Eligibility

In order to be eligible for a 2009 VERVE grant:

• You must have been a legal resident of Minnesota for 12 months prior to the application deadline.
• You must NOT be a full-time student.
• The work you submit must NOT be for any degree or diploma.
• The work you submit must be spoken word poetry.
• You may only submit ONE grant proposal per year.
• You must be an emerging artist.
• You must have been a spoken word poet for longer than 6-months.
• You must not earn more than 50% of your income as a spoken word artist, teacher or performer.
• You must have headlined, featured in or been invited to perform in at least one spoken word poetry performance in the past 12-months.
• You must commit to participating in all aspects of the program. This includes attending monthly program gatherings and working with your fellow grantees to design and participate in a final performance at the end of the grant year.
• You may not be a 2008, 2007 or 2006 VERVE grant recipient.
• You may not be, or be the immediate family member of, an Intermedia Arts staff or board member.

Selection Process

VERVE grant applications go through two stages of review:

• Eligibility Screening

  Our staff screens each application in order to ensure it is complete and meets all eligibility requirements. Incomplete or ineligible applications will not proceed to Stage 2: Artist Review.
  
  

• Artist Review

  Each year we create an exciting partnership with a nationally recognized spoken word artist. These artists select the recipients of our VERVE grants using the criteria outlined below. Past judges include Ursula Rucker, Ishle Yi Park, Jessica Care Moore, Paul S. Flores and Meri Nana-Ama Danquah. 2009 VERVE grant winners will be notified on January 26th, 2009.

Judging Criteria

VERVE grant applications are evaluated according to the following criteria:

Artistic Quality

The writer must have significant literary potential.

• Does the performance demonstrate artistic excellence and reflect a complete grasp of technical skill and ability?
• Is the poetic content consistent in its style, demonstrating significant knowledge of craft and clearly conceived ideas throughout?
• Is the work creative and original? Does it deeply explore the power of the art form, either in form, content, or both?

Project Merit

The project must advance the artist's artistic and/or career development.

• Will funding this project support the creation and/or production of new work?
• Will funding this project contribute significantly to the artist's development or advancement as a spoken word poet?
• Will not funding this project have a negative impact on the career of the artist?

Ability

The artist must be able to complete the project.

• Is the project well designed, with reasonable expectations and a realistic timeline and budget?
• Has the artist outlined specific goals/outcomes?
• Has the artist given reason to believe that s/he has the discipline and desire to complete the proposed project?