See Launch Grant Recipients | See 2022 Launch Grant Panelists

The Launch Grant supports creative, innovative projects developed by Peabody Conservatory third-year undergraduate and first-year master’s students in the course Pitching Your Creative Idea each spring. Grantees are selected each year to receive up to $5000 in funding as well as mentorship and promotional support from the LAUNCHPad office.

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants should be undergraduate or master’s students currently enrolled in Pitching Your Creative Idea. Students are recommended for the Launch Grant based on their final class project and can then opt-in or opt-out of the final grant application process.

Selection Criteria

• Artistic merit and skill of work represented in the work samples.
• Feasibility of the project, including the likelihood that the project will happen, based on: how it will be shown publicly, the identification and alignment of programming with the target audience, project budget, and timeline.
• A prerecorded video proposal pitch that addresses: the project, the external partner(s), target audience, audience programming, how the grant will help facilitate the realization of this project, and how your project aligns with the values of this funding source.
• Creativity of the project as an innovative step for the artist or a significant deepening of the artist’s current artistic practice.

Selection Process

A panel of artists and arts professionals will review the applications and select semi-finalists. A smaller panel, including Dean Bronstein, will select the finalists. After the finalists have the opportunity to pitch their projects live, grant winners will be announced.

Required Application Materials

The application includes the following elements:

• Project Description (1 page maximum)
• Project Budget (1 page maximum)
• Project Timeline (1 page maximum)
• Resume/CV (3 pages maximum)
• Work Sample Inventory (1 page maximum, including up to 10 work samples)
• Video Pitch (5 minutes maximum)
• Possibility of live juried pitch in final rounds

Allowable Expenses include:

• Artist fee (to support applicant’s time)
• Fee to collaborators including other artists and vendors
• Project-Related travel and materials
• Equipment for the project
• Space Rental
• Promotion and Marketing

Unallowable Expenses include:

• Routine rent or overhead expenses for artist’s housing, office or studio
• Tuition expenses
• Personal debt repayment

Please be aware that Launch Grants are taxable income. If you are on Peabody payroll, 25% or more may be withheld for taxes.

For degree recitals, research, and capstone projects, grant funding is available only for requests that go above and beyond academic/degree requirements. For example, funding is available for specified equipment and collaborative, travel, or other production expenses that clearly exceed departmental requirements. Funding is not available to compensate yourself for any components required or expected as part of your degree requirements such as planning, organizing, rehearsing, or creating the project. 

Expectations

The grant period is 12 months from the announcement of the Launch Grant winners. During this time, grantees will submit 3 report forms and participate in at least 1 meeting with LAUNCHPad staff to receive mentorship and discuss promotional strategies.

For questions about the Launch Grant, email [email protected].

Report Forms

If you received a Launch Grant, please fill out the forms below throughout your project.

Initial Report | Mid-Project Report | Final Report

Launch Grant Recipients:

2022

• Andrew Faulkenberry – Crooked Cross: An Oratorio for Hans and Sophie Scholl  
  Crooked Cross will be presented as a multimedia lecture to the Johns Hopkins community on the moral and spiritual development of anti-Nazi resistance activists Hans and Sophie Scholl. This lecture will integrate excerpts of an oratorio composed by Faulkenberry about the Scholls, recorded by Peabody performers. 

• Ui-Seng François – Be Free  
  Be Free is an interdisciplinary, one-woman show that integrates live music, dance, and spoken word to portray the personal experience of being coerced into a spiritual cult and the journey onward towards healing and reclaiming life. 

• Wesley Hamilton – The Practice Peg  
  The Practice Peg is a device that models the scroll of the violin, viola, or cello with pegs that simulate the resistance needed for adjustment, allowing string students to practice using tuning pegs in a risk-free and tactile environment.  

• Nikko Musuraca – Locale  
  Locale is a virtual platform designed to connect local artists to local venues. Made accessible to students in the Peabody community, Locale will give opportunities to students to find performance spaces beyond the educational sphere.  
  
  

2021

• Mira Huang – Story to Song
  Story to Song: Slices of Culture in the Arts is a web series that hijacks the popularity of fairytales and introduces high school students to classical art song.

• Kaijeh Johnson – Second Movement
  The goal of Second Movement is to create a free educational resource for Black students who want to be successful in the music world.

• Rush Johnston – Making a Mess
  Making a Mess is a gallery show that subverts common expectations around concert dance in order to question the systems “fine art” exists within.

• Maddalena Ohrbach – Prison Pipes
  Prison Pipes explores the relationship between mindfulness, meditation, breathing, and singing (alone and in a group) amongst at-risk communities. 

• Jolene Shao – Digitalizing “Along The River During The Qingming Festival”
  Digitalizing Along The River During The Qingming Festival will be an immersive experience in which the player could infinitely walk in this painting, watch the ancient view of Suzhou City, and learn about people’s typical lifestyles, cultural activities, business affairs, and other noteworthy events that shaped Ming dynasty China.

2020

• Mafalda Santos: Storytelling, Storyplaying
• Jeremy Harvey: Mindful Music
• Steven Chen: Arco Bow Grip

2019

• Henry Dorn: My Baltimore
• Bobby Ge: Yappie – A Musical Comedy
• Ashley Higginbotham: Getting in the Groove
• Benjamin Stevenson: Autonomy Corps – a Live Video Game Experience

2022 Launch Grant Panelists:

• Josh Ambrose 
• Kathleen DeLaurenti  
• Farouk Dey 
• Alexander Fiterstein 
• Dana Fonteneau 
• Daniel Foster 
• Zoe Fried 
• Elizabeth Futral 
• Deb Gould 
• Sarah Hoover 
• Kris Johnson 
• Christina Manceor 
• Paul Mathews  
• Maria Mathieson 
• Robin McGinness  
• Scott Metcalfe
• John Moran 
• Stacey Cooper Patterson 
• Frances Pollock  
• Christopher Shannon 
• Khandeya Sheppard  
• Alexander Shtarkman
• Steven Spooner 
• Felipa Solis 
• Sarah Thomas 
• Claire Galloway Weber 
• Aubree Weiley 
• Julien Xuereb