Event details

• Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, 10 a.m.
• Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Miss., KU campus, Lawrence
• Cost: Free
• Age limit: All ages

The Spencer Museum of Art, in partnership with Kansas City’s Charlotte Street Foundation, announces a series of informational sessions for artists about Rocket Grants, a new program that will provide direct support for innovative, experimental, artist-driven, and artist-centered projects in the Lawrence-Kansas City area. Held at diverse locations in Kansas City, Lawrence and surrounding regions, the meetings are intended to help guide applicants through the project-submission process. (Please see below for scheduled information sessions.) Created with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Rocket Grants will fund projects that exist outside of established institutions, are not likely to attract traditional forms of support, challenge traditional methods of production or presentation, add energy and diversity to the field of visual arts activity in our area, and provide opportunities for the creative growth of those involved. Rocket Grants will enable individuals and groups of artists to take new risks with their work, push the scope and scale of their activities, develop and pursue collaborative projects, and/or engage with the public and public realm in inventive and meaningful ways. In doing so, these Rocket Grants seek to create ripple effects, as artists, processes, and projects supported engage, inspire, and propel other artists; spark new ideas and ways of working; and contribute to a regional culture characterized by unconventional and expansive forms of interaction, exchange, provocation, and surprise. Complete project guidelines and application forms are available online at the Spencer and Charlotte Street Foundation websites. Rocket Grants Informational Sessions: Thursday, January 21, 6 PM H & R Block ArtSpace 16 East 43rd Street Kansas City, MO 64111 http://www.kcai.edu/hr-block-artspace/contact-and-directions Saturday, January 23, 10 AM Spencer Museum of Art University of Kansas 1301 Mississippi Street Lawrence, KS 66045 http://www.spencerart.ku.edu/visit/directions.shtml Saturday, January 23, 1 PM Haskell Indian Nations University Cultural Center 1555 Indian Avenue Lawrence, KS 66046 http://www.haskell.edu/directions/Haskell_Campus_Map.pdf Thursday, January 28, 12 PM Operation Breakthrough 3039 Troost Avenue Kansas City, MO 64109 http://preview.tinyurl.com/yevx3k9 Saturday, February 6, 10 AM UMKC Small Business and Technology Development Center 4747 Troost Ave Room 114 Kansas City, MO 6411 http://preview.tinyurl.com/ydrstvd Additional dates, times, and locations for informational sessions will be posted on the Charlotte Street and Spencer Museum of Art websites, and by email and poster announcements. ELIGIBILITY Artists, curators, collectives, collaboratives, partnerships, and artist-run spaces within an 80-mile radius of the Kansas City metropolitan area, including Lawrence, Kansas, are eligible to apply. If applying as a group, the artistic group can be long-standing or created specifically for this project. Please identify one participant to serve as the lead contact for the project. Non-profit organizations are NOT eligible. DESCRIPTION Rocket Grants will provide $40,000 in cash awards of up to $4,000 each to area artists, curators, and writers, or groups thereof, to support the creation and presentation of new work/projects. Supported projects may include visual art, performance, film, video, new media, social practice and interdisciplinary projects. Performing artists are eligible to apply if their work includes a strong visual component/ involves meaningful collaboration with a visual artist or artists. Projects must have a public life – i.e., they must engage and be made accessible to the public via process, presentation, production, or publication. Manifestations may include exhibitions, public art projects, public programs, events, performances, screenings, online projects, publications, residencies, and programming of artist-run spaces. Support for curatorial and publication projects will be for original projects involving significant collaboration with artist(s) from the geographic region and substantially contributing to this region’s contemporary art and cultural discourse. Projects that will reach or connect artists and/or communities from different parts of the region (i.e., Kansas City and Lawrence) are encouraged.