University of Connecticut
School of Fine Arts Research Grant 2024-2025
Description The School of Fine Arts Research Grant is intended to fund proposals of superior artistic and scholarly merit, and especially to offer support for projects in their initial stages that are likely to result in high-profile publications, exhibitions, performances, and other creative activity appropriate to the field of inquiry, and that have strong potential to attract external funding from such agencies as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and other regional, national, and international bodies. For this year’s competition a total of $55,000 will be available to the SFA faculty for scholarly research and creative practice projects. We are extremely grateful to the Office of the Vice President for Research for providing generous funding to supplement the amount allocated for this program within the SFA budget.
Eligibility Tenured/tenure-track and in-residence faculty. (We are unfortunately unable to accept proposals from Emeritus faculty, given limited funds and the need to prioritize the work of faculty whose research/creative activity is evaluated as part of PTR and merit processes.)
Priorities The program’s primary objective is to support proposals of high merit. The SFA welcomes proposals for projects in all areas and for a wide variety of purpose (but please see * below for exceptions). We welcome proposals that involve collaboration, including between faculty across multiple departments of the school or university. The following criteria will be used to rank proposals:
Quality of the project
Clarity of methodology and objectives
Significance of the research or creative activity to the field
Budget clarity
Potential for external funding
Prior support from School of Fine Arts Research Grant funds
While the intrinsic strength of a proposal will remain the primary consideration, the selection committee reserves the right to take into account also support that the applicant has received from SFA programs during the last five years, given the limited financial resources available and the large number of deserving proposals typically submitted.
Amount - Proposals may be submitted for grants of between $2,000 and $10,000 (for amounts smaller than $2000 please apply to the OVPR’s Scholarship Facilitation Fund)
*NEW* Budget preparation In order to provide greater clarity for the review committee, and to assist with the timely processing of grant expenditures, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with Hannah Francoline in the SFA Financial Services Office during the process of developing their proposals. Please contact Hannah at hannah.francoline@uconn.edu to make an appointment.
Submission E-mail your proposal as a PDF attachment to Arielle Hill-Moses (arielle.hill-moses@uconn.edu), Executive Assistant to the Dean, with the subject line ‘SFA Research Grant 2023-2025 application’.
Deadline 5.00 p.m., Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Projected Award date Monday, March 24, 2025
Grant period The standard grant period will be from May 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. Projects must be completed by June 30, 2026, unless there are compelling reasons for a later completion date and approval for such has been explicitly granted by the Dean or Associate Dean. If faculty anticipate needing to draw on grant funds before May 1, 2025, this should be explained and justified clearly in the proposal.
General instructions and Proposal Format
Proposals should use a 12-pt font, 1” margins, and double spacing. Complete nos. 1-12 as listed on following page, with 1-7 as a separate cover page. Please adapt form as necessary if multiple PIs are involved.
The applicable department Head for each PI listed must sign the form prior to submission. If multiple departments are involved, all Heads should sign. In all cases, please allow adequate time for Heads to review proposals before signing.
* 1. Please note that this grant is not intended to fund course development or other projects focused primarily on instructional innovations. Exceptions may only be considered where there is also a well-defined research or creative outcome that can be disseminated to the wider profession and is subject to some level of peer review (e.g. a conference presentation, publication, exhibition, performance in an off-campus professional venue, etc.), and which contributes significantly to the research and creative profile of the faculty member or faculty team involved.
2. We are not able to fund projects that include the commissioning of musical compositions, artwork, or other creative products the rights to which are retained by an external individual or entity.