GRANTS, RESIDENCIES AND MORE: FALL AND WINTER DEADLINES

Well, I have to say that I was overwhelmed by the lovely and supportive responses from all of you. Thank you so much! I have a little essay churning in my head that came out of it all...hopefully it will hatch later today or over the weekend. But in the meantime, let's get back in the saddle, shall we? Lots of deadlines coming up and opportunities to be had. And thanks for letting me be cranky!

(ARTISTS) The SAM Prize for Contemporary Art
The SAM Prize for Contemporary Art, organized by SAM Art Projects, is a 20, 000 euros grant competition open to all artists over the age of 25, who have been resident in France for at least 2 years, and who have a signed contract with a gallery. The aim of the prize is to allow the selected artist to carry out a project which he/she will conduct in an emerging country in the Southern hemisphere, and exhibit in France in the following year. Every kind of expression and all the visual arts disciplines are accepted : painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, etc. The full details of the Prize are available on the site : www.samartprojects.org, in the column LE PRIX SAM. For more information, you can also email: [email protected]. Deadline is soon! October 15th, 2009. (This announcement, courtesy of Art-Agenda and Kathleen Bitetti at the Artist Alliance.)

(PERFORMING ARTS) The MAP Fund for Contemporary Arts Performance Projects: Forty grants of up to $45,000 will be awarded to playwrights, choreographers, directors, composers, and performers working to premiere a new work that brings insight to the issue of cultural difference or the concept of "other." For more information, go to The Map Fund or visit the Foundation Center for info on this grant and many others! http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=267100006 . Deadline: October 19, 2009 (Online Letter of Inquiry).

(PERFORMING ARTS) Cultural Exchange Travel Grants
Also recently posted at the Foundation Center: Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to U.S.-based individual presenters and groups traveling to see the work of artists or companies abroad, and/or to develop partnerships with them. Deadline: November 16, 2009.

(ARTISTS) The Abraaj Capital $1 million dollar Art Prize
The Abraaj Capital Art Prize Competition offers contemporary artists from the Middle East, North African and South Asia the opportunity to apply for this prestigious award. The Dubai-based private equity firm, Abraaj Capital developed the US 1 million dollar prize in 2008 with Art Dubai and since then has awarded this prize twice, each time to three sets of winners. The award is granted on the merit of a proposal of a yet-to-be realized project and is the world's most generous art award. The works of the winners are unveiled in March at Art Dubai, Asia's premier art fair. The region that the prize is open to comprises 24 countries and stretches from Morocco to Bangladesh, Turkey to Sri Lanka. For more information, please go to: http://www.abraaj.com/acap. The deadline is January 31st, 2010.

**Note from Mira: As a little five year old friend of mine used to say: Is this for reals or betend? Seems like a hellova lot of money but the contest seems legit. So go for it dudes!
(WRITERS) The following announcements are from Poets & Writers, your one-stop shopping site for writing grants, contests, awards and residencies:

ATLANTIC CENTER for the Arts 2010 Master Artist-in-Residence Program: February 15–March 7, 2010 with author Rosellen Brown (application deadline: October 16, 2009); May 17–June 6, 2010 with author Richard McCann (application deadline: February 5, 2010); October 11–31, 2010 Graphic Novelist/Sequential Art Residency, with authors Paul Pope, Svetlana Chmakova, third author TBA (application deadline: May 21, 2010). For more detailed information on the residency program, please call (386) 427-6975 or (800) 393-6975, or visit www.atlanticcenterforthearts.org.

CARL SANDBURG Writer-in-Residence Program invites a poet to live and work on the grounds of Sandburg’s home, a National Park, in Flat Rock, NC, for three weeks in March 2010. Program includes stipend, housing in historic cottage with studio. Application deadline October 15. For information, visit www.nps.gov/carl.

THE JAMES MERRILL House Writer-in-Residence Program invites writers to live and work in James Merrill’s Stonington, Connecticut apartment rent-free for 5-month or 11-month terms. A stipend will be offered. Application deadline for 2010–2011 is January 15, 2010. Visit Web site for more information: www.jamesmerrillhouse.org.

WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE: Castlestone mansion complex providing room and board, gardens, concert hall for readings and signings, U.of M. campus, Ann Arbor, MI. Submit vita for one or three month residency. Teaching opportunites, www.a2vitosha.com. Contact "Kei": (734)741-4969. E-mail: [email protected].

This is a big application time so get those proposals in early. Another big round will be in January for many residencies and grants. With several in between....good luck all...your faithful and sometimes cranky servant, Mirabee