The 2009 MAP Fund online application is now open for registration.  Please keep in mind the following eligibility requirements:

• Applications must come from organizations based in the United States that have current nonprofit federal tax status - 501(c)(3). Artists or ensembles without 501(c)(3) status may apply to MAP through a fiscal sponsor.
• Organizations and artists must demonstrate at least 2 years professional experience.
• MAP supports only projects that contain a live performance.
• Eligible projects must not have premiered anywhere in the world before September 1, 2009.
• The touring or documentation of work that has already premiered is not eligible for funding.
• MAP does not fund projects whose main purpose is educational, for example art-in-the-schools or artistic training programs.
• Artists who are full-time students in degree granting programs at the time of application are not eligible.
• MAP does not fund organizations’ general operating expenses.
• MAP does not fund festivals or contests.
• Current employees or board members of Creative Capital, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation or the Rockefeller Foundation, or immediate family members of such persons are not eligible.
• Artists who were MAP Fund recipients in 2007 and 2008 may apply again in 2010.

MAP supports most direct costs related to the conception, creation and premiere of a new work. These include but are not limited to commissioning fees and artists’ salaries, research costs, rehearsal and workshop expenses, promotion, and audience outreach and production costs up to and including the premiere run of the work.

To read more about the guidelines, visit http://www.mapfund.org/apply.html.  If you’re a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas and are interested in applying, please contact our staff at support@fracturedatlas.org.  The final day to register for the MAP fund through Fractured Atlas is December 31st.

This past week I spent 4 days in Houston at the National Arts Marketing Project Conference – better known as NAMP. Produced by Americans for the Arts each year, the conference is a unique chance to share best practices and bright ideas in arts marketing. This year, due to popular demand, the conference included development sessions to strengthen the link between fundraising and marketing and encourage professionals in both camps to work together.

It was extremely useful on a number of levels, and I’m still sorting through my notes to figure out how to put the lessons into play, but here are a few ‘big ideas’ to chew on:

• Beyond the obvious common thread that marketing and fundraising both serve to communicate your message to a wider audience, linking the two departments can help define your arts group’s identity, ensuring that all your materials “speak in one voice” as Karen Brooks Hopkins so eloquently suggested.

• Think about fundraising from a “branding” perspective – that to get funders’ attention you need to know your organization’s identity and communicate it clearly. This is basically just a reminder that all the tenets of good marketing (Research / Strategy / Results) hold true for fundraising as well, and that without a targeted strategy stemming organically from a strong arts “brand”, you are unlikely to secure support from institutions or individuals.

• Finally, collaboration is essential. It’s an approach that Fractured Atlas has long embraced: by assessing our strengths we consistently create partnerships with other organizations that ultimately benefit our artist members in ways that we never could have accomplished alone. The idea of collaboration was in the air at NAMP, partly because the theme for next year’s conference is “CollaborACTION”, but also because it has been acknowledged by organizations and funders alike that if the arts community is going to survive the economic crisis with anything like our current capacity to serve, we must find opportunities to work together. If each of us treats the crisis as a chance to revisit our individual missions and seek out synergy with other like-minded groups, the result will be a community that is more invigorated, efficient, and relevant than ever before.

Founded in 2001, Stone Soup Theatre Arts creates collaborative work based on relevant social issues. Each season, the company chooses a theme and begins with a published work, usually by an international playwright.  The season culminates in a collaboratively-created piece based on research, workshops and travel.

Stone Soup gets its name from the Grimms Brothers’ tale about a town that comes together, with what little sustenance they have, to create a magical meal.  Managing director Leigh Goldenberg says, “Our company is always looking for contributors — artistic collaborators or audience members — to our pot!  This means anyone who wants to join in the conversation and bring a little something with them…”

Recently, we talked shop (soup?) with Leigh and artistic director Nadine Friedman…

Who or what are your biggest influences?

The founding members of Stone Soup Theatre Arts were moved by the work of the Group Theatre — its collaborative nature and socially significant work.  Now, our influences are less often particular styles of theatre; we focus more on what is inspiring in current events. If we can’t stop talking about something, and feel our audience shouldn’t either, then we know we have to find or create a play about it.

What has been your greatest success to date?

