based on recordings and other information. After receiving the ratings of the Artistic Advisors, the Grants Committee meets again to decide on recommendations for grant recipients. Those recommendations are presented for final approval to the Choral Arts New England Board of Directors at its Annual Meeting in the spring (usually in mid-April). All applicants will be notified of the decisions shortly thereafter.

If You Are Awarded a Grant
You will want to refer to these guidelines at various points throughout your project, so keep them handy! All organizations awarded a grant will be invited to an Awards Ceremony in the Fall of the year for which the Grant is awarded, and will be expected to send one or two representatives to the event. Grant checks will be sent to recipient organizations at around the same time.

All published materials and announcements regarding your project must give credit to CHORAL ARTS NEW ENGLAND with references such as the following: "This project is supported in part by an Alfred Nash Patterson Grant from Choral Arts New England." For example, if your project consists of a concert or other performance, this or a similar statement should appear prominently in your concert program book.

When your project is completed you must submit a final report of your experience with the project, plus an itemized financial statement of the project's actual income and expenses and certain addenda described on the report form. These forms will be provided to grant recipients when they are notified of their grants. You must submit your final report or you will be ineligible for any future funding from Choral Arts New England.

GOOD LUCK!

 


Choral Arts New England • 781-721-SING (781-721-7464)
P.O. BOX 608 • Newton, MA 02456-0608