Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts (CIRA) Grant

Deadline
Overview
Eligibility
Application Instructions
Contact

DEADLINE:
Application deadline for 2012 has passed.  Deadline for 2013 is TBA.

OVERVIEW:
CIRA has been committed to cutting-edge, interdisciplinary arts research since its inception in 1986. CIRA encourages bordercrossings: across the fields of written, visual and performing arts; across disciplines and schools; between faculty, staff, and students; and between Northwestern and outside communities. Since 1996, CIRA's focus has been to promote and fund art works that are interdisciplinary and/or collaborative in their creation, production, or dissemination. Traditionally the arts have been an area in which new ideas are tested, norms are challenged, and possibilities are entertained. CIRA supports such innovative work.

CIRA’s first priority is to fund projects that challenge traditional notions of art in an innovative way and fit into one of three categories:

  • Transdisciplinary projects are those proposed by a single creator, and must be multidisciplinary in concept. 
  • Collaborative projects are those proposed by creators who come from the same discipline. These projects must show how they involve new practices beyond what is traditional in their fields. 
  • Interdisciplinary projects are those proposed by collaborators from different disciplines. These projects are expected to combine disciplines in new ways. (Applicants from fields that are by definition interdisciplinary, such as theater and film, must show how their project goes beyond the traditional interdisciplinary nature of their field.)

CIRA’s second priority is to fund innovative artistic projects by individuals.

  • Within the criteria outlined above, projects may be in any of the arts or in a combination of arts; they may be oriented either toward the creation of new art or the presentation of art in new ways.
  • Participants may include scholars, and some aspects of the project may be scholarly, but projects dedicated to scholarship alone will not be funded. We particularly encourage projects that find new ways to bring scholarship and creative arts together, or that think about the practice(s) of scholarship and art-making in conjunction. 
  • Projects that bring together different parts of the Northwestern community are encouraged. Examples include: exchanges among artists and scholars in different disciplines or schools; events that provide a chance for dialogue among faculty, staff, and students; and projects that invite responses from people outside the specialized fields of the presenters.
  • Projects may include artists, scholars, or communities from outside of Northwestern University.


ELIGIBILITY:

  • All graduate students enrolled full-time at Northwestern University whose art projects meet the criteria outlined in the Overview, above, are eligible to apply.
  • Students must continue to register full time in the upcoming academic (award) year to be eligible for the CIRA grant. 
  • The maximum award for a graduate student project is $9,000.

Eligible expenses (not an exhaustive list):

  • Essential travel for well-defined research/creative purposes.
  • Payment for locations or services.  On occasion, funds may be approved to pay for technical or other services essential to a project. (Honoraria for project participants, however, would not constitute an eligible expense.)
  • Scholarly and artistic supplies beyond what would be considered normal and customary in the field. For example, the purchase of a computer would generally not constitute an eligible expense, except in cases where cutting-edge technology and project-specific software are required.
  • Construction, rental or purchase of special equipment not available on campus.  The possibility of renting or leasing, rather than purchasing, such items as audiovisual and photographic equipment should be explored.
  • In no instance will retroactive charges for expenditures incurred or committed prior to review and approval of the application be allowable.
  • Grants are awarded for one year. 


INSTRUCTIONS:
These materials should be provided to the designated departmental nominator and uploaded as a single PDF document to the online fellowship submission tool:

Cover sheet that lists the following information:

  • Name
  • Program of study
  • Degree pursuing
  • Date of anticipated graduation
  • Have you requested outside funding and if so, from what source(s)? 
  • Person from whom you have requested a recommendation letter:
  • Have you applied for a CIRA Grant before?   
  • Have you received a CIRA Grant before? (if yes, provide date and award amount)         

A two-page, double-spaced statement that includes:

  • description of the project
  • justification of the interdisciplinary, collaborative, and/or transdisciplinary nature of the project
  • list of all personnel/collaborators
  • explanation of how the project is innovative for the arts
  • schedule for completion of the project

A one-page itemized budget listing precise, non-estimated costs of all essential items for the proposed project (in-kind donations of items essential to the project should also be specified).

Curriculum vitas or résumés of the main collaborators.

Sample in electronic format of past work that is easily accessible (i.e., that does not require additional software to access), along with a brief description of the sample work.

  • Examples should be from work that will assist in the evaluation of your proposed project.  This could be a series of images (no more than 10) of traditional artwork, a musical composition, a website, or a film.  For audio/visual submissions, please be aware that the committee will view no more than a ten-minute segment. For installations or performances, please provide whatever appropriate documentation you might have.  Samples that cannot be embedded in a text document, such as sound or video clips, must be made available on the web; the URL(s) associated with non-text samples must be indicated on the application form.

Unofficial Northwestern transcript. Unofficial transcripts may be obtained from CAESAR. 

Letter of recommendation from advisor or other faculty member.

CONTACT:
gradfund@northwestern.edu

|