MAP Chat Transcript 11/21/11

Welcome to the MAP Chat

MAP Staff - Hello, does anyone have questions they'd like to ask? About work samples or anything else.

Terence- I'm applying to support in writing a play script, would the budget be an estimate of the final production? Because at this point a workshop production or staged reading would be more realistic.

MAP staff - If there's really no plan for a full production at this time, and no realistic structure around which to build a budget for one, you can supply the budget for the workshop or staged reading. just be very clear that at this time, that's the goal.

And keep in mind that we don't fund 100% of a project. So your request amount is probably going to be on the low end. Depending on the scale of the workshop/staged reading.

CM- I am also at the beginning stages of my project.  And ideally the end result will be a fully staged project, but like Terence what seems more feasible right now is a reading, or smaller showings of the work.  I can outline the grants I'd apply for along the way.

do you have a recommendation on where to set my end goal at this stage of the game?

MAP Staff-  It really depends on the relationships you have in place for the eventual full production. Or if you have any. It's totally fine to make your MAP application about stage one of the project, but you want to clear that that's what you're aiming for right now. And be conscious that that will lower your overall budget (probably) and therefore your request amount.

CM- So it's not realistic to ask for say $20k for something that will just end in a reading? Even if this fee will include research

MAP Staff- If you are working with a presenting org, even if you're in the early stages of the work, you'll want to work with them to come up with a budget for the full production, even if it's relatively speculative at this point.

MAP Staff: it's OK to ask for 20K if your budget is 100K (or thereabout) and you show realistic income and expenses around that.

CM- Ok, that makes sense

Debby- Hello, I wanted to know if it's possible to change one of our lead artists to someone else at this point. We have 4 primary artists, and listed 3 of them on the LOI. Wanted to swap her for the 4th artist if permissible.

MAP Staff-  it's probably fine, but you need to have the MAP office initiate that change online. Just call Denise (212.226.1677) and she can do that for you.

MAP Staff-  The only restriction is if you're new lead artist is already on another app.

CM-  I'm wondering if the panel wants 5 straight minutes of the work in a work sample, or can we take license in flittering around a bit.

MAP Staff - You want to be careful not to flit around too much. I would say don't send clips that are much shorter than 5 minutes. The panel needs to have the sense of entering into the work, to some degree. And if it's a lot of short clips, they can't do that.

CM- How short is short?

MAP Staff- 5 minutes is optimal. if you really must break that down, don't go lower than 3.

CM- I just have scenes that are five minutes long or more, and all the scenes in one of my past work look so different.  So i am torn because I want the panel to see the range in which I'm capable of hitting in one work.

MAP Staff - I understand that concern, but i can say from experience that it is far less important for the panel to see the range of a work than it is for them to see one excellent thing clearly. I have seen more instances of a proposal failing as a result of the chaos of the work samples and rarely seen one fail because the panel wanted to see a range of excellent thing. 1 clip per 5 minutes is optimal. If you must, then 2 clips in 6 minutes is OK. In total, you have 10 minutes to play with.

MQ- As our phase I is live performance with dance and phase II involves more technology and film, we will not have visual materials to represent our plan, only past films of the choreographer and past dances. We are wondering how to represent this idea of hands on interactive heart measurement and heart rate examination with a work sample. We can take photos of the equipment we've had donated so far. Will that work?

MAP Staff- Your best bet is to focus on articulating the ideas in the project description, and then perhaps adding a photo or two to support the description. But the thing to focus on is a super clear articulation in words.

Applicant - How do you handle it if you don't have much secured funding for the project yet, but fully expect to before the event? Will that hurt us in this process?

MAP Staff - That's not an unusual scenario, but you want to show in your budget exactly how you expect to realize your costs. Name the names of other foundations/grants you will seek. Or if it's a campaign for individual donors, be explicit about how you'll go about that.

Applicant - If the work is a combination of a choreographer's work and a visual artist, is it best to produce a single video that showcases both?

MAP Staff  - I don't advocate creating work samples just for the purpose of the grant. You are better off submitting documentation from completed prior work. And you can submit jpegs for the visual artist.

Sam- Is it OK to modify some of the information in our original inquiry? In particular, it looks like our project budget is going to be larger than we thought.

