• Applicants must be a nonprofit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization or the equivalent.
• Applicants must be incorporated in and currently conducting business in one or more of the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming.
• Applicants must have presented one performance by a paid professional company within the last three years.
• Projects must include at least one public performance--a performance that is marketed to and open to the general public.
• Projects must include at least one outreach activity--lecture-demonstrations, master classes, in-school educational activities involving students with the artist, etc.
• Projects must take place between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011.
• Applications must be for the presentation of out-of-state touring performers and literary artists. The performers do not need to be based in the WESTAF region. Any performer or literary artist from outside of your state, including international artists, is eligible.

Funding Levels

For the 2010-2011 funding season, TourWest offers applicants the ability to apply for two standard performance grants. Under TourWest, two grants per organization are available to presenters to support artistic fees in amounts of up to $2,500 or 50% of the artistic fee, whichever is less.

Program Rules

When selecting and designing projects for which you will be applying for TourWest funding, please adhere to the following program rules:

• Presenters may submit up to two TourWest standard performance applications per annual TourWest grant round (one artist/company per application).

• The proposed program must involve a paid professional performing artist/company that is based outside of the presenter's state and is not a member of the applicant's presenting organization as staff, board, and/or faculty.

• Events supported by TourWest grants must include at least one public performance. A public performance is a full-length performance that has been marketed to the general public and is not a performance that has as its primary audience students in a school or college setting.

• The following projects are excluded from receiving TourWest funding: 1) traditional, seasonal performances such as The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol; 2) university conferences; 3) magic and stand-up/improv comedy performances; and 4) festivals submitted as a whole, as opposed to singular performances/readings that take place within a festival.

• Projects supported by TourWest grants must include at least one outreach activity; for example: lecture-demonstrations, master classes, in-school educational activities involving students with the artist, etc. For applications submitted on behalf of an institution, the outreach activity must be directed to individuals outside of the institution.

• The following items are not considered to be qualifying outreach activities: 1) a performance for students that does not include an educational component about the art form; 2) a guest artist's residency at an institution of higher education; 3) activities at an institution of higher education for which the majority of the audience are students and/or faculty; 4) tickets to the public performance offered on a complimentary basis; 5) radio broadcasts or audio/video podcasts; and 6) a lecture or demonstration that directly precedes or follows the public performance. A good measure for determining the eligibility for a proposed outreach activity is whether the audience is different than the public performance, though some overlap is to be expected.

• All projects submitted for consideration must be accompanied by work samples from the artist/company (CDs or DVDs). Worksample selections must be detailed in the application. Applicants will still need to send worksamples on CD or DVD to WESTAF at: 1743 Wazee Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80202.

• Presenters of children's theatre are encouraged to speak with their state arts council or the TourWest staff regarding the applicability of their specific project to the TourWest program. In relation to TourWest, children's performances are defined as theatre projects in which local children are the primary performers.

In general, if the touring artist is part of a company, the full troupe must perform on stage during the public performance.

Projects that involve local artists or school children participating in a portion of the performance are eligible, however, applicants must make clear that the primary focus of the public performance is the out-of-state performer.

The TourWest review panel reserves the right to make final decisions regarding eligibility. If you are considering applying for a project that may fall outside of the guidelines for eligibility, please call WESTAF at 303.629.1166

A note regarding the eligibility for festivals. For festivals that are organized as a consortium of multiple discrete presenting organizations--rather than a single entity presenting numerous artists as part of a festival--the following rules apply:

• Each festival presenter is eligible to apply for a TourWest grant if the presenter is the entity responsible for the paperwork and budget for the project for which TourWest funding is sought. For example, eligible presenters must contract with and pay the artistic fees directly to the artist or artist's management rather than through the festival organizer.

• Projected earned revenues that are detailed in the TourWest project budget form must be collected and maintained within the applicant's presenting organization.

