FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- How do I apply for a grant?
- I am planning to attend college/graduate school. Can I apply for a Princess Grace Award?
- Can I apply for a Scholarship in a non-degreed training program?
- Can I apply for a Scholarship to attend Summer Intensives, or Week/Month/Semester long Training programs?
- Can I apply my grant to a program abroad?
- I am not affiliated with a school or organization. Can I apply for individual project support?
- Can individuals working in the area of dramaturgy, arts administration, or stage management apply?
- What is your review process?
- Is there an average grant amount?
- How is the money allotted?
- What is the difference between a Theater Apprenticeship and a Theater Fellowship?
- How long is the playwriting residency at New Dramatists?
- How is “organization that hosts choreographic residencies” defined?
- Can choreographers who have their own company apply for a residency and set the work on their company?
- Who may apply for a Film Scholarship?
- Who may apply for the Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Award?
- Do you support independent film projects?
- I attend a Film School on your list of approved programs. However, I would like to shoot my thesis film abroad. May I still apply?
- How many times can I apply for a Special Project Grant or Works in Progress Residency? (For Recipients and Honoraria only)
- If I have previously won a Princess Grace Award, may I reapply? (Recipients and Honoraria Only)
- Can I apply for a Statue Award? (Recipients Only)
- If I do not receive a Princess Grace Award, can I reapply?
- Where will I find information about other funding sources for the performing arts?
How do I apply for a grant?
Application procedures and deadlines vary by grant category. Detailed information and application materials are available on this site. The following is a guide:
- Applicants must be nominated by the dean/department chair of their academic program (if applying for a scholarship) or the artistic director of a company (if applying for an apprenticeship or fellowship).
- Film Scholarships are available only to graduate or undergraduate students who will be working on their thesis films during the annual grant period September 1 - August 31. Students must be attending a school on the Foundation's list of approved institutions. Please see below for a list of approved schools.
- Availability and deadlines for applications:
Theater and Playwriting Postmark deadline April 1, 2013 Dance: Performance and Dance: Choreography Postmark deadline April 30, 2013 Film: Scholarship and Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Award
Postmark deadline June 1, 2013 Special Project and Works in Progress Postmark deadline May 15, 2013
I am planning to attend college/graduate school. Can I apply for a Princess Grace Award?
Not yet. To apply for a Theater Scholarship, you must be entering your final year of an undergraduate or graduate program at the time of application (so that the grant period occurs during your final year.) To apply for a Dance Scholarship, you must have been at the institution for at least one year (or just about to complete the first year at the time of application). Students enrolled in dance education or graduate programs are not eligible. To apply for a Film Scholarship, you must be ready to work on your thesis film, which typically happens toward the end of your degree tenure. To apply for the Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Award you must be an emerging filmmaker with a relationship to a media arts center working on a film, or ready to work on your thesis film at a university.
Can I apply for a Scholarship in a non-degreed training program?
If you are interested in applying for a Theater Scholarship, please contact the Foundation at 212.317.1470 as the response to this question is under review.
To apply for a Dance: Performance Scholarship, you DO NOT have to be enrolled in a degreed program. However, you must be studying full-time at a non-profit dance school.
To apply for a Film Scholarship, you must be a film major/concentration in a degreed program which results in a BA, BFA, MA, MFA, or Ph.D. A large majority of our applicants are completing MFA, BFA, and BA degrees.
Can I apply for a Scholarship to attend Summer Intensives, or Week/Month/Semester long Training programs?
No. You may not apply for a Princess Grace Award to attend short training programs, intensives, or film festivals.
Can I apply my grant to a program abroad?
Theater, Dance: Performance, Dance: Choreography and Film Scholarship and Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Award grants can only be used in coordination with organizations located IN the United States. American university satellite campuses abroad do not qualify. The Playwriting Fellowship must be used in conjunction with New Dramatists.
The only grants which can be used to support international work/projects are the Special Project Grants which are available ONLY to past Princess Grace Award and Honoraria recipients.
I am not affiliated with a school or organization. Can I apply for individual project support?
To apply in the categories of Theater, Dance: Performance, Dance: Choreography, or Film Scholarship or Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Award, you MUST be affiliated with a school or organization. To apply for the Playwriting Fellowship, you need not be affiliated with a school or organization. Princess Grace Recipients and Honoraria applying for a Special Project Grant and Works in Progress Residencies do not need school or organization affiliation.
Can individuals working in the area of dramaturgy, arts administration, or stage management apply?
No. The Foundation provides grants only for actors, directors, lighting designers, set designers, costume designers, sound designers, projection designers and playwrights.
What is your review process?
Eligible applications are reviewed by specialists in relevant fields. Panels comprised of professional experts and practicing artists review application materials and make their determinations at panel meetings. Final notification is usually made in July of each year.
