SSRC Arts Research with Communities of Color Fellowship 2022

The Social Science Research Council invites letters of interest from early-career researchers for year-long fellowships to conduct qualitative studies of arts organizations founded by and for communities of color in the United States.

This year, the SSRC established the Arts Research with Communities of Color program, an initiative devoted to exploring how social science research can contribute to a thriving and more equitable arts field through empirical research, theory building, and analysis, and to support the networking of early-career researchers with one another and with leading researchers and practitioners in the field.

This program represents a broadening of SSRC’s work that seeks to foreground the ethics of research and collaboration, academic-community engagement, and an inclusive vision of social research.

Fellowship

• Each fellow will receive a stipend of $70,000 for the 12-month research period, as well as up to $15,000 to cover costs associated with relocation (where relevant), research set-up, and involvement in any pre-research activities such as workshops and other meetings.

Eligibility

• Open to early career social researchers who hold a PhD or equivalent terminal degree in a relevant field in the social sciences or humanities, including but not limited to anthropology, arts administration, sociology, history, art history, (including performing arts disciplines), arts education, and political science.
• Prospective fellows’ doctoral degrees must have been conferred no earlier than January 2016 and no later than December 2021.
• Applicants must have conducted substantial ethnographic or similar qualitative research with community-serving or cultural organizations of some kind.
• Experience with arts organizations of color is valuable, but not required.​
• The fellowship requires full-time commitment for the fellowship year, and prospective fellows will be expected to take a leave of absence from other employment for its duration. In cases where a fellow is matched with an organization located outside of their home city, they will be required to arrange significant amounts of time spent embedded with the organization. Relocation to the organization’s home city is the optimal arrangement. However, alternative arrangements may be possible, depending on a range of circumstances, and will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
• It is critical that all fellows have a demonstrable ability to create and maintain trust within communities like those represented by the participating arts organizations.
• Preference will be given to early-career scholars of color, in particular to researchers with demonstrated familiarity with the cultural, linguistic, and/or regional context of the organizations.
• Participating organizations will be arts organizations of color, defined here as those founded by (in either artistic or administrative leadership) and for Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, Arab American, or Asian American/Pacific Islander communities, and continue to serve those communities today.

How To Apply

Applications must be submitted through the online portal and should include:

• Online application form
• A letter of interest (no more than two pages) that responds to the following questions:
  • Why are you interested in applying to this fellowship?
  • How would this fellowship fit into your broader career trajectory?
  • What is the nature of your prior experience with ethnographic research and/or in arts or community-serving organizations of color?
  • Which community/ies do you consider yourself to be embedded in or culturally, linguistically, and/or regionally familiar with?
  • How do you see your research as related to both understanding and addressing social justice issues, and in particular in relation to community organizations of color?
• A current CV summary of the applicant (two pages). CVs should include the following details: education and employment history, relevant research experience, honors and awards, professional affiliations, language skills, and a list of no more than five relevant publications.

Click Here To Apply

For more information, visit SSRC.

Application Deadline: November 19, 2021

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