CAH values and emphasizes excellence in all grant programs within all disciplines. This section has detailed info on the CAH’s requirements. It also has our suggestions for content. Arts and humanities content and merit are one of several criteria. Panelists use all our criteria to review an application. The applicant demonstrates content and/or merit to the advisory review panelists through:
Section 1 - Work Samples
Section 2 - Support Materials
Section 3 - Resumes of Key Personnel
Of these, the work sample is the most important. It must contain the clearest depiction of the applicant’s best art and/or humanities work(s). All applicants must submit arts and/or humanities work samples.
Section 1 - Work Samples
Work samples are critical to each application. They are carefully considered during review. We strongly recommend that you are very intentional in the work samples you choose to submit. The guidelines on work sample submissions depend on the grant program. Applicants should follow the suggested work samples. Or, they risk being ineligible for a grant. Work samples must be no more than three (3) years old from the date of submission. Submitting older work samples may render the application ineligible for funding consideration.
Section 2 - Support Materials
Support materials are documents that strengthen the application. They provide extra information related to the grant request. Support materials do not take the place of a work sample. However, they do reinforce the quality of the applicant’s knowledge and skills in the arts and humanities.
Some examples of supporting materials include:
- Theater/exhibition reviews;
- Letters of recommendation;
- Certificates of achievement or recognition;
- Sample lesson plans;
- Assessments and evaluations; and/or
- Awards.
- Recordings of artistic process, creation or experience
Assessment and Evaluation
Purpose:
- To assess the program's efficacy. This is as articulated in the program goals and as required for grant reporting.
- To provide evidence to support changes to improve the program and its delivery.
Types:
- Qualitative assessment is often subjective in approach and narrative in nature.
- Quantitative assessment provides empirical data. This information demonstrates growth in the knowledge, skills, and understandings of the participants.
Assessment and Evaluation Design
Many methods assess programming. Evaluations include: needs assessments; pre- and post-tests; and formative, observational, and summative assessments. They use mixed-method approaches such as portfolio/process-folio assessments.
Section 3 – Resumes of Key Personnel
Panelists use resumes to judge the art in each application. These resumes should show the key artists, administrators, and facilitators in the grant activities. The organization's professionals determine its capacity. They also demonstrate the applicant's ability to create great arts and humanities products and experiences. Their backgrounds are as artists and administrators. These backgrounds should be relevant to the organization. They should be shown clearly in their resumes.
More Suggestions from CAH Staff
When making work samples, resumes, and supporting materials, CAH recommends this:
- Applicants should be able to view and/or play all work samples in the application before submitting. If you cannot play a sample, then panelists won't be able to either.
- Select recent, high-quality samples that relate as directly to the application as possible.
- Select work samples that illustrate and unite the applicant’s narrative content.
- Photo uploads should be in JPEG (or JPG) format. They should have a 72 dots per inch (dpi) minimum resolution and should not be bigger than 8MB each.
- Adding extra work samples will hurt an application. They often weaken it.
- Carefully chosen work samples, like pictures and videos, make the biggest impact. They create the strongest artistic impression.
- Panelists must review each applicant’s work samples. But, they are not guaranteed to review multiple samples in one application.
- Each work sample and document must have a specific name and title. This is so panelists can identify what they are reviewing.
- For project-based grants, include samples of similar projects. They show an ability to do the proposed project.
- Panelists must assess the skill level of the participating artist(s). They are involved in the project work to be created, shown, or taught.
For video submissions:
- Do not include highly edited commercial/promotional videos as a work sample.
- Do not include poor quality videos. These have dim lighting, shaky image, bright backlighting, or blurred images.
- If the video is longer than five (5) minutes, give the timecode where panelists should start viewing it. For example, "5:05:00".
For audio submissions:
- Panelists are unable to scan, rewind, or skip through a sample. Edit the audio clip to feature exactly the desired content.
- For audio submissions with visual components, consider submitting as a video clip instead.
For online materials and websites:
- Panelists review only within the “four corners” of the application. They are not expected to go to outside links or content, so they may not view a linked website.
- Websites can be screen-shot and attached as an image, but it is often an insufficient work sample. Submit a website only if it is an essential part of the project.