Is there an average grant amount?
Not really. Grant amounts generally range from $7,500 - $30,000. However, grant requests should be based up actual figures for annual salary (or artistic fee), tuition, thesis project costs, or film project costs, whichever is applicable, and require substantiation (letter of verification from nominator). Benefits (materials, housing, insurance, and transportation) may not be included in the grant request. Please note that the Foundation may not be able to fulfill your full request (although many requests receive full funding); however, the Foundation will never grant more than your request. So make sure your request is accurate and you ask for what you need.
How is the money allotted?
All grants (with the exception of the Statue Award and Special Project Grants) are given directly to the organizations, not the individual. The organizations then disburse the money to the awardee. Each school/organization manages this differently based on its own internal system. However, the school itself may not take any administrative fees from the grant.
Here are some specific details:
Theater Scholarships and Dance: Performance Scholarships go directly toward tuition costs. Monies may not be used for rent/room and board, books, living expenses, etc. If you already have a tuition scholarship from your college/university/program and receive a Princess Grace Award (therefore making your combined scholarship monies exceed the cost of tuition), the school might lessen your tuition scholarship for the college/university/program and replace it with the Princess Grace Award. The Princess Grace money allotment may not roll-over into living expenses.
Undergraduate and Graduate Film Scholarships are disbursed to the school, who in turn, allots the money designated by the Foundation to the filmmaking student. This money in this category MAY NOT go toward tuition or matriculation fees. It MUST go toward the production of the film (location scouting, shooting costs, editing, etc.). PGF-USA funds MAY NOT be used to pay the nominee a director’s fee.
Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Awards (PGJFDA) are disbursed to the nominating school or media arts center, who in turn, allots the money designated by the Foundation to the filmmaker. For nominees from universities applying for the PGJFDA, this money MAY NOT go toward tuition or matriculation fees. It MUST go toward the production of the film. Nominees from media arts centers may designate some PGF-USA funds towards the costs and fees associated with the media arts center’s training program. PGF-USA funds MAY NOT be used to pay the nominee a director’s fee.
Theater Apprenticeships, Theater Fellowships and Dance: Performance Fellowships are disbursed to the organization to pay the salary for the grantee. The money must be used to pay salary only, EXCLUSIVE OF benefits. Please note: A nominating organization can request a grant amount that would give the grantee a raise.
Dance: Choreography Fellowship is a set amount of $10,000. The company must disburse the money as follows: $8,000 must be paid to the choreographer for his/her fee; the remaining $2,000 should be used to cover production costs.
Playwriting Fellowship is given to New Dramatists. They disburse $7,500 to the winning playwright.
Special Project Grants (ONLY available to Princess Grace Awards recipients and Honoraria) are awarded based on the project’s proposed budget and is distributed on a rolling basis. A portion of the funds are disbursed up front, another distribution is made after 50% of the expenses are incurred and the final distribution is made upon completion of the project (and often occurs on a reimbursement basis).
Works in Progress Residencies (ONLY available to Princess Grace Awards recipients and Honoraria) is given to the Baryshnikov Arts Center who will administer the funds to the grantee.
Statue Award (ONLY available to Princess Grace Awards recipients) is given directly to the individual. Social Security numbers are required for income reporting.
What is the difference between a Theater Apprenticeship and Theater Fellowship?
While both categories involve the nominee's association with a non-profit theater, the Apprenticeship is a mentorship opportunity between the applicant and an artist at the theater. The Fellowship looks to give an individual the opportunity to assume significant artistic responsibilities of a mainstage show.
How long is the playwriting residency at New Dramatists?
The grant period occurs from September 1-August 31. The residency must happen within that time period, but when and how is determined on a case by case basis between the winning playwright and New Dramatists. Some playwriting winners living in NYC at the time of the grant choose to spread out the residency over the year. Others (particularly those outside the NYC) choose to do a concentrated residency over the set number of 10 weeks.
How is “organization that hosts choreographic residencies” defined?
It is defined as any 501(c)(3) non-profit dance organization or a festival that can demonstrate a minimum three-year history of hosting residencies for emerging choreographers that culminates in a public performance of work created during that residency.
Can choreographers who have their own company apply for a residency and set the work on their company?
Emerging choreographers meeting eligibility criteria are encouraged to apply via a nominating organization. Please note, choreographers who are also artistic directors of dance companies cannot set the new work on their company members (defined here as dancers who are contracted with choreographer’s company for 10+ weeks of employment.) The new work must be set on the nominating organization’s dancers or dancers who are contracted on a single-project basis.
Who may apply for a Film Scholarship?
- Applicants must be nominated by their respective dean/department chairs. A school may nominate both one undergraduate and one graduate student.
- All applicants must be US Citizens or have obtained permanent residency status.
