Program & Research Grants is sponsored by Boston University Office for the Arts. Offers grants to faculty, students, and staff for projects that engage students in the arts, including interdisciplinary arts programming.

Program & Research Grants | Office for the Arts Program & Research Grants All BU Office for the Arts grants are currently on hiatus for the 2025/2026 academic year.

To encourage the continued development of an intellectual community around the arts and arts practice at BU and enhance our student-life experience, the BU Office for the Arts offers research grants for graduate and undergraduate research, as well as grants to faculty, students, and staff for projects that directly engage students in the arts. Committees of faculty, staff, and students review all proposals.

All BU Office for the Arts arts grants are subject to fiscal year restrictions and must be used in the fiscal year awarded. Interdisciplinary Arts Programming Grants Open to BU students, faculty, and staff 2025/2026 Interdisciplinary Arts Programming Grants are currently on hiatus.

These matching grants are available to BU faculty, staff, and students, intended to fund programming open to any BU student and 1) engage BU students in the arts and 2) explore the intersection of arts and other academic disciplines. Priority will be given to programs developed and sponsored by more than one of BU’s 17 Colleges and Schools.

Projects should embrace the university priorities of diversity & inclusion, a vibrant academic experience, and community.

Projects must be focused on engaging BU students in arts activity or an academic exploration of the arts The BU Office for the Arts will match existing funds and will not fund more than 50% of a project (i.e. you must have 50% of the funds from elsewhere – in kind [time, supplies, etc.] does not apply) Cross-School projects must be funded by both schools (this may be waved for student initiated projects The program should be open and free to all BU students and the location and marketing plan should support that The project coordinator is responsible for arranging and managing the event and securing appropriate permissions The sponsoring office must have a 909 account to which grant funds can be transferred Statements and contact information from proposed partners must be included The project must be sponsored by a university office or program willing to financially manage the project.

The BU Office for the Arts only transfers funds to the sponsoring office. We will not financially manage a grant project A detailed budget of both income and specific expenditures for the entire project must be submitted with your application or separately to artsinbu@bu. edu – proposals without budget submissions will not be considered.

Funds must be used for honoraria or other program elements including facilities, equipment, marketing BU Office for the Arts Funds cannot be used for food (receptions, dinners, etc.) or to cover event organizer costs (travel, etc.) Proposals by students for projects required for coursework cannot be considered A post-project report will be required within 30 days of the completion of the project Grantees are expected to track student participation (specific names and BU ID) for reporting Please contact us at artsinbu@bu.

edu if you have questions about the grant information or procedures. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. We recommend reviewing these criteria carefully before submitting your proposal .

Please note: at this time, we can only provide grant support to programs/offices/departments that have a University 909 account. Interdisciplinary Arts Programming Grant Application Supporting arts integration for non-arts-related courses 2025/2026 Arts Integration Grants are currently on hiatus. Arts integration grants support the use of the arts as a tool for teaching non-arts disciplines.

BU faculty may apply for up to $500 to support arts-related expenses for undergraduate and graduate courses. Possible initiatives might include a visiting artist, a class visit to a performance or exhibition, or arts material for the classroom. (Funds may not be used for refreshments.)

Priority will be given to new initiatives integrating the arts into a course. Arts Integration Grant Application 2025/2026 RA/GA Programming Grants are currently on hiatus. The BU Office for the Arts has a small fund to support RA/GA arts programming at Boston University.

Please fill out the application linked below for consideration of RA/GA arts grants. Grants of up to $150 are available for the purchase of arts materials for a specific program. In most cases, the BU Office for the Arts will order the supplies for pick up in our office.

Keep in mind that the BU Office for the Arts works to operate as sustainably as possible, which means we do our best to find alternatives to plastic and waste. Please fill out the application below for consideration of your grant proposal. RA/GA Programming Grant Application Graduate Arts Research Grants Open to BU full-time students in good academic standing in either a master’s or doctoral program.

BS/MS or BA/MA students who clearly will be in the graduate portion of their degree program during the period of proposed support are also eligible. 2025/2026 Graduate Arts Research Grants are currently on hiatus. Important: Applicants must address each of the noted criteria in their proposals.

Proposals missing information will not be reviewed. Please review current BU resources and policies around international travel . Funding of up to $2000 is available for graduate arts research projects.

Funds are limited and proposals will be competitive. The research may be traditional research of the arts (e.g., musicology, art history, study of performance or literature of any kind), practice-based research , or research from any discipline on the impact of the arts.

Full-time students in good academic standing in either a master’s or doctoral program are eligible Students who hold staff positions are not eligible for this funding BS/MS or BA/MA students who clearly will be in the graduate portion of their degree program during the period of proposed support are eligible The project should be directly related to the applicant’s completion of degree requirements (e.g., thesis or dissertation work, independent study or directed research, a capstone requirement in the program, etc) A student may receive this form of support only once Funds may be used for travel to attend performances or exhibits, conduct archival research, or other research-related activities.

Funds may not be used as a stipend for the researcher or transcription Applicants must have a faculty sponsor who will be expected to provide a confidential review of the proposal, including comments on the student’s need Please contact us at artsinbu@bu. edu if you have questions about the grant information or procedures. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

We recommend reviewing these criteria carefully before submitting your proposal . Please note: at this time, we can only provide grant support to programs/offices/departments that have a University 909 account.

Graduate Arts Research Grant Application UROP Arts Research Awards Open to BU undergraduates Apply via UROP grant application The UROP Arts Research Awards are offered to support a student pursuing the arts as a primary area of inquiry. This would include traditional methods of inquiry in an arts field, as well as practice-based and practice-led research.

Students interested in being considered should apply via the UROP grant application. Here’s what some recent award winners had to say: “I had an absolutely incredible summer bringing this piece to life. Over the past 10 weeks, I was able to devote all of my time to a project that had been sitting in the back of my head for months, and I’m so proud of the results!

” – Nadia Frye Leinhos, whose project –When the Catalyst “Can Take It”: The Performance of Violence in the Black Female Body – interrogates the notion of “race-blind” casting in theatre through the lens of three plays from the London West End 2019-2020 season. Looking specifically at black female actors, and examining their characters’ positions in each story’s violent climax.

“The experience of working on this project was an incredible one. As my first venture into serious art-historical scholarship, this project only served to affirm my passion for modern culture, history, and art production.

” – Claire Rich, whose project – Women Artists 1918 – 1939: “Feminine Painting” in the Parisian Interwar Period explored exclusively female artist societies, where prominent painters such as Tamara de Lempicka and Marie Laurencin, among others, constructed their female-oriented art-historical narrative as a means of challenging popular discourse about the role of women in the arts.

“I am so grateful to this program for giving me the resources to conduct research that has given me valuable experience in my field of study. Being able to work on this project, even remotely at home, has given me extra confidence in my abilities and inspiration to work on more projects like this in the future.

” – Anna Schoff, whose project – Computational Analysis of Ancient Greek Poetic Meter developed a Python program that could analyze the meter of Ancient Greek hexameter poetry. Sample projects completed with help from BU Office for the Arts grants Coup d’Etat Winter 2015 Issue A Better Electronic Trumpet