USITT > Activities > Grants & Fellowships > Grants

Grants

USITT Grants are made in amounts up to $10,000 and are intended to support specific projects in design and/or technology. The application deadline is January 10th of each funding year. No later than 15 months after receipt of a USITT Project Grant, a written report must be submitted to the USITT Office for review by the Grants & Fellowships Committee.

Grant applications are no longer being accepted for the 2008 funding year. The deadline for applications was January 10, 2008.

Criteria

USITT funds projects that:

1. Seek new knowledge through experimentation, research, or the collection of resources that will promote research study;
2. Demonstrate originality, creativity, and innovation;
3. Improve or enhance contemporary approaches to design and/or technology;
4. Result in direct presentations, demonstrations, or publication to USITT members.

These projects can be in areas including architecture; costume design and technology;, engineering; health and safety; lighting; management; scene design; sound/acoustics; special effects; and technical production. Computer applications for use in theatrical design and technology, planning and preparation for relevant exhibitions, historical perspectives, and education-based as well as interdisciplinary projects are possible candidates for funding.

Examples of Previously Funded Projects

• Development of scenic artist techniques to touch up computer printed scenery
• Digital media project on the history of the American Circus
• Digital preservation of Mordecai Gorelik's Papers
• Research on the life and career of Ming Cho Lee
• Modernization of Design and Construction Practice for Theatre Staging
• Developing New Systems for Position Metering & Control in Moving Scenery
• A Photographic Documentation of the Scenic Maquettes in the Historic Chicago Opera Scenic Collection
• Digitization of Sketches, Renderings, and Images from the University of Minnesota Performing Arts Archives
• Goniophotometer System (See article in Winter 2004 TD&T)
• 20th Century Theatre Design by African American Artists (Exhibition)
• Development and Study of LED-based Theatrical Lighting (See article in Fall 2003 TD&T)
• Educational Web Page Development for the Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry
• Contemporary Chinese Scene Design

Grant Restrictions

Support will NOT be offered for:

• Bad debts
• Investments of any kind
• Production budgets or equipment for a specific production
• Tuition and/or fees
• Projects that duplicate or perpetuate available information
• Projects that involve lobbying or attempts to influence federal, state, or local legislators or elections
• Projects which include items that are not allowed by USITT's 501(c)(3) status
• Pre-publication expenses for books that will be published by entities other than USITT
• Projects that restrict equal opportunity participation
• Projects that include indirect costs
• Capital expenditures unrelated to a specific project
• Basic computer equipment and software
• Expenses incurred before the start date of the grant period and projects that do not begin and end within the grant period
• Receptions and refreshments
• Proposals from individuals or groups who have not complied with reporting requirements of previous USITT grants