Over the years, the Firefly Arts Collective (FAC) has been proud to provide grant support to Firefly artists to enable them to express and fulfill their varied creative visions. These grants are intended to support and promote radically-expressive, community-based, interactive and/or collaborative projects that help define and shape the creative core of the event.
For this request for proposals, we are seeking art that has already appeared either at a regional burn event or Burning Man and showcases the local flavor of its origin.
Review Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following factors:
- Thoughtfulness: how well thought out is the project’s relationship with participants?
- Creativity: how original and awe-inspiring is your project?
- Feasibility: how feasible is this project?
Advice for Prospective Artists
After many years of reviewing Grants and seeing what succeeds in the woods, the Art Grant Committees have collated the following tips:
- We do not fund art intended primarily to be enjoyed by the camp showing the art. Make sure to explain how your project can be experienced by everyone at firefly, not just your camp.
- We are not inclined to fund ball pits unless the design is significantly creative, impressive, and different from what has been done before.
- Please note that electronic and mechanical projects have a high rate of failure in the woods. If your project involves soldering, software, or moving parts, please put extra effort into convincing us the project will succeed.
Grant money is expected to be applied to minor maintenance / improvements and shipping costs to Vermont. Up to three (3) discretionary tickets can be requested; the artist(s) are expected to self-fund personal transportation and ticket costs.
Summary of Deadlines
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TBA: BEX Grant applications open
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Apr 30: BEX Grant applications due. This is a strict deadline. Proposals submitted after the deadline will NOT be considered.
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May 28: Grants awarded. All applicants will be notified via email. If your project is funded, we will send you a contract to ensure that you are willing to commit to using the funds as proposed and that you agree to follow through on your project. If you fail to send in the contract by the contract deadline, your art grant funds will be distributed to the next grant in the waiting list.
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July 4-9: Firefly Event
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TBA: Grant Documentation Deadline
Grant disbursement schedule
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75% – once the signed contract is received.
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25% – after Firefly, confirmed site clean-up, and documentation received
Firefly-specific logistics
If selected, your project must be set up no later than Friday, July 5 at 6 pm.
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It’s usually rainy and may experience extreme mud.
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Camping and art placement are a ~0.5 mi hike uphill from the parking area and portapotties.
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No vehicles (other than emergency) are allowed on the trails during the event.
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Most large-scale art is placed in the field, as long as it has no sound – other art will be placed in the woods.
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Fire art installations are welcome, but will be subject to our fire review and approval process for safety and placement. Fire Art may be subject to location and late night operation restrictions.
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Our ticketing system is a modified group lottery. Discretionary tickets associated with this grant award will be exempt from the lottery system.
Submitting Your Application
Please submit your application as a PDF file via our grant application web portal.
There’s no standard format as long as you answer all of the required questions below! Please do NOT include any identifying information about the artist — our committee process is screened so that all applicants are anonymized. Your account provides all of the information we need.
A note about tickets
In addition to the donation of your time and efforts, all attendees and their helpers must apply for their own tickets to the event. If an artist or a mission-critical team-member is put on the waitlist, one (1) ticket will be allotted to the art project to guarantee that it can be realized at Firefly.
- Am I required to register for a ticket? Yes! All participants in the Firefly Arts Festival must register for a ticket.
- If my grant proposal is accepted will I still have to pay for my ticket? Yes! All participants are expected to pay for their ticket.
- What if my project needs more than one person to execute it? Will my entire group be guaranteed tickets to the event? If the grant recipient or a critical team member is put on the wait list, each grant recipient can request one (1) discretionary ticket. The ticket may be allocated to any individual on the grant team (not just the contact). Please contact grants@fireflyartscollective.org for discretionary tickets.
Art Grant review committee
In order to create an impartial review, applications will be blinded before they are submitted to the Art Grant Review Committee. The committee members will score each proposal based on the criteria listed above.
Questions
Feel free to reach out to us at grants@fireflyartscollective.org if you have any questions!