University Undergraduate Award for Arts Projects

Purpose:

The University Undergraduate Award for Arts Projects is intended to expand students’ opportunities for creative expression and showcase significant accomplishments in the arts. The program funds outstanding undergraduate arts projects to be carried out in the summer of 2009 and the 2009-2010 academic year. Awards from $1,000 to $5,000 each will be granted on a competitive basis to current first-, second-, and third-year undergraduate students, including collaborative groups of students. Applicants must be fulltime undergraduates at U.Va. and must remain enrolled at the University through the completion of the project. This program is open to all majors at the University.

Conceptualizing and Proposing a Project:

Each student applicant or group of applicants will propose a project of creative work. Eligible projects might include writing or directing a play or film, writing a collection of poetry, designing costumes for a play, choreographing a dance, creating a sculpture, or composing or performing a piece of music. Applicants are urged to think deeply in formulating their projects, to describe the creative inquiry they hope to pursue, and to address the critical context in which they work. Proposals focusing on any area of arts represented at the University will be considered. Projects might involve travel, either within or outside of the U.S., to take advantage of resources that would be otherwise inaccessible. Projects requiring studio work might call for the purchase of supplies or materials that could not be obtained without an award of this kind. A faculty committee will evaluate proposals.

Faculty Support:

The applicant is encouraged to identify and meet with a University of Virginia faculty advisor to discuss the proposed project before developing a proposal. Faculty advisors who agree to support a student’s project will write a letter affirming such support and, upon the project’s completion, will write and submit a brief narrative assessment of the student's project upon its completion. Faculty advisors receive research funds calculated at one-third of the project budget. Faculty research funds are in addition to the student’s grant and should not be reflected in the student’s budget. If faculty members do not wish to claim these funds, they will be added to the funding pool available for student awards. Part-time U.Va. faculty members are eligible to serve as faculty advisors so long as they are employed during the extent of the student’s project.

Final Product:

In the course of carrying out an arts project, an awardee will be expected to produce a final product (e.g., short film, play, work of art, music composition, dance). Students receiving the Arts Project Award in spring 2009 must use their award funds by the end of May 2010 or forfeit the remainder. Final project reports, including a brief account of expenditures, must be submitted to Center for Undergraduate Excellence by April 1, 2010, along with the faculty sponsor's assessment. Student awardees will present their projects at a spring 2010 symposium for student work, which their advisors will be expected to attend.

Application:

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