Our production of Elie Wiesel’s “The Trial of God” was a big turning point for the company, and probably our most significant success. The play was artistically challenging, both in the text and our approach to the casting. We were proud to receive our most substantial press for this piece, which brought in an incredibly diverse audience for us. Having Chasidic Jews in the audience watch a black woman onstage playing a rabbi was completely unforgettable. “The Trial of God” also furthered our company’s mission by uniting us with five other Off-Off Broadway companies to produce “The UnConvention,” an artistic protest to the Republican National Convention in NYC in 2004. The entire festival felt vital and relevant and we were lucky to work with our peers to create a cohesive, provocative statement.

Stone Soup has been a member of Fractured Atlas since 2003. How do you use your membership?

Primarily, we use Fractured Atlas (FA) as our fiscal sponsor, which has been invaluable. We use the donation history tool [that comes with fiscal sponsorship] as a fund-raising database. We have also gotten general liability insurance through Fractured Atlas, and special offers that are available to FA members, such as discounted publicity work from Wise Elephant. We regularly check the FA website to see what our peers are up to. We have found the events calendar to be an incredible resource to attract like-minded artists to our master classes and audition workshops. And our company members are also excited about taking courses on Fractured U!

Finish this sentence: “A world without art is …”

“…unrevealed!”

What’s ahead for Stone Soup?

We are currently in the planning stages for our 8th season — Diagnosing the Present — an exploration of healthcare. We plan to produce two plays in repertory in Spring 2009, one original and one previously published. We are also continuing our workshop series this November and hosting a gala in December.

How can we learn more about Stone Soup’s offerings?

We welcome everyone to join our artists in our Souped Up Sundays Master Class workshops this November, or to attend our annual benefit on December 6th. These are casual ways to meet company members and see how we operate.  We also throw unusual fundraisers ranging from bingo picnics to dog beauty pageants!

Our website, www.stonesoupkitchen.org, has background on the company, details about upcoming events, and our e-newsletter sign-up.

Check out this two session seminar on Monday, November 17th, 6-8:30pm and Monday, December 1st, 6-8:30pm at NYFA.

Inside the Grant Process:
From Applications to the Panel

Grants provide much needed funding, yet the process can be overwhelming. Join NYFA for a two part workshop on grant seeking, including an inside look at how a grant panel is run and decisions are made. Session one will focus on the nuts and bolts of finding grants and creating a strong application. Session two will walk through the panel process using real life examples from visual arts workshop participants. Come and see what matters when a panel sits down to vote.

Location :
New York Foundation for the Arts
155 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10013

Price :
$40 - covers both sessions.
Please note this workshop is geared to individual visual artists and participants are expected to come to both sessions.

RSVP :
To purchase tickets on-line please visit NYFA’s events page at events.nyfa.org.

Questions :
Contact Christa Blatchford at cblatchford@nyfa.org

Name: Cara Winter
Website: www.carawinter.net
Hometown: New York, NY
Artistic Disciplines: writing, acting
Fractured Atlas Member Since: February 2002
Fractured Atlas Services Used: Fiscal Sponsorship, Health Insurance, Liability Insurance

Cara, tell us about your work in a few sentences.

For about a decade, my focus was on performing, and I worked and toured all over the country.  But I’ve always written, on the side.  I am often inspired by the work I’m doing as an actress; for instance, I wrote two children’s plays while teaching acting to children, and wrote a play about an alcoholic while on tour with… well, you get the picture.  Last summer, my first play, “Social Work”, was picked up and produced by the Manhattan Repertory Theatre; and I have three more adult plays, all in-progress: “Poker Face”, “Seeds”, and “Alan Alda sat next to me on a park bench”.

Who/what are your biggest influences?

David Auburn, Aaron Sorkin, and Amy Sherman-Palladino are my major writing influences.

What has been your greatest success to date?

As a performer, it would have to be playing to a packed Fox Theatre in St. Louis.  Incredible.   As a writer, it was when “Social Work” was produced at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre.  The actors were amazing, the director and co-producer were incomparable.  Then the “aftermath” of the play’s success was SO cool:  several requests came in from development types to read the play (one at the Public, one at the Flea, as well as a film producer).  It was an incredible experience, and I learned so much.

How do you use your Fractured Atlas membership?

Fractured Atlas has helped me to obtain liability insurance (when I produced a short film), fund-raise and promote my production/s, and network with other artists.  For a while, though, the most important aspect of my association with Fractured Atlas was access to health care.  Last August we welcomed our first child into the world (a son, Avery), so having good health coverage was a priority.  My husband is also a freelancer, so he doesn’t have coverage through an employer.  Without FA, I’m not sure what we’d have done!  Glad I didn’t have to think about that.

