Round 13, 2019

How to Apply

Applications for Round 13 are now closed! Grantees will be notified of their award status and announced in December 2019.

Here's everything you need to know to develop your application. This information is also available as a printer-friendly PDF in English and Spanish.

Questions? Please contact us at [email protected] or 415-863-2141. 

2019 Guidelines

BASIC INFORMATION
Alternative Exposure grants directly fund visual arts projects that provide frameworks of support for artists to create and continue their work. Alternative Exposure is focused on supporting projects that present the work of more than one artist. Both individuals organizing on behalf of multiple artists and groups are eligible to apply. If applying as a group, the artistic group or venue can be either long-standing or formed specifically for this opportunity.

In 2017 and 2018, Facebook's Artist in Residence program provided additional funding to expand visibility for grantees with short video documentaries about their projects and a convening that will take place in December 2019.

APPLICATION

Your application must be completed online through the Submittable portal only. Applications are available in English and Spanish.

ELIGIBILITY

• Project activities must be accessible and presented to the public within the San Francisco Bay Area.

• 501c3 non-profit organizations are NOT eligible to apply. Projects may not be a part of the primary programming of an established 501c3 non-profit arts organization.

• Funded projects should not begin before December 13, 2019. For projects or programs that are a part of existing venues or larger projects, the work supported by Alternative Exposure should not begin before this date.

• Funded projects must be completed by June 30, 2021. For projects or programs that are a part of existing venues or larger projects, the work supported by Alternative Exposure should be completed by this date.

• Applicants may be a lead organizer on more than one application, however, in these cases, only one of their projects may be selected for funding.

• Applicants that have received Alternative Exposure grants from Rounds 1-9 (2007-2015) are eligible to apply again as lead organizers if 1) they are applying for a completely new, unrelated project, and 2) the first project was successfully completed and the final report was submitted to Southern Exposure.

• Grantees from Rounds 10, 11, or 12 (2016-2018) are NOT eligible to apply again as lead organizers in Round 13. However, former grantees (both lead organizers and additional collaborators) from all previous rounds may participate in Round 13 applications for new, unrelated projects as collaborators.

WHAT ALTERNATIVE EXPOSURE DOES NOT SUPPORT

• Work that is not based in, or strongly related to the visual arts.

• Non-profit Organizations

• An individual artist seeking support to make their own work.

• Individual artists whose work includes groups of people in its creation, but whose finished work is solely considered that of the individual artist, not the collaborative group as a whole.

REVIEW PROCESS AND SELECTION CRITERIA

Southern Exposure’s review process will take 6-8 weeks. Proposals will be reviewed by a panel of three local and/or national jurors made up of artists and arts professionals currently working in the field of visual arts in collaboration with Southern Exposure staff. Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• The artistic strength and creative vision of the proposed project.

• How the proposed project will create a framework of support for Bay Area artists to continue their work.

• The demonstrated capacity of the applicant(s) to realize the proposed project.

• The completed project's accessibility to the public and its commitment to serving a local constituency.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST

  1. Cover Page
  2. Project Proposal
  3. Budget
  4. Visual Support Materials
  5. Annotated Descriptive List of Support Materials
  6. Contact Information

1. COVER PAGE
General information about the applicant(s). All biographies must be in narrative form. Do NOT submit individual resumes or artist CVs.

2. YOUR PROPOSED PROJECT
Outline your project in the form of a brief summary along with a full description and address the following:

A) Project Title

B) Project Summary (100 words max.)

  • Summarize your project in a short paragraph.

C) Full Project Description (700 words max.)

  • Describe your project in detail.
  • What form will your project take? 
  • Where will your project take place?
  • Address your motivations for the project and your plans to support local artists.
  • Who is your intended audience? What kind of community impact do you anticipate your project will have?
  • Tell us about your project timeline and include milestone dates relevant to your project. 

This information is also available as a printer-friendly PDF in English and Spanish.

3. BUDGET
Complete the budget form (in English) or budget form (En Español)  with a project budget that estimates all of your anticipated expenses and income (including donated, or 'in-kind' services and labor). The fillable PDF will be best used with Adobe Acrobat, Safari, and Preview if exported as PDF. You will be prompted to upload the completed budget form when you are completing the online application.

4. VISUAL SUPPORT MATERIALS
Include up to two forms of support materials with your application. You will be prompted to upload all digital files and URLs when you are completing the online application.

  • Up to 15 digital images – formatted as JPG, GIF, TIFF, or PNG files (not to exceed 800 x 600 pixels, 180 dpi).
  • Video: You may submit up to three works or three excerpts of works. 
  • Web-based Projects: submit a list of up to 3 URLs.
  • For print materials that cannot be submitted digitally, please mail or deliver in person by 5:00 PM on Monday, October 21, 2019, to:

Attn: Alternative Exposure
Southern Exposure
3030 20th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

5. ANNOTATED LIST OF VISUAL SUPPORT MATERIALS
Include a checklist that corresponds with each item of your visual support materials. Indicate artist name or organizer's name, title, year, medium, and a brief description of each image (digital image, video, publication, website, etc.).

6. CONTACT INFORMATION
Tell us how we can get in touch with the lead organizer and up to six additional collaborators.

This information is also available as a printer-friendly PDF in English and Spanish.

Apply Now! In English or Spanish.