Guidelines

Our selection process includes three steps: inquiry, application and panel review. We work with arts professionals from across the country in a concerted effort to select a roster of projects reflecting a nation of work. We strive to support diversity in all its forms—gender, race/ethnicity, geographic distribution, art forms and creative process, age, and experience. We also pride ourselves on a final roster that often features artists discovered and rediscovered.

Creative Capital's core program receives support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Toby Devan Lewis, the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, the Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Booth Ferris Foundation, the Muriel Pollia Foundation, the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, Catharine and Jeffrey Soros, Paige West, and more than 150 other institutional and individual donors, in addition to support from the Kresge Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for the Professional Development Program.

What Creative Capital has given me has been one of the most useful and fulfilling grants of my entire career. In every step of the process, I felt supported in “re-envisioning” my career, pushing my process forward and creating a work that is truly challenging. –Creative Capital Artist

We have pioneered a comprehensive approach to working with artists over the course of a funded project for three to seven years. We remain engaged with projects beyond the initial award of $10,000 with additional financial support of up to a total of $50,000 as well as targeted advisory services, tools, resources and relationships that help our artists maximize this opportunity and create successful projects. The first year of our support is a particularly intense period in which we lay a firm foundation for our artists and their projects. We’ve also learned that many opportunities for project expansion often occur after a project’s premiere or a book’s publication, and we continue to work with artists well after the work has come into being. We hope these services provide long-term tools that artists can use to be more in command of their own careers, helping them thrive for years to come. To learn more about our comprehensive four-part system of support, please visit http://http://creative-capital.org/approach

As part of our commitment to reciprocity, each artist agrees to share with Creative Capital a small percentage of any net profits derived from the project. This provision offers artists a means to give back to the arts community, assisting others in attaining the success they have achieved. The principle of sharing proceeds is essential to the concept of Creative Capital; however, potential profitability is not a criterion for selection. We recognize that many of the projects we fund will be taking risks and might not recoup their original investment. Creative Capital will work with all of our artists to explore mutually beneficial alternatives to support the continued work of the organization.

What kind of work/artist does Creative Capital support?
Creative Capital is interested in artists who:

• Demonstrate bold, inventive and singular ideas in project form and content
• Are at a catalytic moment in their creative practice and approach to their career
• Are deeply engaged with and rigorously committed to their art form
• Have potential for significant artistic and cultural impact
• Understand the professional landscape of their field

We are proud of the many ambitious artists and ideas funded in our first decade and will continue our commitment to projects that transcend discipline boundaries. We also hope to attract idea-driven and groundbreaking proposals in heretofore under-represented areas in our roster, such as architecture/design, gaming, non-traditional opera, spoken word and genre-defying literature. Lastly, we are always open to poetically resonant, visually pleasurable and intelligently humorous work. No matter what genre or discipline, the most competitive projects will take risks and articulate an original vision.

We invite you to learn about previously funded projects at http://creative-capital.org/artistprojects. Please note that we are actively interested in many kinds of projects that may or may not be represented there.

As noted above, Creative Capital seeks to support artists who are at a catalytic moment in the development of their artistic practice. This can be any pivotal point at which an artist is ready to examine his/her creative and/or professional approach. Artists at such a stage are poised to take advantage of Creative Capital’s comprehensive system of support, especially our intensive system of advisory and professional support. For more information on our pioneering model, please visit http://http://creative-capital.org/approach.

Ours is a demanding award that requires a high level of engagement between Creative Capital and the artist, especially in the first year of the award, but also extending as far as one to two years beyond the premiere of the project. Therefore, we seek to partner with artists who exhibit a genuine comprehension of and excitement for how our support can have an impact on their artistic and professional growth. Our mission is, in part, based on a model of community building and mutual generosity as evidenced by our artist retreats and the payback provision. The Creative Capital community is a valuable network of creative and professional individuals who share knowledge, resources and support. Thus, we value artists who are generous toward their peers and professional colleagues.

Please note: This is a one-time award, so we urge you to consider whether this is the right project at the right time for you to take full advantage of what we have to offer. We also suggest that you not submit the same project more than twice for consideration.

Under Emerging Fields, how does Creative Capital define digital arts, new genres and interdisciplinary projects?
Digital arts may include electronic art, net art, open source technology, locational technology, connectedness, wireless technology, gaming, networked art, experimental programming and software, hacking, robotics, blogs, VJs, generative art, etc.

New genres and interdisciplinary projects may include work that is a hybrid form (art & community, tactical interventions, etc.) or at the intersections of disciplines—both within the arts (art & architecture, art & design, etc.) and outside the field (art & social justice, art & biotechnology, art & ecology, art & genetics, etc.)—as well as immersive and interactive art, installation, performative installations, filmformance and networked projects.

What kinds of projects are you looking for in Literature?
In Literature we seek work by writers who are not only highly accomplished stylists, but who also demonstrate an adventurous spirit when it comes to issues of form and/or content. We are interested in original writing that pushes literature in new and surprising directions. Playwrights should apply in the Performing Arts category.

Please note that “professional experience” in the Literature category is defined as publication in five or more magazines, newspapers, literary journals or anthologies for prose writers and ten or more for poets, or publication of at least one book-length work.