MAP Staff- Yes you can modify your previous LOI info

Sam - Okay to add other collaborators? and previous answer seems to note that it's okay to adjust budget info if applicable?

MAP Staff - Adjusting budget is fine. You may add a contributor, but you must call the MAP office and clear it with us first.

Applicant - Is it a problem if we are not able to share any work samples for the new project but can share work from a year ago?

MAP Staff - No, work-in-progress samples are not a requirement.

Jane - Out of curiosity - roughly how many inquirers were invited to submit full applications?

MAP staff-  500

Jane- 500 orgs were invited to submit full applications? How many (estimated) will eventually be MAP supported?

MAP Staff - Around 40 projects will be supported

Applicant - How long should the work sample description be? How long should the proposed piece work sample be?

MAP staff - The description should be about 100 words, give or take. There's no word limit on that field, because we don't want to dictate, but you also don't want to overwhelm the panel with unnecessary information. Be judicious. Work in progress sample can be up to 10 minutes.

Ira- Our project has a long development phase, premiere last '13 or early '14. What happens to the grant if one of the lead artists changes because of commitments, illness, artistic differences?

MAP staff - It's dealt with on a case-by-case basis. If the loss of that particular artist significantly changes the project, it may require you to "resubmit" the project, and gain approval to move forward.

Ira - How do you handle it if you don't have much secured funding for the project yet, but fully expect to before the event? Will that hurt you in this process?

MAP Staff - That's not an unusual scenario, but you want to show in your budget exactly how you expect to realize your costs. Name the names of other foundations/grants you will seek. Or if it's a campaign for individual donors, be explicit about how you'll go about that.

Jane - I am self-producing my piece, specifically that I have development residencies at various institutions, but I am renting a venue and producing it myself. As I learn more and more about what space the work needs, I am in conversation with various venues for a December 2012/January 2013 premiere. How important is it to the panel for me to be able to state a set venue with a set premiere date for the proposal? If my venue is still t.b.d. by December, do you have any suggestions about how to articulate my predicament?

MAP Staff - It's helpful but not absolutely necessary to have a confirmed venue when you submit your proposal. You can simply say you are in conversation with X, Y and Z presenters, and give the date when you expect to have something nailed down. Be very honest, however, about what it really means to be "in conversation." We've had many presenters on the panel who's venues are mentioned in numerous applications, but they had never actually had these conversations. It's not worth risking that, esp. given that it's not a requirement for MAP. As I'm sure you know, have a casual chat with a presenter is not "a conversation" about presenting the work, and shouldn't be indicated as such.

Kayla - Would you suggest being explicit within the project description itself about the individual donors campaign?

MAP Staff - I would use the budget notes section of the application to describe the individuals campaign.

Applicant - I'm self producing my project also, but will reach out to friends and various other people who have supported me in the past for help. As of now, I only have some personal funding, but will not be sufficient to produce the show. Is that going to effect my chance of receiving the grant?

MAP Staff - No. we fund things that are early and not fully funded quite often.

Jelly - Org. budget question: the presenting organization in our app currently is subsidized by the parent college/university (hopefully less and less each year). Should our organization budget include that subsidy as "contributed income," so income/expenses are equal?

MAP Staff -Yes. and use the notes section to describe exactly what you just described to me.

Anik - Other than the request for work samples, project budget, and org fiscal info there doesn't seem to be much difference between the LOI and the final application. Are there any specifics you are looking for us to expand upon in the narative? Is there anything else you are looking for to elevate the LOI into a strong contending application? And thank you for answering my previous question.

MAP Staff - That's right, those are the major additions. I think it's worth revisiting your project description at this point (and def. take advantage of the notes in the link that says "IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PROJECT DESCRIPTION" if you haven't already. step back and look at the proposal as a whole. make sure it adds up. and if it doesn't, tweak the project description to bring more coherence.

Applicant -Thank you, also are the people on the grant committee dancers or non-dancers?

MAP Staff - For the dance panel, panelists and evaluators will be both dancers and dance-field professionals.

Jane - This has been extremely helpful, thanks very much

MAP staff -Nice chatting with you all.