Why Should I Write a Grant Proposal if I Am a Scholar in the Arts or Humanities?

I have often been asked by faculty in the arts and humanities why they should spend their limited time writing grant proposals when they need to produce publications or exhibits or performances. Unlike faculty in the sciences and biomedicine, arts and humanities faculty are not evaluated on bringing in external funding and can get by in their careers without investing precious time and energy toward writing grant proposals that may or may not get funded. Particularly when they need to devote time to what they will be judged on for promotion and tenure, choosing to write grant proposals seems, on the surface, like a bad choice for arts and humanities faculty. By observing the career trajectories of faculty in the arts and humanities who did choose to write grant proposals, I came up with some arguments on why writing grant proposals may prove a very good use of time for faculty in the arts and humanities, and could very well help advance their careers.

Even if you don’t get funded, planning and writing a grant proposal can offer many meaningful and practical gifts, of which some are listed below. You may think of others.

  • Parameters and deadlines to think through and plan out your ideas, methods, and timelines

  • Reconnection with the why of your scholarship

  • Reflection on your career trajectory

  • Practical push to protect your time to dream, think, and create

  • Improved awareness of your scholarship among your colleagues and university leadership

  • Introduction of your scholarship to a panel of scholar reviewers and sponsor agency personnel

  • Improvement of the ability to write for a lay audience and communicate more clearly

  • Opportunity to collaborate with colleagues and/or key external partners

If your proposal does get funded, in addition to the benefits above, you can create:

  • Time to work on your scholarship through course buyouts (release time), summer salary, or long-term residencies at other institutions

  • Resources to do your project better or more quickly, such as travel for fieldwork or archive visits, equipment, personnel, expertise

  • Opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to experience hands-on learning and financial support

  • Increased visibility for your scholarship and your institution through the peer review process and sponsor agency promotion

  • Resources that can allow you to meaningfully impact your discipline

  • Opportunities for collaborative and public research, such as through conferences, workshops, meetings, K-12 outreach, exhibits, or productions with museums and theaters

Contact Us if you would like information about bringing ATG’s Planning and Writing Successful Grant Proposals in the Arts and Humanities seminar to your institution.

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Agile Concepts in Academia, Part III: What Can Agile Do for Me – Really?