PANELIST APPLICATION FORM

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) is seeking panelists to review and evaluate nominations for the 34th Annual Mayor’s Arts Award recipients. Please note that we will convene two separate panels to review nominations for the following award categories:

Panel 1: Excellence in Visual Arts, Excellence in Performance Arts, Excellence in Creative Industries, Excellence in Arts Education, and Excellence in the Humanities

Panel 2: The Larry Neal Writers’ Award (Youth and Adult)

Panelists should possess expertise related to categories of the panel for which they apply to.

What Does a Panelist Do?

Panelists are integral to the nomination process because they help select the winners of one of the District’s most prestigious events recognizing excellence in the arts and humanities. The commitment for this short-term volunteer opportunity includes reviewing and scoring applications at your convenience through our online portal, and convening for one day as a full panel to review group scores.

CAH accepts nominations for the 34th Annual Mayor’s Arts Award until March 22, 2019. Panelists will then have 5-6 weeks to review applications and convene between April 1 and May 1, 2019. All advisory panel meetings will take place at the CAH office at 200 I Street, SE, Washington, DC, unless otherwise noted.

Panelists are appointed to one panel per year for a maximum of three consecutive years and do not receive compensation, stipends, honorariums and/or travel reimbursement.

Who Can be a Panelist?

Residents of the District of Columbia metropolitan area are encouraged to apply to serve as a panelist. Selected panelists will demonstrate expertise through involvement in one or more sectors of the cultural economy in the District. Individuals with arts and humanities backgrounds make the strongest candidates (i.e. artists, arts administrators, arts educators, gallery professionals, curators, art critics, writers, poets, etc.). CAH supports panel diversity in all forms: age, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, artistic discipline, location, etc. If CAH finds that an individual has been nominated in any of the seven award categories, that person will not be selected to serve on a panel.

Please indicate your preferred panel, based on your areas of expertise:

___ Panel 1 (visual arts, performance arts, creative industries, arts education, and humanities)

___ Panel 2 (fiction, dramatic writing, and poetry for youth and adults)

Name: __________________________________________________________

Street address: __________________________________________________

City: ____________________ State: _______ Zip Code: _____________

Ward (DC residents only): _______ Phone: ________________ Email: ___________________

Ethnicity (optional): ___________________________

To submit, email this cover page and resume with home address clearly stated at the top to JaKenna E. Martin, Events Associate at jakenna.martin@dc.gov.

MAYOR’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN VISUAL ARTS

Artistic disciplines may include but are not limited to:

Ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, photography, crafts.

MAYOR’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMING ARTS

Artistic disciplines may include but are not limited to:

Dance- Jazz, tap, ballet, modern, hip hop, folk, ballroom. Theatre- actors, directors, carpenters. Music- composers, singers, musicians, bands, orchestras, choruses.

MAYOR’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ARTS EDUCATION

Honors an individual or organization for outstanding nomination packages of imagination and creativity in a learning environment where teaching quality art is an essential part of their mission to its student population. The honor can include but is not limited to teachers in DC Public Schools and Public Charter Schools.

MAYOR’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

Honors an individual, business, organization or group that has taken a leadership role in helping to develop the creative economy/culture in Washington DC whose core function is the production and/or distribution of art.

Artistic disciplines may include but are not limited to:

Design arts, filmmakers, producers, museums, media, lighting designers, sound engineers, fashion, graphic designers, crafters, jewelry designers, media.

*Curators such as festival coordinators or exhibitors best fit in this category.

MAYOR’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE HUMANITIES

Honors an individual or organization that has made significant contributions in the humanities in the District of Columbia.

Disciplines may include but are not limited to:

Literature, history, language, philosophy, anthropology, archeology, musicality, religion and social science.

THE LARRY NEAL WRITER’S AWARD: (FOR INDIVIDUALS ONLY-ADULT, YOUTH)

ADULT (AGED 18 AND UP):

FICTION: One unpublished short story, not to exceed 3,000 words, double-spaced.

DRAMATIC WRITING:

One unproduced double-spaced play or double-spaced screen play. All plays and screen plays must include a two-page contextualizing the selection submitted. Entries will be judged on the summary and maximum of 3,000 words submitted.

POETRY: One poetry application must contain three unpublished poems (one poem per page). The applicant will be judged on the quality of all three submissions.

YOUTH (GRADES 4 – 8) AND TEEN (GRADES 9-12):

POETRY: Two unpublished poems (one poem per page).

FICTION: One unpublished short story, not to exceed 500 words, double-spaced.