By Simon Mallett
As we approach the first deadline for the Rozsa Foundation Granting program in 2020 (Friday, Feb 7), we wanted to pass along some information about a couple of key changes to the program for the coming year. It’s always our intention to continually evaluate our Granting Program, identify gaps in the funding landscape, and make changes to our grant offerings as appropriate. Atop the list of changes for 2020 is a shift in our Internship Grants. Over the past 2 years, the Rozsa Foundation has offered an Artistic Internship Grant, aimed at providing opportunities for emerging artists to build their skills and start their artistic careers, while simultaneously adding capacity to the arts organizations they work with. For 2020, our focus shifts to supporting early-career arts administrators through our Internship Grants. In the coming year, these $15,000 grants will provide employment opportunities for recent graduates of post-secondary institutions seeking to undertake a career in arts administration. Organizations can support an arts administrator through the beginning stages of their career, while building internal capacity and addressing staffing challenges. As has been the case in the past, this grant is not just about employing someone to do general administration work. The careful and considered design of the internship, how it deliberately builds skills, evolves in complexity, and prepares the candidate for a career in arts administration, along with how the work of the intern intersects with the needs of the organization are central to determining success in this grant stream. These Internship Grants support a flexible approach to high-impact, mentor-driven learning and an opportunity within the field for early-career arts administrators in all disciplines to advance their knowledge, skills, experiences and networks. We’re excited to see the next generation of arts administrators who gain significant experience through these grants, while simultaneously addressing the needs of arts organizations for additional administrative capacity. Another change in the Granting program for 2020 is the softening of the $5,000 cap for Experimentation Grants. Recognizing that some organizations may be limited in the meaningfulness of the experiments they can undertake with the level of support Experimentation Grants were offering, it is now possible to stretch the cap somewhat, depending on the experiment, in order to open up new possibilities. For organizations seeking to take on larger experiments, we suggest that you contact us before applying. We have also added projects that harness the power of the arts for social change to the list of the kinds of projects we’re prioritizing in 2020, especially in the case where an arts organization is partnering with a non-arts organization to co-fund and bring a project to fruition. The rest of our list of preferred projects remains the same; proposals that are geared toward equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, those that promote inter-organizational collaboration and those that can use a Rozsa Foundation grant to leverage additional funding or other resources. Finally, we have increased our granting budget from 2019, as we anticipate that the challenges accompanying limited corporate and government support will require arts organizations to tap into what sources of funding are available to see their aspirations come to fruition. We are here to help arts organizations seek innovative approaches to complex challenges and are always happy to discuss your needs and ideas with you. Please feel free to reach out to discuss your potential grant application, I can be reached via email at simon@rozsafoundation.org.
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