TIPS ON HOW TO APPLY

1. For reference please read the descriptions of selected projects from past years by visiting http://www.franklinfurnace.org/grants/grants.html click on FUNDED PROJECTS 1998 TO PRESENT.
   
   
2. The panel usually pays the most attention to two aspects of your application: the proposal description and the visual support.
   
   
3. This is a project-based grant; therefore the 100 word summary of your proposal is crucial. This description will be used on the web site if your project is chosen for funding.
   
   
4. Once you write the description, let someone who is unfamiliar with the project read it. Many times the panelists do not understand what the artist wants to do although the artist believes it is clear. CLARITY IS ESSENTIAL.
   
   
5. The panel starts by reading aloud the description of your project: therefore make sure that your description does not greatly exceed the 100 word limit. If you need to explain the project in more detail, indicate at the end of the 100 words that you are also submitting a longer version. If the panel needs to know more about your project they will welcome this additional information.
   
   
6. Do not submit an excessive amount of data. This may overwhelm the panelists. Instead, select the most relevant information about yourself and your project. This is particularly important if you submit a data CD. If we open the disc and there are several folders with hundred of files, (especially PDF and/or World documents) we will not be able to show them all and we will certainly not be able to print them for the panel to read.
   
   
7. If you complete your application form by hand, and provide websites for visual documentation, make sure ALL THE LETTERS ARE CLEAR and that you have not missed any characters. Remember that if you don’t give us the path to your website correctly, the panel will be unable to visit your site.
   
   
8. Give us special instructions to guide us through your materials: if you submit a DVD with a menu with several titles, tell us the pieces you want the panel to watch first. If you submit websites, give us a navigation guide.
   
   
9. It will help the panel understand your work better if you indicate whether the samples provided are previous work or if they are somehow related to the proposed project.
   
   
10. Test your CDs and DVDs before submitting them. If possible test them in both Macs and PCs. The panel has a small window of time to review your work, if your media fails to launch properly we may not be able to troubleshoot.
    
    
11. Check that your websites are active and working around the time the panel meets. The panel usually meets at the end of June.
    
    
12. If you are a Mac user make sure that all the electronic files you submit contain in their name their extension (e.j: resume.doc, image.jpg, movie.mov, etc.).This way we will be able to recognize what kind of documents they are and which application program created them.
    
    
13. If you do not provide any visual documentation physically, digitally or online, your chances of being selected are very slim.