Arts Innovation Program

• One-time program from a local arts center that features a new or contemporary art form, such as digital media design or electronic music composition.
• Collaborative project, featuring artists with disabilities, that involves art-making and includes the community in showcases, design and instruction.
• Series designed to reach new audiences that features performances in nontraditional spaces such as faith-based institutions and shopping plazas.
• Residency project by a local arts council to bring an internationally recognized artist to the community to work with students and adult learners.

What the OAC Needs

• A completed Arts Innovation Program application must be submitted online by 5 p.m. on the January 15 deadline. At that time, the system locks and no further changes can be made to the application.
• One set of required support materials (listed below) must be received in the OAC office within seven calendar days of the deadline date. If the support materials do not reach the OAC within this timeframe, the application will not be accepted. You will be notified via your online account when materials are received.
• Include with your support materials an Assurances/ Signature/ Support Materials Checklist. This document will appear on the your computer immediately after your application is submitted. It must be signed by your organization’s board president or an authorized official.

Support materials relate to the “Evidence” criteria listed under each review category (see “Evaluation/Scoring Process”). Please do not use plastic sleeves or binders to submit support materials. Pocket folders are acceptable. Submit only one set of the following support materials:

• One-paragraph biographies of key artistic and administrative staff and for outside personnel mentioned in the application, e.g., consultants, artists, curators, jurors.
• List of board members and their professional affiliations; list of committee members.
• Letters of support.
• Letters of commitment from partnering organizations mentioned in the application, e.g., social service agency, church, or other arts organization, if appropriate.
• Long-range or strategic plan.
• Audit or IRS Form 990.
• A maximum of five pieces total, none more than two years old, from the list below:
  • annual report
  • audience survey
  • critical review
  • exhibition catalogue
  • newsletter
  • press clippings
  • programs
  • project timeline
  • sample evaluation tool
  • season brochure

Please note: all applicants submitting AV materials in this program are now required to complete a cover sheet describing the content of their AV submission. Please print out the following PDF and include it with your support materials. AV cover sheet (PDF 357k)

Because panelists score applications in the area of Artistic/Educational/Cultural Value, applicants are strongly encouraged to include audio-visual materials that best document their programming. The following general guidelines are provided for preparing audio-visual materials. You may send:

• Up to, but not more than, 12, 35 mm slides, mounted in plastic of past or upcoming programming or projects. See Preparing Slides, below, for instructions on identifying and labeling slides. Slides should be duplicates; do not send originals.
  
  Preparing Slides: Send only clear, well-lit slides in plastic slide mounts. Do not send cardboard mounts, which may bend and jam in the projector, damaging the slides. Do not send glass slides. Slides that jam in the projector will be removed and not shown. Do not put tape or labels on slide mounts. Use permanent ink to label the slides directly on the plastic mounts.
  
  Label each slide with artist name, number, title of work, date the work was completed, red dot to indicate lower left corner. Number each slide clearly, e.g., 1, 2, 3, in the order they are to be viewed.





• Up to 12 photographs (digital photographs on a disk are also allowed). Label appropriately with information listed under slides.
  
• Up to two videotapes, CD-ROMs or DVDs (different works). Label each with the name of your organization and information about the work. Cue all materials as appropriate and include a separate sheet of screening notes that describe the sample work in detail, and indicate all artists involved in the work.
• Up to two CDs or audiocassettes (different works). Label with name of work, ensemble, date recorded and repertoire. Cue tapes or indicate appropriate tracks on a separate sheet of listening notes.

• Proposed activities demonstrate artistic, cultural and/or educational value for the community being served.
• Proposed activities advance the organization’s artistic vision.
• Qualified persons, including board, staff, and community members, are involved in the design and implementation of proposed activities.
• Proposed activities represent a fundamental departure from traditional programming.
• Proposed activities will result in the creation of new arts experiences in the community.
• If applicable, K–12 in-school educational programming meets the Ohio Arts Academic Content Standards.

• Grant application
• OAC Final Report (OAC staff will supply)
• OAC on-site report or evaluation (OAC staff will supply)
• Publicity materials, e.g., Web site, programs, press clippings.
• Artists’ biographies
• Audio-visual materials

• Applicant addresses the educational, economic and/or social needs of the community.
• Applicant understands and is responsive to the diverse interests and needs of the community.
• Applicant’s programming and facilities meet or exceed federal ADA requirements.
• Applicant has identified and minimized barriers to cultural participation, e.g., practical, experiential and perceptual.
• Applicant acts as an advocate for the public value of the arts in the community.
• Appropriate community participation takes place during program development and is based on community interaction.
• Applicant demonstrates an awareness of community values and the suitability of the proposal to those values.
  

• Grant application
• OAC Final Report (OAC staff will supply)
• Board and committees lists
• Publicity materials that detail range of admission prices, operating hours or performance times and accessibility logos
• Educational materials
• Letters of commitment
• Letters of support

• Planning procedures are comprehensive and clearly described.
• Appropriate persons, including board, staff, artists and community members, are involved in planning, documentation and evaluation and have clearly defined roles.
• Evaluation strategies are appropriate for the participants and the activity; results are used to guide current and future planning and programming.
• An appropriate publicity/promotional plan is outlined.
• Applicant demonstrates ability to develop and manage resources appropriately.
• Appropriate persons, including staff, board and committee members, have clearly defines roles
• If there is a deficit, applicant has a plan to reduce it and has outlined its effect on proposed activities.
• Organization shows clearly defined strategies for achieving its mission.

• Grant application
• OAC Final Report (OAC staff will supply)
• Audience surveys/sample evaluation tools
• Strategic plan
• Annual report

• Applicant demonstrates ability to complete the proposed project or programming.
• Budget is accurate and realistic for the organization or project and correlates to the applicant’s narrative.
• Broad base of financial support includes public and private sources.

• Grant application
• OAC Final Report (OAC staff will supply)
• Board and committee lists
• Administrative staff biographies
• Publicity materials
• Audit or IRS Form 990
• Letters of support