Applicants should first check with their business office or accounting department. If your organization does not have a D-U-N-S Number, you can obtain the number by calling 1-800-333-0505 or by completing a D-U-N-S Number Request Form. The form can be obtained via the Internet at the following URL: http://www.dnb.com/US/duns_update/.

The application is due on March 14, 2008. Applications must be submitted electronically using the Grants.gov Apply site.

The Department strongly encourages applicants to notify the Department with a short e-mail to artsdemo@ed.gov noting the intent to submit an application for funding. We will be able to develop a more efficient process for reviewing grant applications with an estimate of the number of applications we should expect to receive. The e-mail need not include information regarding the content of the proposed application, only the applicant's intent to submit. However, applicants that fail to provide this e-mail notification are still eligible to apply for funding.

When applying for funds as a consortium, an agreement by all individual members of eligible applicants must be included in the application. The consortium's agreement must detail the activities each member of the consortium plans to perform, and must bind each member to every statement and assurance made in the consortium's application. The designated applicant must submit the consortium's agreement with its application.

The recommended page limit for the narrative is 30. The recommended page limit does not apply to the cover sheet; the budget section, including the budget narrative justification; the assurances and certifications; the table of contents; the project abstract; the absolute and competitive priorities; the resumes; and the appendices.

We recommend that the pages be formatted as follows:

• A "page" is 8.5" x 11", "on one side only, with 1" margins at the top, bottom, and both sides.
• Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) all text in the application narrative, except titles, headings, footnotes, quotations, references, captions, and all text in charts, tables, and graphs.
• Use one of the following fonts: Times New Roman, Courier, Courier New, or Arial.
• Use size 12-point font.
• Begin numbering at the bottom of the first page in Arabic numerals ("1") and number the pages consecutively throughout the document.
• Include all critical information in the program narrative.

It should provide an explanation of:

• the basis for estimating the costs of professional personnel salaries, benefits, project staff travel, materials and supplies, consultants and subcontractors, indirect costs, and any projected expenditures;
• how the major cost items relate to the proposed activities;
• the cost of evaluation; and
• a description of in-kind support or funding provided by partners in the project, if applicable.

Supporting documentation as appendices to the narrative, e.g. résumés of key personnel or job descriptions may be included in the appendix. This material should be concise and pertinent to the competition.

The Secretary considers only information contained in the application in ranking applications for funding consideration. Letters of support sent separately from the formal application package are not considered in the review by the technical review panels. (34 CFR 75.217)

Applications for grants under the AEMDD program--CFDA Number 84.351D--must be submitted electronically using the Grants.gov Apply site at: http://www.grants.gov. Through this site, you will be able to download a copy of the application package, complete it offline, and then upload and submit your application. You may not e-mail an electronic copy of a grant application to us.

We strongly recommend that you do not wait until the application deadline date to begin the application process. Under mandatory submission, electronic applications must be received by 4:30 pm Washington, DC time on the application deadline date. Under this new policy, the Department of Education does not allow for any last minute waiver requests from applicants, which is a change from the previous policy for mandatory electronic submission. Consequently, we strongly encourage you to review the registration and submission procedures for the designated electronic application system right away.

The site is available 24 hours.

You will not receive additional point value if you submit your application in electronic format, nor will we penalize you if you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, as described elsewhere in this section, and submit your application in paper format.

You qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, and may submit your application in paper format, if you are unable to submit an application through the Grants.gov system because--

• You do not have access to the Internet; or
• You do not have the capacity to upload large documents to the Grants.gov system; and
• No later than two weeks before the application deadline date (14 calendar days or, if the fourteenth calendar day before the application deadline date falls on a Federal holiday, the next business day following the Federal holiday), you mail or fax a written statement to the Department, explaining which of the two grounds for an exception prevent you from using the Internet to submit your application. If you mail your written statement to the Department, it must be postmarked no later than two weeks before the application deadline date. If you fax your written statement to the Department, we must receive the faxed Address and mail or fax your statement to: Diane Austin, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 4W210, Washington, DC 20202-5950. FAX: (202) 205-5630.

