SUNY Potsdam Faculty, Staff and Students can apply for LoKo Arts Funding. Students must have a Faculty or Staff advisor listed on the application and a letter of support from that advisor.
Projects that encompass all forms of artistic expression, including those involving more than one artistic discipline.
Thanks to the spirit and generosity of the festival's benefactors Kathy (Kofoed) Lougheed '54 and her late husband Don Lougheed (Hon. '54), SUNY Potsdam celebrates the campus culture of creativity and reinforces how important the arts are to learning environments for every discipline as well as a lifetime of creativity for anyone who is crazy for the arts.
The LoKo Arts Festival was founded in 2012, with the purpose of infusing energy and opportunity into the visual and performing arts of the SUNY Potsdam campus and community. The LoKo Festival's vigorous programs ensure the growth and continued position of Potsdam as SUNY's premiere arts campus by inviting artists, students and community members to engage in creative ways while stimulating a vibrant cultural landscape on our campus.
- Honoria for individual or group which may include lectures, workshops and masterclasses;
- Guest artists;
- Artists-in-residence; and
- Presenters
- Travel expenses for those individuals or groups;
- Promotion and related expenses (ex: flyers or Central Printing expenses. Please limit these expenses to no more than 10% of the overall budget, as LoKo will promote events and the Festival collectively)
- Production expenses, including but not limited to;
- Technical support
- Expenses related to educational outreach including, but not limited to
- Materials;
- Travel to schools; and
- Visits by schools to campus
- Performance rights;
- Hospitality (as required by guest artist contract riders)
- This excludes departmental dinners, public receptions, and alcohol purchases
- Costs associated with exhibiting works of arts including, but not limited to:
- Shipping;
- Insurance;
- Packaging; and
- Exhibition space preparation
- Commissioning of works of art; and
- Materials, supplies and equipment needed to create or produce a creative work or hands-on arts event/workshop, or performing arts event
- This excludes materials, supplies and equipment available on campus
- Projects are to be volunteer run. SUNY Potsdam Faculty/Staff and students, including the project leads, are not to be compensated for any work related to executing projects.
- Disproportionate use of the grant for promotion and printing
- Club gear, items to be sold (ex: club fundraisers like t-shirts, food items, etc), or other unrelated expenses to the approved project scope
- Projects that do not have a public event or component
- Ticketed events
- Prizes, prize money or other compensation for competitive events
- Projects that do not have an arts focus
- Arts focus is wide-ranging and can include traditional crafts, accessible/entry-level public hands-on arts projects/experiences, and arts that encompass other disciplines (for ex: the department of Earth and Environmental Science created a mobile exhibit of large scale NASA photographs of Earth and Mars, (“Views from Space”), as part of the 2022 LoKo Arts Festival)
- Projects leads are fully responsible for the planning and execution of their events.
- Expenses outside of the grant award must be covered by another source of funding or Department account. LoKo is not responsible for covering projects that go over-budget. Unused funds must be returned to the LoKo Arts Endowed Fund for the use in the next cycle.
- Awarded grants will be transferred to a designated Department Foundation account upon receipt of a finalized project plan and budget.
- Managing and tracking the project budget.
- Guest Artist or other contracting and all required paperwork related to the project.
- Managing the guest artist(s) or any invited groups as part of the project.
- Ensuring that any obligations in a contract as part of a project are fulfilled (including hotel/accommodation arrangements, technical riders and hospitality riders).
- Securing a venue and submitting any required Facilities or other request forms.
- Arranging all technical/IT or other production and event support needed for an event or project.
- Ordering any and all materials, equipment or other items needed for a project.
- Setup and re-setting of a venue/space for an event. Respectful use of all campus spaces, equipment and adherence to all campus rules/regulations.
- Event/project management, including securing all needed volunteers for running an event.
- Donor acknowledgement on printed materials and announced at events.
- Submission of event description, image/graphic and details to the LoKo Team by deadline for LoKo Arts Festival brochure/program and promotion.
- Communicating to the LoKo Team if a project has to be pulled or modified.
- Submitting a project report with a completed budget at the conclusion of the project to close out the grant.
