Sunday, October 7, 2012

America's Media Makers: Development Grants

This opportunity will be of interest to people involved in Public History and Digital Humanities. It is a major undertaking, but would certainly be worthy of our attention. Please contact the research office if we can help you prepare a proposal.


America's Media Makers: Development Grants   
:
http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/americas-media-makers-development-grants
:
National Foundation for the Arts and the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Division of Public Programs
Abstract:
The Division of Public Programs offers support for a wide range of public humanities programs that engage citizens in thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity and history. Projects must be well-grounded in scholarship and illuminate ideas and insights central to the humanities. America's Media Makers (AMM) grants support the following formats:
1. Interactive digital media
2. Film and television projects
3. Radio projects

Development grants enable media producers to collaborate with scholars to develop humanities content and format and to prepare programs for production. These grants cover a wide range of activities that include, but are not limited to, meetings and individual consultations with scholars, research, preliminary interviews, preparation of program scripts, designs for interactivity and digital distribution, and the creation of partnerships for outreach activities and public engagement with the humanities. Development grants should culminate in the refinement of a project's humanities ideas, and in a script, or a design document for (or a prototype of) digital media components or projects. Development grants should also yield a detailed plan for outreach and public engagement, in collaboration with a partner organization (or organizations).

Before applying, applicants must have a solid command of the major humanities scholarship on their subject, have clarified the ideas that the project will consider, and have consulted with a team of scholarly advisers to work out the intellectual issues that the program will explore. Applicants must also have made preliminary decisions about the format and storyline and located essential materials for the program(s). Finally, they must have recruited the appropriate media professionals, especially the producer, writer, or interactive designer.

Eligibility:
Any U.S. nonprofit organization with IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies. Individuals are not eligible to apply. Independent producers who wish to apply for NEH funding are advised to seek an eligible organization to sponsor the project and submit the application to NEH. 

NEH generally does not award grants to other federal entities or to applicants whose projects are so closely intertwined with a federal entity that the project takes on characteristics of the federal entity's own authorized activities. This does not preclude applicants from using grant funds from, or sites and materials controlled by, other federal entities in their projects. 

If an application for a project is already under review, another application for the same project cannot be accepted.