Music Intensive – Winter 2013
Developing a Grant Proposal
For your final project in winter quarter you will be asked to present a proposal for a grant, and that grant would fund your spring quarter research. Musicians in North America need to know how to write grants, because public support for the arts is never a given. This means that you as a musician/scholar need to know how to find out appropriate information, to understand issues in budgeting for research and performance, to be able to write effectively and present your grant proposal as if it were a live performance without the music, and be gracious and effective at all times in your interactions with the granting organization’s committee members. There may be no money involved in real life; however, you will have time to talk about the following issues.
- Your proposed research topic.
- A little background information about it in general.
- Play a recorded example of the genre for no more than one minute.
- What you believe it is like currently in your field site.
- How you plan to spend your time during your three weeks of fieldwork.
Here is the trajectory for this project; each element is due on Thursday of the week.
Week 1 – introduction to the project and brainstorming about topics
Week 3 – short presentation about assigned topics
Week 5 – choose your spring quarter research topic
Week 7 – printed bibliography due
Week 9 – grant proposal due
Week 10 – presentation of grant proposal to the class
There is an understanding that you will follow through with this project in spring quarter. We will be spending the first five weeks of spring developing an eight-page paper giving the background information on the genre you study. Weeks 6, 7, and 8 will be spent doing independent research on that genre with living musicians. Week 9 will include intensive in-class writing and idea development, along with turning in the results in written form. Week 10 ends the school year with the presentation of the results of your research.
For each step of the assignment, we will use in-class time and there will either be a physical handout or a clear set of instructions posted on our blogsite. All your work must be turned in on time; not only is that the standard for the program, but it is also the standard for grant-giving committees. A late proposal never gets funded. On-time, beautifully-organized, effectively-presented proposals stand an excellent chance at getting funded in real life.