If you qualify for any exception to the electronic submission requirement, you may mail (through the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial carrier) your application to the Department. You must mail the original and two copies of your application, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the applicable address:

By mail through the U.S. Postal Service:

U.S. Department of Education
Application Control Center
Attention: CFDA Number 84.351D
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-4260

or

By mail through a commercial carrier:

U.S. Department of Education
Application Control Center - Stop 4260
Attention: CFDA Number 84.351D
7100 Old Landover Road
Landover, MD 20785-1506

Regardless of which address you use, you must show proof of mailing consisting of one of the following:

1. A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark;
2. A legible mail receipt with the date of mailing stamped by the U.S. Postal Service;
3. A dated shipping label, invoice, or receipt from a commercial carrier; or
4. Any other proof of mailing acceptable to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

If you mail your application through the U.S. Postal Service, we do not accept either of the following as proof of mailing:

1. A private metered postmark, or
2. A mail receipt that is not dated by the U.S. Postal Service.

If your application is postmarked after the application deadline date, we will not consider your application.

Note: The U.S. Postal Service does not uniformly provide a dated postmark. Before relying on this method, you should check with your local post office.

Submission of Paper Applications by Hand Delivery.

If you qualify for an exception to electronic submission requirement, you (or a courier service) may deliver your paper application to the Department by hand. You must deliver the original and two copies of your application, by hand, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education
Application Control Center
Attention: CFDA Number 84.351D
550 12th Street, S.W.
Room 7041, Potomac Center Plaza
Washington, DC 20202-4260

The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries daily between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, except Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.

Note for Mail or Hand Delivery of Paper Applications: If you mail or hand deliver your application to the Department:

1. You must indicate on the envelope and — in Item 4 of the ED 424 the CFDA number — and suffix letter, if any — of the competition under which you are submitting your application.
2. The Application Control Center will mail a grant application receipt acknowledgment to you. If you do not receive the grant application receipt acknowledgment within 15 business days from the application deadline date, you should call the U.S. Department of Education Application Control Center at (202) 245-6288.

One copy of the application should be unbound and suitable for photocopying. To expedite our review of your application, we would appreciate your voluntarily including an additional three copies of your application. We will not penalize applicants who do not provide additional copies.

Authorized users may continue to enter the application up until the closing date at 4:30 p.m. However the application must be completed and submitted by that time.

Grants.gov is different from e-Application, where you are working online and saving data to the Department's database. Please note, once you download an application from Grants.gov, you will be working offline and saving data on your computer. Please be sure to note where you are saving the Grants.gov file on your computer. You will need to logon to Grants.gov to upload and submit the application. (You must provide on your application the DUNS number that was used when your organization registered with the CCR.) The time it takes to upload an application will vary depending on a number of factors including the size of the application and the speed of your Internet connection, and the time it takes Grants.gov to process the application will vary as well.

No, Department staff are not permitted to review and comment on draft proposals. Applicants may contact program staff with specific questions about the application guidelines only.

Generally speaking literature and creative writing are generally considered in the domain of the humanities and are not included in the National Arts Standards. Performance. We do not include literature within the definition.

For the purposes of this program and as published in the Federal Register notice of March 30, 2005 (70 FR 16234), art is defined as follows: "Arts includes music, dance, theater, media arts, and visual arts, including folk arts."

Indirect costs represent the expenses of doing business that are not readily identified with a particular grant, contract, project function or activity, but are necessary for the general operation of the organization and the conduct of activities it performs. In theory, costs like heat, light, accounting and personnel might be charged directly if little meters could record minutes in a cross-cutting manner. Practical difficulties preclude such an approach. Therefore, cost allocation plans or indirect cost rates are used to distribute those costs to benefiting revenue sources.

We recommend that you review the Department’s webpage regarding the Indirect Cost Group at: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/fipao/index.html Please do not call the number included in the Federal Register notice inviting applications. Contact information and the procedure can be obtained at the website listed above.