Are there any special instructions for playwrights in Performing Arts?
Since theater is a performing art, playwrights should apply in the Performing Arts category. Also note that playwrights who advance to the application round will not be able to submit scripts as work samples. Only moving image, audio or URL samples will be acceptable. In the past, we have discovered that applications with scripts as work samples do not prove competitive because evaluators cannot properly judge the work as a live experience.

Do you have any early advice about work samples?
While detailed instructions for submitting work samples will not be available until the application phase launches in June, please note the following:

• All work samples will be submitted online.
• Only Literature applicants will be permitted to submit text (see above questions).

When will you next offer grants for projects in Film/Video and Visual Arts?
We will be funding those disciplines again in 2014.

What kind of projects does Creative Capital NOT support?
This is not an ideal award for artists just beginning their creative practice, thus our requirement for five years experience in your field. In addition, we do not fund documentation or cataloguing of past work, nor do we fund projects whose main purpose is promotional or educational.

• Open call for Letters of Inquiry
• Recommendations by artists and arts professionals
• Active solicitation by the Creative Capital staff
• All submissions are reviewed using the same evaluation process.

• A U.S. citizen or a permanent legal resident
• At least 25 years old
• A working artist with at least five years of professional experience

An artist cannot be:
• An institution (If you are an artist who is a principal in a 501(c)(3) organization, you should apply as an individual artist. If you are selected for funding, the award may be made payable to you through your organization.)
• A full-time student in a degree-granting program or its equivalentA current employee, consultant, board member or major funder of Creative Capital, or an immediate family member of such a person
• An active or alumni artist of Creative Capital
• An applicant or collaborator on more than one proposed project

What about collaborative projects?
We accept proposals for collaborative projects and work by collectives. Please choose one collaborator or collective member to serve as the main contact for the project. Each collaborative team may have up to six members in total and each of their names, roles and bios should be included in the project proposal. Each and all collaborators must meet the above eligibility requirements. Creative Capital defines “collaborator” or “collective member” as someone who is considered to be a co-owner of the project and generative part of the team, not someone who provides services on a “work for hire” basis. Please note that each artist/collaborator can apply with only one project in any single award year.

• Ongoing Team or Collective Collaborations: Two or more people who have an established history of collaboration, sometimes organized under a group name, all of whom are committed to the completion of the proposed project•
• One-Time Collaborations: A working arrangement between two or more people who have agreed to stay in partnership while completing the proposed project.
• Please note that one-time collaborators will need to make a very strong case regarding their commitment to work together for the entire three to seven year length of the award in order to be competitive.
• If granted an award, all parties in the collaboration will be required to sign a letter of agreement stating their intention to finish the project together.

How many awards will Creative Capital make and in what amounts?
This year, Creative Capital will support approximately 23 projects in Performing Arts, 16 projects in Emerging Fields and six projects in Literature at initial levels of $10,000 each. Including follow-up monetary support, a project may receive as much as $50,000 in direct financial support during the life cycle of the award, with the average amount closer to $35,000. This is in addition to advisory and professional services with an average value of $40,000, bringing the potential support per project up to $90,000.

• The artistic strength, vision, originality and potential impact of the proposed project
• The professional capabilities of the applicant
• The feasibility of the project
• The potential impact of our funding and services on the project and for the artist

1. Inquiry:
• Emerging Fields: We anticipate up to 1200 letters of inquiry will be submitted.
• Literature: We anticipate up to 500 letters or inquiry will be submitted.
• Performing Arts: We anticipate up to 1500 letters of inquiry will be submitted

2. Application:
• Emerging Fields: Approximately 300 artists will be invited to submit full applications with work samples and full budgets.
• Literature: Approximately 100 artists will be invited to submit full applications with work samples and full budgets.
• Performing Arts: Approximately 300 artists will be invited to submit full applications with work samples and full budgets.

3. Panel:
• Emerging Fields: Approximately 100 proposals will be advanced to panel review, and around 17 will be recommended for funding. The roster will be subject to final approval by the Creative Capital board.
• Literature: Approximately 35 proposals will be advanced to panel review, and around six will be recommended for funding. The roster will be subject to final approval by the Creative Capital board.
• Performing Arts: Approximately 100 proposals will be advanced to panel review, and around 23 will be recommended for funding. The roster will be subject to final approval by the Creative Capital board.

• The questions on the inquiry form and application are tailored to be artist-centered.
• At least two arts professionals learn about your work at each stage, and for those proposals advanced to the panel stage, eight to ten arts professionals will have been exposed to your work by the end of the process.
• For those artists who advance to the application phase of our process, we are developing a new initiative that will share artist and project information in a searchable database open to others in the field—curators, programmers, artists, potential resource providers—who may want to support the work. This information will be shared only with the applicants’ permission.
• Upon request, we offer a summary of the panel discussion regarding the proposed project to artists who make it to the panel stage but do not ultimately receive an award.

Creative Capital’s support has given me some breathing room, of course, but it has also encouraged me to think creatively about what I need as an artist… The community, the retreat, the financial and web resources, and just the large sphere of contacts and the exposure to like-minded people have been invaluable!
–Creative Capital Artist

2012 Grant Guidelines

Selection Process

Eligibility

Award Disciplines

Grantmaking Guidelines