Vanessa Vaverchak and Meghan Stever manage and administer the LoKo Arts Funding cycle. A LoKo Arts intern supports this administration. Please contact us at lokoarts@potsdam.edu with any questions on the application or to receive consultation on a project. We are here to help and support you in planning and executing a successful LoKo project! Please reach out to set up an appointment with us.
The rubric below guides the decisions of the review team for all LoKo Arts Grants (Festival & Rolling). Please write your application to these criteria for evaluation.
Minimum Requirements
- Events must have an arts focus. Arts focus is wide-ranging and can include fine arts in all media, musical performance, performing arts, dance, poetry/spoken word, literary arts, traditional crafts, accessible/entry-level public hands-on arts projects/experiences, arts for children/youth, and multi-disciplinary art exhibits or creative events (for ex: the department of Earth and Environmental Science created a mobile exhibit of large scale NASA photographs of Earth and Mars, (“Views from Space”), as part of the 2022 LoKo Arts Festival)
- Events must be free of charge and must primarily be open to the public. Artist-in-residence projects may include lectures, workshops or masterclasses for SUNY Potsdam students only, with a preference for lectures, workshops and masterclasses that are also open to the public.
- Breakdown of expenses must be clear and must include a narrative if individual budget items are estimated or unclear
Evaluation Area 1 Description of event
Score Weight = x2
Score = 0 Unclear and under-developed
Score = 1 Clear, but under-developed
Score = 2 Clear and fully developed
Score = 3 Perfectly clear and well-articulated description of project activities
Evaluation Area 2 Quality of the overall proposal and well-planned project
Score Weight = x3
Score = 0 Project has few details, is unclear or under-developed
Score = 1 Some details, with a draft-quality outline of the project scope
Score = 2 Clear and well-planned project with sufficient details for execution of the event(s)
Score = 3 Clear and strong project with carefully planned and detailed proposal that impacts both the campus and larger community
Evaluation Area 3 Artistic and creative merit
Score Weight = x3
Score = 0 Little to no artistic or creative scope; project is loosely or unrelated to any arts or creative discipline
Score = 1 Some artistic or creative scope
Score = 2 Well planned creative project/event with engaging or educational components as part of an impactful proposal with the purpose of engaging an audience in an artistic or creative experience
Score = 3 High quality artist-in-residence, arts exhibit, or creative project with clear, strong artist/creative merit and including engaging and educational components as part of a high-impact proposal with the purpose of engaging campus and community audiences in a meaningful artistic, cultural and/or creative experience.
Evaluation Area 4 Impact on campus and community (potential reach of project)
Score Weight = x2
Score = 0 Little potential for campus or community participation, narrow scope or a project with no public component
Score = 1 Impact is narrow or unclear
Score = 2 Impact is moderate and articulated in the narrative
Score = 3 Impact has potential for wide reach both on campus and in the community and/or has multiple touch-points/events as part of a clearly articulated scope
Evaluation Area 5 Clarity and scope of budget
Score Weight = x1
Score = 0 Budget unexplained (no budget narrative) or unclear (no details or breakdown of expenses)
Score = 1 Budget is either missing a rationale for the expenses or does not fully consider all expenses required to execute the project. If needed, technical or facilities requirements have not been considered or are not feasible.
Score = 2 Provides a clear and complete budget with sufficient details and ability to execute the project as outlined.
Score = 3 Provides an overall dollar figure, details and breakdown of that number, valid supporting evidence for those numbers, and a clear budget rationale. The budget carefully considers are technical, facilities and related expenses to execute the project. Letters of support or facilities/technical approvals have already been cleared with all campus stakeholders.
Evaluation Area 6 The LoKo Factor of the proposal for unique or exciting projects that are highly creative, engaging and offer an opportunity to explore the arts in a deeper or fuller way
Score Weight = x1
Score = 0 The project is lacking particularly innovative or creative components
Score = 1 Components of the proposal are unique, creative, or engaging
Score = 2 The project is innovative, unique, takes artistic risks and/or thought provoking.
Score = 3 The project is exciting, highly creative and unique with strong artistic merit. The arts discipline has not often been showcased in previous LoKo projects or presents a meaningful way to engage with the arts.