Antarctic Artists and Writers Program

NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

Dear Colleagues,

Regrettably, the Division of Antarctic Science (ANT) will not be accepting proposals for the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program for the 2010 - 2011 austral summer. 

ANT has recently received many letters expressing support for the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program and concern about the decision to not have a competition this year (2009). A number of circumstances led to the decision to suspend the competition, but I want to assure the community that there is no intent to terminate the program.

While suspending the competition is unfortunate, at this time, because of the large number of meritorious proposals in the last cycle, we expect to have Artist and Writer participants active each year with our field programs without interruption.  Also, I fully expect that the competition will start again in 2010. Toward this end, as mentioned at the May 2009 OPP Office Advisory Committee meeting, we anticipate recruitment of a Program Officer for a polar education activity, whose responsibility would include the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.

If you submitted a proposal for the June 2008 deadline, you will be notified of its status in the coming weeks.  The acting program manager is currently reviewing the results of the recent panel review of these proposals and is preparing his recommendations.

If you have additional questions, please contact Winifred Reuning at wreuning@nsf.gov.

I very much appreciate the concerns expressed by the community and the support expressed for this program.

Sincerely,

Scott Borg
Division Director, Antarctic Sciences
NSF/OPP

PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Solicitation  08-552

As announced on May 21st, proposers must prepare and submit proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF) using the NSF FastLane system at http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/. This approach is being taken to support efficient Grants.gov operations during this busy workload period and in response to OMB direction guidance issued March 9, 2009. NSF will continue to post information about available funding opportunities to Grants.gov FIND and will continue to collaborate with institutions who have invested in system-to-system submission functionality as their preferred proposal submission method. NSF remains committed to the long-standing goal of streamlined grants processing and plans to provide a web services interface for those institutions that want to use their existing grants management systems to directly submit proposals to NSF.

Please be advised that the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) includes revised guidelines to implement the mentoring provisions of the America COMPETES Act (ACA) (Pub. L. No. 110-69, Aug. 9, 2007.) As specified in the ACA, each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. Proposals that do not comply with this requirement will be returned without review (see the PAPP Guide Part I: Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II for further information about the implementation of this new requirement).

DUE DATES

Current but no Longer Receiving Proposals

SYNOPSIS

The purpose of the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program is to enable serious writings and works of art that exemplify the Antarctic heritage of humankind. In particular, the program seeks to increase public understanding of the Antarctic region, including the continent and the surrounding oceans, as well as the associated research and education endeavors.

The Antarctic Artists and Writers Program provides opportunities for professional artists and writers to travel to Antarctica --- at research stations, field camps, and aboard ships --- to make the observations necessary to complete their proposed projects. While the majority of award recipients are established artists and writers, the program also seeks to support early career artists and writers in an effort to broaden participation.

This program is intended for individuals or small teams who would make use of existing, limited resources without requiring substantial dedicated support or a significant amount of logistical resources.

The National Science Foundation funds and manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, which is devoted mainly to scientific research and education in support of the national interest in the Antarctic. The program’s research and support infrastructure enables access to much of the Antarctic region for selected Antarctic Artists and Writers Program projects. It does not typically provide direct financial support to selected applicants.

International Polar Year

The International Polar Year (IPY), which extends from March 2007 to March 2009 (see http://dels.nas.edu/us-ipy and http://www.ipy.org) is underway.

A large number of awards have been made in response to proposals submitted to the regular Antarctic Research solicitations as well as two special solicitations during FY06 and FY07. A list of IPY awards is available at http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/ipy/ipy_awards_list.jsp. Proposals that take advantage of prior IPY investments are particularly welcome.

For information about other NSF IPY activities, see http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/ipy/ipyinfo.jsp.

RELATED URLS

Past Participants of and Additional Information about the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program

NSF International Polar Year Information for Researchers and Educators

Abstracts of Recent Awards Made Through This Program

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