The deviantART Creative Grants Program is a pilot project designed to make modest grants to artists upon application for projects related to making and displaying art.
The future of the Program will depend on its performance as a pilot project, thus there is no assurance that the Program will continue for any period of time. Nonetheless, the intention is to create on a quarterly basis a distribution of funds to a variety of applicants. The amount of total funds to be distributed will be set in advance of each quarterly cycle and will be announced quarterly at the time applications are solicited. Funds that are not distributed in any given quarter would rollover to the next quarter and would be included in the budget of funds for that new quarter. The number and size of Grants will depend on the number of applications made in a quarter, the scope of those applications and the decisions made by the Creative Grants Board on the basis of the applications presented in any given quarter.
OFFICIAL GUIDELINES:
Any member of deviantART over the age of 13 who has submitted a full application form as directed is eligible to receive a Grant. DeviantART staff, employees, volunteers, and relations of staff and employees are not eligible for Grants.
The announcement of available funds and of the time period for applications will be made through a deviantART, Inc. Journal on the deviantART site. The same process will be used to announce Grant recipients.
The announcement of available Grant funds will contain information on the time requirements for the submission of an application, links to the application form and other relevant information.
Application for a Grant must be made through the Creative Grants Application that will be linked to from the announcement of available Grant funds.
Grants will be made only to individual artists who accept personal responsibility for the use of the Grant sums in a fashion consistent with the purposes set out in the application. Grants are to be made only for direct costs associated with the making of art or its public display and covering items such as art materials or software, printing or framing expenses, retaining expert assistance, gallery space rental or transportation of artworks.
Applications will be reviewed for sufficiency and clarity by deviantART staff in advance of being forwarded to the Creative Grants Board. Staff may elect to contact an applicant to clarify or complete an application but will not be required to do so.
At the close of the application period and following the staff review, a Creative Grants Board will be convened to review the applications made and reviewed by deviantART staff in that given quarter. A new Board will be convened for each quarter of the program. The Board will consist of at least three members drawn from deviantART staff, volunteers or senior members but does not need to contain any particular mix of these individuals by function. The Board will set the criteria and method used to review applications that are to be consistent with these Guidelines and that assure the review of each qualified application and a uniform consideration of each application. The Board will review the answers to every question posed in the application and weigh those responses in a fashion that the project described in the application merits. No Board member can be involved in an application review submitted by a person to whom they are related by blood, marriage, co-habitation or workplace. No discrimination on the basis of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion or country of origin or residence will be permitted on the part of any Board member.
The Board will undertake its review diligently but is permitted to take as much time as it deems necessary for its review. The Board will announce its Grants for the quarter in one complete announcement for all Grants for that quarter. Grant recipients will also be contacted through the deviantART Notes system and by email, when available, at the same time as the announcement is made.
All Grants will be made in United States Dollars and delivered at the recipient's option by check or by PayPal.
Grant recipients may be required as a condition for the receipt of the Grant to provide proof of identity, information necessary to comply with government requirements and tax authorities as well as an acknowledgment of the terms attaching to the receipt and use of the Grant. If the recipient is a not adult in his or her jurisdiction, the parent or guardian's signature may be required as a condition for the receipt of the Grant.
The Grant recipient will be asked to use the funds in the three-month period following the issuance of the Grant although if the application for the Grant suggested a longer period of time in which the funds were to be used, the Grant recipient may assume that this longer period would apply. Grant recipients will be required to post a personal Journal on their user page describing the use of the funds and, where appropriate, displaying the artwork or display resulting from the Grant.
In the event a recipient does not use the Grant sums in the fashion in which the application stated that the funds would be used, the Grant recipient is required to advise deviantART via Note and the recipient will be asked to make arrangements for the return of the balance of sums not used as planned.
DeviantART at its discretion may ask Grant recipients to provide receipts and other indication of the use of the Grant funds in accordance with the plan for use set out in the recipient's application.