Arts Discretionary Fund Guidelines

The Purpose of the Arts Discretionary Fund

The purpose of the Arts Discretionary Fund is to support the development and presentation of exceptional and imaginative projects that are timely, relevant, and that contribute to the Yale College arts landscape. These projects may be of an individual or group nature. They may be curricular or extracurricular. Preference is given to practice-based projects that benefit the artistic, intellectual, and personal development of undergraduates. The Arts Discretionary Fund supports a wide range of art activities in recognition that they offer powerful learning experiences to Yale students.

Who Does the Fund Support?

Any Yale College student or faculty member may request support. Applicants need not be majors or faculty members in an arts discipline, but must be deeply engaged and demonstrate a rigorous commitment to their art, and value both expertise and inventiveness.

Undergraduate art projects must have already applied for standard available funding (e.g. Creative and Performing Arts, Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee), if eligible, before seeking funding from the ADF. The ADF is not available to replace CPA or UOC funding for students who have missed the application deadline. The ADF may not be used to pay Yale undergraduates to participate in art making or to subsidize for-profit projects.

In general, the ADF does not support art presentations off campus, as it aims to nourish the on-campus art community.

What Does the Fund Support?

Support is offered in any field of art making. Successful projects include new initiatives, activities that enhance existing programs, and projects that cannot be funded through traditional funding models for reason of scale or scope.

Examples of ADF supported projects:

  • Annual Festival Programming
    • Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective
    • Yale Student Film Festival
  • Guest artist workshop series and classes
    • Yale Modern Dance Collective (formerly A Different Drum)
    • Yaledancers
    • Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective
    • Taps at Yale
  • Expenses to produce work above and beyond CPA-funded costs
    • Opera Theatre of Yale College
  • Subsidized extra-curricular lessons for students
    • Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective
    • Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater
  • Accessibility accommodations
    • Support for ASL interpreter for Spring Fling performances

Application Procedure

ADF applications are reviewed on a rolling basis during the academic year. Applicants should submit a 1-2 page proposal that includes:

  • Name and title (if applicable) of proposer
  • Amount requested
  • Brief program or project description and how it will benefit Yale College undergraduates
  • Timeline
  • Itemized projected budget including other sources of support

The committee may ask to review previous work samples as part of the application process.

The Arts Discretionary Fund may not be used towards events that have already occurred.                                                                                                                

Final Report

At the conclusion of the project, the applicant must submit a brief report on the outcomes made possible by the award. This report should include: 1) description of outcomes; 2) actual budget; 3) if an event, number of participants and attendees; 4) assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the program.

For more information or to submit a proposal, please contact:

Kate Krier, Associate Dean for the Arts  kathryn.krier@yale.edu