- All nominees must have already completed one film.
Students completing a graduate or undergraduate filmmaking degree at any of the following schools are eligible:
| Adelphi University American Film Institute American University Antioch College Art Center College Design Bard College Binghamton University Boston University Bowling Green State University Brooklyn College Brown University California College of Arts Crafts California Institute of the Arts California State University, Northridge, Radio, TV & Film Carleton College Chapman University City College of New York City University of New York (CUNY) Columbia College Chicago Columbia University Dartmouth College Emerson College Farleigh Dickinson University Fitchburg State College Florida State University Fordham College Hampshire College Harvard University Howard University Humboldt State University Hunter College Indiana University, Bloomington Kansas City Art Institute Keene State College Laroche College Loyola Marymount University Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts Institute of Technology Minneapolis College of Art & Design Montclair State University Montana State University New School University New York University North Carolina School of the Arts Northwestern University Ohio State University Ohio University Pacific Northwest College of Art Pennsylvania State University Pratt Institute Rhode Island School of Design Rice University Rochester Institute of Technology San Diego State University San Francisco Art Institute |
San Francisco State University Sarah Lawrence College Savannah College of Art and Design School of the Art Institute of Chicago School of the Museum of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts Scripps College Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Southern Methodist University Stanford University SUNY at Buffalo SUNY College at Purchase Syracuse University Temple University The University of Maryland, Baltimore County University at Buffalo University of Arizona University of California, Berkeley University of California, Davis University of California, Irvine University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Merced University of California, Riverside University of California, San Diego University of California, San Francisco University of California, Santa Barbara University of California, Santa Cruz University of Central Florida University of Colorado University of Colorado, Colorado Springs University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana University of Illinois, Chicago University of Iowa University of Miami University of Michigan University of Missouri, Kansas City University of New Mexico University of New Orleans University of North Carolina, Greensboro University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of North Texas University of Notre Dame University of Oklahoma University of South Carolina University of South Florida University of Southern California University of Tennessee University of Texas-Austin University of the Arts University of Utah University of Wisconsin Vassar Washington University in St. Louis Webster University Wesleyan University |
Currently, the Foundation is not adding new schools to the film program. We will be evaluating new additions for the next grant period. Please email us at grants@pgfusa.org for further information.
Who may apply for the Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Award?
The Princess Grace JustFilms Doucmentary Award was created in partnership with the Ford Foundation. This particular grant looks to identify emerging social justice documentary filmmakers. In this round, emphasis is placed on filmmakers considered Native/Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. In general this includes: this includes Inuit people, Alaskan Natives, American Indians, Native Hawaiians, First Nations, Métis, and indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.As with the Film Scholarship you must be nominated to apply for the Award. Students completing a graduate or undergraduate filmmaking degree at any of the schools on are Film Scholarship list (above) are eligible. In addition you may also be nominated by an approved media arts center to fund an independent film. Media arts centers who are invited to submit applications in 2013 are:
Fire Light Media
Sundance Institute's Native American and Indigenous Program
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Do you support independent film projects?
You may be nominated for a Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Award for your independent film if you work with a media arts center. The media arts center must be on our approved list (above). The Film Scholarship is not available for independent film projects.
I attend a Film School on your list of approved programs. However, I would like to shoot my thesis film abroad. May I still apply?
Yes. Thesis film projects can be shot abroad, but the filmmaker's school must be located in the United States.
How many times can I apply for a Special Project Grant or Works in Progress Residency? (For Recipients and Honoraria only)
The Special Project Grant and Works in Progress Residency are the Foundation's commitment to continued support of our Princess Grace Award, Statue Award, and Honoraria recipients. There is no limit to the number of times you can apply for or receive a Special Project Grant or Works in Progress Residency. However, please note that if you have received the Works in Progress Residency in the last grant period, you must wait a year to reapply.
If I have previously won a Princess Grace Award, may I reapply? (Recipients and Honoraria Only)
Princess Grace Awards Winners may apply for Special Projects grants and the Works in Progress Residency. You may not apply for scholarships, apprenticeships or fellowships.
Can I apply for a Statue Award? (For Recipients only)
At this time, there is no formal application for the Statue Awards. Decisions are made internally by the Arts Advisory Board. However, to be considered, you MUST be in contact with the Foundation. You should send the Grants Manager your headshot, bio, updated contact information and list of current projects. Only former Princess Grace Awards winners are eligible. Honoraria are not eligible to apply.
If I do not receive a Princess Grace Award, can I reapply?
In all categories, you may reapply if you did not receive a Princess Grace Award as long as you still meet all the criteria in the guidelines.
Where will I find information about other funding sources for the arts?
Please visit the “Links” section of the website.
If you haven't found an answer to you question here, please email us at grants@pgfusa.org
