NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers

 

The NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers is offered biennially. To be notified when new guidelines and applications are available, please contact Sarah McLellan, artistic programs associate.

 

The program offers six exceptionally talented, early-career theatre designers the opportunity to spend six months over a two-year period developing their design skills, expanding their artistic boundaries and increasing their knowledge of the field. Each experience is hand-tailored, matching recipients’ goals to appropriate and challenging assignments.

A successful program will include a majority of the following:

Travel and research;

Advanced study such as design workshops and master classes;

Cross-disciplinary forays such as language study or work with a dramaturg or director;

Observing companies and/or artists of distinction in their rehearsal or planning process;

Prolonged residencies, often working as an assistant;

Developing a new piece with a designated mentor in the final months of the program.

Under the program, recipient designers will receive $25,000, which represents six stipend payments of $3,900 and a final payment of $1,600. These stipends cannot be used to underwrite fees for design jobs, unless those assignments are related to the goals the recipient articulates in their application and interview.

In addition, each recipient will receive:

Up to $2,000 to support ongoing life needs such as health insurance, child care or elder care and up to $1,500 in supplementary travel.

Applicants of diverse backgrounds representing the full spectrum of theatrical activity, including those who have worked in non-traditional venues, are encouraged to apply to this program. No applicant will be discriminated against on the basis of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, color or national origin.

There is a large time commitment expected of each recipient selected. Recipients will be required to complete six months of activity within a two-year period, beginning October 1, 2009, and ending September 30, 2011, and will be asked to treat all activities within the program as professional engagements. It is assumed that the selected recipients will arrange their schedules in order to accommodate the Career development program.

TCG understands that advance scheduling of large blocks of time can prove extremely challenging for freelance designers, so the program activity need not be consecutive and the TCG staff will work with each recipient to match placements and develop a timeline for completing the program. However, potential recipients should be prepared and able to relocate during the program period, if necessary. And while they may accept work outside the program, they may not maintain salaried positions while completing program activities.