Artsline: Could you give a brief introduction to the IPDG program?
Matt Levy: It’s a program designed to provide support for artists to do research - sort of like a research and development grant to explore collaborations with other artists from other disciplines, to produce work that is interdisciplinary.
Artsline: How does the program work?
Marincola: When we were first asked to co-direct the program, Matt and I got together and came up with a set of guidelines for potential applicants. The applicant pool for this particular grant is limited to grantees for the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, which is where we are based, and that means that any organization and any artist who has received a grant from one of the programs here is eligible to apply for an IPDG grant. So once we had the guidelines ready to go, we disseminated a memo to all these grantees through all the various programs here at the center, letting them know that the grants were available.
The process is a fairly simple one. There is an initial inquiry that an applicant is invited to make where they discuss the nature of their project with Matt and me and we try to give them some feedback into whether indeed it is a project which is a response to what IPDG is supposed to be about. If we think that it is, we ask them to make a full application based on the guidelines that we sent out prior.
Levy: Because each director has expertise in a specific discipline, the program has provided a forum for us to talk through these projects with one another because we rely on each other’s expertise to make evaluations of the applications. So, if a proposal comes in that involves collaborations between liberal arts and dance, then the appropriate artistic initiative directors would have a discussion about that.
Marincola: Then the grant is awarded. They have reporting responsibilities when their project is finished. We ask them to provide a brief narrative and financial report of the activity, whatever it was, and to evaluate its impact on their work.
Artsline: What is the purpose of the program?
Levy: The intent of the program is to stimulate collaborations between the artists we are funding and artists with whom they would not have the resources to otherwise work. Lots of these organizations have worked across disciplines, but often they wouldn’t have resources to bring an artist from geographically distant locations.
Marincola: Or to go somewhere far away and work with someone there of stature.
Levy: It’s sort of as I said, it’s sort of a research and development grant. It’s possible that a recipient might apply for a national project grant from one of the artistic initiatives to realize the project. This could be a first phase.
Artsline: What is it about collaborations in particular that the
two of you feel is important to fund?
Levy: I think it can really invigorate an organization or an individual to expand their capacity to work across disciplines, to give them new ideas about their own practice and expand their capacity.
Marincola: Artists have been doing this forever. The idea of collaboration is not a new one, but we’re here to encourage the opportunity to develop ideas or work with potential collaborators at a much higher level than might have been available before this grant. In other words, it’s a grant that allows them to take a step forward in terms of their capacity.
Levy: I think certain disciplines are inherently interdisciplinary. That’s why we have focused the funds on new collaborations so that they can make those connections and have the resources to reach beyond their current partners and collaborators.
Artsline: What was the need you saw that inspired the formation of
this grant program?
Marincola: When our programs came together under the rubric of the Center for Arts and Heritage, the notion of collaboration or working across disciplines seemed to come naturally. Here we are, all these programs that are stuck together in one place - there’s a natural desire to see what your colleagues are doing, to toss ideas back and forth, and maybe collaborate programmatically. So I guess that’s been inspirational in terms of providing opportunities for collaboration for the artists and organizations who are our constituents.
Artsline: What do you look for when you are considering proposals?
Levy: We have these guidelines, but we don’t dictate artistic content. We just want to try and be very open to all sorts of ideas because, as co directors in a funding program, it’s hard to imagine every possible kind of scenario. I would just say [we look for] the things we’ve outlined - that we try to communicate a high level of flexibility and our interest in enabling these kind of partnerships.
Marincola: Within the basic structure of the program we try to be really responsive.
Matt Levy is the Director of the Philadelphia Music Project at the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage. Paula Marincola is the Director of the Exhibitions Initiative at the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage. They are co-directors of the IPDG program.
To be the best we can possibly be,
to grow, and learn in every adversity,
and not lose the success that's ours to be
requires control of our thoughts explicitly. Do you think so?
Posted by: Air Jordan | January 24, 2011 at 10:40 PM
The most profound exception to entropy is the creation of life.
Posted by: Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 | June 07, 2011 at 02:45 AM