Large Creative & Performing Arts Grants

The Large Creative & Performing Arts Grants, offered by the University of Notre Dame's Franco Family Institute, support innovative arts projects led by faculty in the College of Arts & Letters. These grants are awarded biannually and prioritize projects that foster social engagement, explore sacred themes, or integrate technology with the arts. Eligible faculty can use the grants for materials, travel, and exhibition costs, enhancing the creative landscape and encouraging collaboration among scholars and artists.

Founded by the College of Arts & Letters in 1984 as the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts and renamed in 2025, the Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good helps advance research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. To accomplish this goal, the institute provides faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students in the College with three main types of support.
Purpose
The Notre Dame Arts Initiative and the Franco Institute welcome applications for Large Creative & Performing Arts Grants. These grants, awarded twice annually, support arts and creative practice projects in any medium that are directed by faculty in the College of Arts & Letters. Special consideration will be given to projects that align with one or more of the Arts Initiative’s current creative practice priorities:
Arts in Action advances socially engaged creative practice, with an emphasis on the role of the visual arts, performing arts, literature, and architecture in producing more just and equitable societies.
Sense and Transcendence centers on the production and study of sacred images, objects, spaces, texts, and performances and examines their uses in ritual and devotional practice, evangelization, instruction, and community-building.
Techne Futures promotes experimental inquiry and modes of making at the intersection of the visual, literary, and performing arts, design, science, and technology.
Allowable Expenses
Large Creative and Performing Arts Grants may be used to cover costs such as:

• Materials
• Honoraria and payments to collaborators, research assistants, and human subjects
• Exhibition, festival, residency or competition entry fees
• Travel expenses for Arts & Letters faculty to participate in formal artist residencies or to create, exhibit, or perform work
• Travel expenses to Notre Dame for external collaborators
• Performance or exhibition expenses, including space rentals
• Instrument rentals
• The rental or purchase of crucial equipment not currently accessible on campus
• Recording and production costs
• Shipping costs for artwork
• Image purchase and reproduction fees for publication
• Promotional materials to publicize an exhibition, lecture, or performance

Eligibility

Grants are open to all regular faculty with a primary appointment in the College of Arts & Letters, regardless of department or rank.
Faculty are limited to one Large Research Grant or Large Creative & Performing Arts Grant every three years. Applications must be received at least one month prior to the start of the proposed research or creative work.

Ineligibility

These grants may not be used to cover:
Domestic or international conference expenses Funds to upgrade Campus Workstation Program (CWP) computersSalary for course buyout or summer salary for facultyPublication costs such as indexing, editing, or subventions (see Franco Institute’s Publication Grants)Promotional or public relations costs associated with campaigns for awardsThe development of textbooks or teaching materials. The Franco Institute and the Arts Initiative welcome projects that involve students in research and creative practice.