Research Grants

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Research Grants Program is designed to encourage and support scholarship and publication by individuals in the field of sound recordings or audio preservation. Specific projects eligible for support include:

• Discography
• Bibliography
• Historical studies of the sound recording industry and its products
• Any other subject likely to increase the public's understanding and appreciation of the lasting importance of recorded sound.

View past Research Grant recipients

Both ARSC members and non-members are eligible for grants in amounts up to $1000. ARSC encourages applications from individuals whose research forms part of an academic program at the master's or doctoral level. Grant recipients receive reimbursement for eligible expenses, up to the amount of their grant award. Documentation of eligible expenses must be submitted before reimbursement. The eligible expenses must be incurred after the grant is awarded (generally mid-March), and funds must be disbursed by the end of the calendar year (December 31st) of the grant award.

Grant funds can be used to underwrite clerical, travel, and editorial expenses.

Grant funds may not be used to purchase capital equipment or recordings, to create recordings (including field recordings), to perform operations on sound recordings, to reimburse applicants for work already performed before the grant was awarded, or to support projects which form part of a job. 

APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 31st of each year.

Applications are reviewed by committee members in an open peer review process. Committee members are volunteers with expertise in areas of recorded sound and all members participate in the review process. Proposals are evaluated on the extent to which they focus on sound recordings as research materials or on the sound recording industry, and the extent to which applications materials meet the format requirements.

Applicants will generally be notified about the grant decisions in March.

Grant Recipients will be required to:

• Submit a brief report of their projects, with an accompanying image, for publication by ARSC in the ARSC Newsletter. (Recipients are also encouraged to submit articles about their projects to be considered for publication in the ARSC Journal or to present their work at an ARSC Conference.)
• Submit documentation of their eligible expenses incurred after the grant is awarded and receive reimbursement by December 31st in the year the grant is awarded.

HOW TO APPLY

Application packet must include:

1. A summary of the project (one page maximum), with samples of the work attached if possible.

2. An itemized budget covering the entire project and highlighting expenses the ARSC grant will cover (one page maximum).

A. Estimates of costs at the time of writing are acceptable.

B. Please include a column or prose summary to indicate what funds have already been committed to this project and the sources of such funds, and what proposals for funds are pending (from what sources, for instance, foundation name, location, and specific dollars requested, and for what purpose).

3. A current curriculum vitae.

4. An indication of the prospects for publication or other public presentation of the project results.

Submit all items as email attachments to arscgrants@gmail.com

Questions can be directed to the committee at the above address.

The deadline for receipt of applications is the last day of January of each year.