Registration deadline: March 3
Application deadline: September 5

Support is offered for an exhibition of the work of living folk artists, to explore issues in the folk arts, or to interpret the traditional culture of a specific community through its folk arts. The proposed exhibition should enhance understanding and appreciation of the folk arts for general audiences as well as communities represented in the exhibition.

The proposed exhibition should focus on traditions currently practiced or within living memory, and may incorporate relevant historical works of folk art. Requests may include field research expenses for the development of an exhibition and expenses for an exhibition catalogue. Applicants for publications must complete and submit the on-line publication form which requests information about print run, paper stock, binding style, images, cost-per-copy, etc.

The proposed exhibition may include objects of folk art, photographic representations of folk culture, and/or multimedia kiosks or other installations in the exhibition utilizing new technologies.

Multi-year funding for a two-year period is available for projects that consist of a planning phase and installation of the exhibition during the second year.

Application Instructions

The on-line application form includes the following questions, and a project budget. If this request includes an exhibition catalog, please complete the Publication form as part of your request. Required support materials are listed below.

Application Narrative Questions

1. Project Overview
What is the theme and focus of the proposed exhibition? Provide a brief summary of the artists, objects/art work being presented. What is the time frame for the planning and exhibition?

2. Project Context
Summarize your exhibition research, including any documentation of living traditions. Please note relevant previous scholarship and exhibitions on this topic. How does the exhibition relate to your mission and the audience served?

3. Project Personnel
Who are the curators, consultants, designers, or other individuals responsible for research, selection and interpretation of the work that will be exhibited and the design of the exhibition? Include brief descriptions of their qualifications.

4. Interpretation
How will you interpret the content and theme of this exhibition? If a publication is planned, describe the contents and identify the author(s) and their relevant credentials. How will the community whose traditions are represented in this exhibition participate in its planning and implementation?

5. Related Programming
Describe your plans for public programs accompanying this exhibition, including lecture series, school programs and other presentations by folk artists. Provide brief background information about the artists, scholars or other speakers participating, indicating their professional affiliations and areas of specialization.

6. Technology
For exhibitions incorporating new technologies, describe the approach, the technical capacity and staff support for this aspect of the exhibition.

7. Marketing
How will the exhibition be marketed and promoted, within and beyond the community whose traditions are represented?

8. Facilities
Describe the facility that will be used for your exhibition.

9. Touring Exhibitions
If the exhibition will travel to other venues, indicate the schedule and itinerary and describe any plans for revising the content for other sites. If this application is for presentation of an exhibition produced by another organization, describe your plans to relate the exhibition to your own audience and collection (if any).

10. Field Research
If this project involves documentation of folk arts traditions as part of the planning process, indicate the archive that will receive the documentation, and the credentials of the individual who will carry out the documentation.

11. Finance
Detail the plans, projects, and activities for meeting the expenses of the exhibition.

Support Materials

Support material must be postmarked or hand-delivered to the program by the application deadline. If you want support materials returned, provide a self-addressed stamped envelope.

1. Up to 10 slides or a CD-ROM representative of the objects to be included in the exhibition

2. Up to 10 slides or a CD-ROM, representing exhibition installations previously mounted by your organization, demonstrating the abilities of the exhibition designer and the facility to be used for the exhibition. Complete a slide script to accompany your images.

3. Resumés of the curator, principal consultant(s), exhibition designer and, if applicable, editor and contributors to the exhibition catalogue.

4. If your organization has been supported by the Folk Arts Program for an exhibition in the past, provide printed materials produced for the most recent exhibition, such as a catalogue, brochure, and/or educational materials.

5. If this project involves field research, provide samples of documentation previously undertaken by relevant project personnel through slides, audio tapes, or disks, and sample release forms

6. For multi-year requests involving a planning phase, provide a work plan/timeline.