Application: Creating Queer Community 2016

CQC CA Application form – click on the link to download the form

Creating Queer Community Commissioned Artists

Application deadline: 5:00 PM on Friday, September 17, 2016
All applications must be submitted via email to [email protected].

The Queer Cultural Center (QCC) will provide approx. 15 commissions ranging from $500 to $1,500 to support innovative projects in any artistic medium that build LGBTQ community through the arts. Grants will support projects taking place during the Twentieth Annual National Queer Arts Festival (NQAF) in June 2017.

2017 NQAF applications should reflect the theme Self to Selfie: Self-portraiture in the Queer Community.

Twenty years ago, a group of artists and activists met to create what would become Qcc The Center for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Art & Culture.   It was our intention to give voice to the under-represented artists of our community.

We began with a small SF Queer Arts Festival and an exhibition called FACE – Queerness in Self-Portraiture. “We wanted this first exhibition to represent who we are, what we can be, and what we can accomplish. We wanted a place to start to begin a serious discourse on queer culture. A beginning that was… a place that celebrated difference as its mode of being and justice as its practice. We wanted to present ourselves not as an abstraction (a theoretical category, a political identity group or an economic brand) but as an array of unique individuals who share this ‘queerness’.”

That was the curators’ description of the exhibition and it is a good description of what our festivals have tried to achieve for the last twenty years. So this year, we reexamine an art form that has become somewhat of an obsession: From Self-Portraiture to Selfie.

We ask the artist to create or curate a performance/exhibition that fashions a fresh and unique self-portrait of the artist or their community. Take into account what things have changed–what issues are still important or have diminished–since you first performed/curated in the NQAF and how you have changed as a result of that performance/commission.

Timeline

Completed and finalized applications must be submitted via email to the QCC’s Artistic Director, Pamela Peniston at [email protected] by 5:00 PM on Friday, September 17, 2017. Applications may be found at http://bit.ly/2bUWS4O

Application Checklist:

  • Completed application form, including
    • Contact information
    • Project Narrative
    • Artist(s) CV or bio
    • Project Budget
    • Artistic work sample link(s) and description

Contact Information:

Name of Event:      

Name of Applicant or Project/Organization:       

Contact Person (if different than applicant):      

Address:

City, State, Zip:

Phone:    Email:     

Website:

Collaborator(s) (if applicable):   

Collaborator(s) email (if applicable):

Project Narrative (2 page maximum, 12-point font):

Please respond to the following:

  1. Project Summary: Please use the following template to construct your summary: “This proposal requests $(AMOUNT) to support (TITLE), a (TYPE OF EVENT i.e., performance piece, literary reading, exhibition, etc.) that will explore (TOPIC) and will attract an estimated audience of (ESTIMATED #). Awarded funds will be used to underwrite the project’s (FUND USE i.e., production expenses, artists fees, etc.).”
  2. Topic: How does your project explore Self to Selfie?
  3. Creative Process: Describe how your project will be created, developed, and produced/exhibited.
  4. Target Audience: Who are they? How will you attract them to your event?
  5. Leadership: What experience do you have in completing similar projects? Who will be involved in the work’s creation and production/exhibition?

Artist(s) bio (1 page maximum, 12-point font):

Please tell us more about your past experience including performance/exhibition history, awards or commissions and what motivates you to create work. If this is a collaboration, please tell us about all involved artists (collaborative projects 2 page maximum, 12 point fon

 

Project Budget (keep it simple!):

Fill out the following Income and Expense forms as best fits your project. Descriptions are meant to help you form your budget and should be replaced with your budget notes for submission.

Income
Category Amount Description
Amount requested from QCC: $
Individual contributions: $
Government grants: $
Foundation/nonprofit grants: $  

 

Corporate grants: $ Have you received or requested funds from a corporation?
Ticket sales: (X tickets @Y   = x 75%)
Other: $ (Please specify):
$ TOTAL
Expense
Category Amount Description
Artist(s) fees $
Equipment rental $ Are you renting any special equipment?
Artistic supplies $
Publicity and marketing $
$ TOTAL

 

Artistic work sample(s) and description:

Please submit an artistic work sample relevant to your proposal. Submitted work should reflect the work discussed in your proposal and be of the highest quality possible. Visual artists may submit up to 10 images; time-based artists (performers, dancers, musicians, video artists, etc.) may submit up to 5 minutes; literary artists may submit up to 5 pages. If you are a multidisciplinary artist, you may submit a combination of different kinds of samples not exceed the maximum (i.e., 5 images and 2.5 minutes of video OR 2 images, 2 minutes of video and 2 pages)

You may provide an online work sample by writing one or more links to the work below; or you may submit the work sample as an attachment in your submission email. Please use the following format for all samples (feel free to copy and paste for additional samples).

Work Sample #1

URL Link:

Name of Work:

Artistic Medium:

Year Work Created:

Navigation Notes:

Description of Work:

Work Sample #2

URL Link:

Name of Work:

Artists Involved:

Artistic Medium:

Year Work Created:

Navigation Notes:

Description of Work:

Work Sample #3

URL Link:

Name of Work:

Artists Involved:

Artistic Medium:

Year Work Created:

Navigation Notes:

Description of Work: