All lecturer-track and tenure-track/tenured Brown faculty are eligible to submit a proposal on behalf of a research cluster. A research cluster is defined as two or more members from any academic discipline who are regular Brown faculty and whose assigned responsibilities include promoting ideas through the arts. Research clusters may also include other members, such as Brown adjunct professors, professors of the practice, post-doctoral fellows, and MFA or PhD students with teaching or research responsibilities at Brown during the period of the grant. Faculty from other institutions can be part of a cluster. 

A BAI Research Cluster Grant is an award of up to $50,000 per year for a period of three years, totaling up to $150,000 per funded cluster.

Proposals will be reviewed by a BAI committee composed of chairs of Brown’s arts departments, BAI academic and artistic leadership, at least one external member, and possibly ad hoc faculty with specific subject matter expertise. The review committee will be especially attentive to the following criteria when reviewing submissions.

1. Fit to mission: BAI is a university-wide research enterprise and catalyst for the arts at Brown that creates new work and supports, amplifies, and adds new dimensions to the creative practices of Brown’s arts departments, faculty, students, and community. 
2. Interdisciplinary range: BAI is committed to supporting art scholarship and practice in the interstitial spaces between disciplines. This grant program seeks to support creative research among faculty, artists, and scholars whose work spans more than one discipline.
3. Impact: BAI actively seeks to support work that has an impact on communities both within the campus and beyond. 
4. Audacity: BAI encourages ambitious proposals. We suspect that there might well be years of pent-up creative verve among Brown arts faculty. Please feel invited to project boldly into the future, using this grant program as a launchpad.

Award funds may be applied to reasonable and necessary costs of conducting research and scholarship. These expenses may include: the hiring of a research assistant and/or the purchase of material, equipment and supplies, and reimbursements for travel and office expenditures. Any expenses incurred must adhere to Brown’s contract labor, purchasing and travel guidelines.

Proposals are submitted electronically via UFunds. Please limit your proposal to no more than five pages, not including CVs of the proposed cluster members and chair’s approval in an appendix. See BAI Research Cluster Grant for detailed proposal requirements

Proposals are due September 1, 2023. Successful applicants will be notified by October 15, 2023. Funding is available starting January 1, 2024.

Grant recipients must complete the required final report form at the end of each calendar year (December 31) of the award period. The form asks grant recipients to describe the work accomplished and reflect on both successful outcomes and challenges. In addition, annual reports must include photo, video or other documentation for BAI promotional purposes and inclusion in the BAI archive. Provided images must conform to Brown’s Image Use Policy.