Finish this sentence: A world without art is…

lonely.

How can we see/hear/read/experience/learn more about your work?

Whenever I’m in production with a piece, I usually send my blurb to Fractured Atlas’s community calendar.  I also have recent news on my own website: www.carawinter.net

Images:
Top: “Social Work” by Cara Winter at Manhattan Repertory Theatre;
Catherine Gowl as “Margaret” and Stas May as “Geoff”.  Photo by N. Warren Winter.

Bottom: Cara Winter as The Ghost of Christmas Past, with Cork Ramer as Scrooge; National Tour of “A Christmas Carol”.

A one-day workshop for non-conformist performers determined to take their vision from the page to the stage. The workshop will feature a panel discussion with notable actors and writers who have seen their work produced On or Off-Broadway, and break-out groups that will provide instrumental tools to seeing one´s work produced: development, budgeting, fundraising, marketing, and more.

Presented by TeatroStageFest, HOLA, and CUNY Grad Center in association with CUNY and Instituto Cervantes.  An official event of the 2008 NYC Latin American Cultural Week.

When:  Saturday, November 8, 2008; 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Where:  Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; CUNY Graduate Center; 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street

Free admission

Prior reservation required.  Reservation and Information: info@teatrostagefest.org or 212.695.4010

Schedule:

10:00 am -12:00 noon: Produce-Yourself, Introduction to Artist Driven Projects

12:00 noon - 1:30 pm: Networking Lunch.

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm:  Group discussions led by industry professionals focusing on development, identifying producers and partners, budgeting and fundraising, and public relations and marketing.

It’s a fact, most artists want to up their income.  So get out there and jump on these opportunities.  Here’s a few good ones coming up in New York.

On September 24th from 9:00am - 12:00 pm check out Introduction to Grassroots fundraising for nonprofit organizations.  Learn how to create a compelling case for support, to deliver your pitch successfully and to raise more money from more people.  Led by Judy Levine and Gregory Cohen of Cause Effective:  Nonprofit Resource Development Center, the workshop will provide practical exercises to assess and improve your organization’s grassroots fundraising success.  There is no charge for this workshop - it’s free!  Check it out on Wednesday, September 24th at the Repertory at Hostos Community College.  The address is 450 Grand Concourse in the Bronx.  To register go to https://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=2896

Also, check out Basic Finance for Artist offered by the LMCC.  It’s a free, concentrated, six-week series of workshops that will help develop financial awareness and balance through practical training in money management. The program takes into consideration the complexity of artists’ income flow and diversity of artistic practices. Workshops provide a combination of seminar-style learning and hands-on group and individual exercises. Experts in the field and guest artists help lead the workshops and address issues that are relevant to artist-specific needs.

Artists who participate in this series of workshops will gain a better understanding of their financial profiles, specific goals, and contacts with the business community and other arts professionals. Participants will also receive a resource guide that will provide exercises, reference materials, and useful tips to continue to develop their skills. Location: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, 125 Maiden Lane, 2^nd Floor, New York. Dates and time: Mondays, 4-7 PM / October 20 - November 24, 2008.  To register, go to http://app.formassembly.com/forms/view/36988

Theatre Development Fund’s (TDF) TAP Plus program, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), makes available grants of up to $5,000 for open captioning.  This service is provided in order to increase attendance by people who are hard of hearing or deaf at cultural events that are open to the public in New York State.  TAP Plus is interested in applications from all regions in New York state.

The grant guidelines and application information  are available at http://www.tdf.org/Images/tap_plus_application08-09. Fiscally sponsored projects are eligible to apply through Fractured Atlas.

Examples of projects funded:

• A theatre seeking captioning for a performance
• A literature organization offering captioning for a reading
• An outdoor festival utilizing captioning for an arts demonstration
• A television station providing captioning for public broadcasting

October is Funding for Arts Month at the Foundation Center! Throughout the month, take advantage of the special events, classes, and Web resources available to help artists and nonprofit arts organizations become better grantseekers; network with fellow artists and colleagues; and gain insights into what’s happening in your local arts funding community. For more information or to register for programs, visit the October calendar for the Foundation Center library nearest you — Atlanta, Cleveland, New York City, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C.

Over at Donor Power Blog, guest blogger Andrew Rogers writes about 3 things nonprofits can learn from political direct mail. There’s some simple but profound advice here that we can all learn from. My favorite nugget:

When you communicate with your donors, are you talking about your organization … or about their dreams for a better world?