Faculty of ArtDo you want to figure out how to bring your social sciences or humanities research into an off-campus setting?
Do you struggle to see how community engagement or knowledge exchange could fit within your disciplinary perspective?
Do you have an idea for a project – an artwork, an exhibition, a collaboration, a work experience – that you don’t know how to launch?
If you have an idea for a project, or if you want to create your own internship experience, we can help.
How can you get started?
To figure out how to connect to off-campus communities, you have to take a step back from the specifics of your research and think about the broader topics, issues, or skills that excite you. What are the reasons you’re doing this research in the first place?
- Figure out if you already have connections to or know of organizations that care about the same big questions driving your work.
- Connect with these people: drop them an email, invite them for a virtual coffee, and ask for a bit of their time. In that conversation, you’re trying to find out if they have any problems, concerns, or ideas that they don’t have the capacity to work on. What you are looking for is overlap in the Venn Diagram of what they need help with and the kind of stuff you want to do. This is a conversation to see if there is a project the two of you can work on together.
- Find a funder that will support that kind of proposal and submit a funding application to them.
What we can do
Here at the Arts Amplifier, we can provide you with support at every step.
- We can help you draft an introduction email and how to talk about your interests with a potential community partner.
- We can help you develop a stakeholder map.
- We might even know of folks in these organizations that we can introduce you to.
- We can help you identify a source of funding and help you draft a strong proposal.
If you have any questions or want to start brainstorming ideas together, fill out our ‘Get Support’ form. If you already have a project in mind and are looking for grant support or options for funding, connect with our grants editor for a 1:1 consultation.