Required Credits In order to receive TourWest funding, presenters are required to credit TourWest's support in all promotional/printed materials and electronic media related to any TourWest-funded engagement using the following phrase: "These activities are supported, in part, with funds provided by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), the (presenter's state arts agency name), and the National Endowment for the Arts." All printed materials also must include the WESTAF and NEA logos, which are available on the WESTAF Web site and/or by the calling the WESTAF office at (303) 629-1166.

Professional Standards WESTAF encourages presenters, artists, companies, managers, and all others receiving support through WESTAF's Performing Arts programs and services to strive for professional standards of behavior that embody a commitment to honesty, integrity, fulfillment of verbal and written commitments, and the avoidance of conflicts of interest.

Required Materials: Please note, the items listed below must be submitted to the WESTAF office in support of your TourWest application. TourWest now allows you to submit these item electronically as digital files uploaded to your application. For applicants who elect to mail in the support material, clearly indicate your organization's name and application id with the materials you are submitting in support of your grant request. The mailing address for WESTAF is 1743 Wazee Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80202. These required materials must be postmarked by April 1, 2010.
Required Materials:

• 1 double-sided copy of the contract or cosigned letter of agreement with the company, including company fee(s), engagement date(s), the location(s) and description(s) of performance(s), and all outreach activities planned. If an agreement or contract is not available at the time of the application deadline, a letter of intent from the artist or artist's management will suffice. This can be uploaded as an electronic document(PDF or DOC format)within the application.
• 1 copy of proof of nonprofit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) status, or the equivalent, from the applicant's organization. This can be uploaded as an electronic document(PDF or DOC format) within the application.
• Artistic work sample that represents the artist/company's work. Samples may be submitted in the following formats:
  1) Digital File uploaded to the application.
  2) DVD (that can be played in a standard DVD player);
  3) CD (that can be played in a standard CD player); and
  4) Standard MPEG files on DVD or CD.
  Information regarding worksample selections must also be completed in the application.
  PLEASE NOTE: WESTAF DOES NOT ACCEPT VHS AS A WORKSAMPLE FORMAT.
• When submitting video representations of the artist's work, please make every attempt to provide a performance sample rather than a promotional video. Further, samples should ideally show the piece of work that will be performed as part of the applicant's project.
• Presenters may submit one artistic sample to cover a number of applications for the same artist. For presenters who are submitting a sample to cover more than one application, please list all other applicants also using the sample for their application. Further, presenters who are not submitting the artistic sample must note the submitting presenter's name and application number (i.e., TW2010001) in their required materials package. Failure to provide an artistic work sample will result in the disqualification of your application.
• If you would like the artistic sample returned to you, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
• For literary presentations, we now require that you submit an audio or video sample of the writer reading/presenting their work. Samples may be submitted in the following formats:
  1) Digital File uploaded to the application.
  2) DVD (that can be played in a standard DVD player);
  3) CD (that can be played in a standard CD player); and
  4) Standard MPEG files on DVD or CD.
  Information regarding worksample selections must also be completed in the application.
  PLEASE NOTE: WESTAF DOES NOT ACCEPT VHS AS A WORKSAMPLE FORMAT. If you would like the materials returned to you, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope and clearly mark the envelope with a list of the materials you would like returned to you.
• For literary presentations, please note that traditional book reading/signing events are not eligible.
• For literary presentations, 1 copy of biographical information on the writer/playwright/poet.

If you have elected to upload your worksample as a digital file please follow these technical requirement when creating your digital sample:

• Audio Sample Format Requirements:
  
  File Types Accepted: .aiff, .wav., xmf, .mp3
  Bit Rate: Min: 96 kpbs Max: 320 kbps
  Codec:.aiff, .wav. .au
  File Size: Your samples cannot be more than 10 mbs large.
  
  
• Video Sample Format Requirements:
  
  File Types Accepted: .3gp, .wmv, .avi, .mov, .asf, .mpg, .mp4, .m2t, .mkv, .m2ts
  Resolution: As large as 1920x1080 and As small as: 640x480
  Aspect Ratio: 4:3 or 16:9
  Bit Rate: above seem to 240Kbps work best.
  Frame Rate: Recommended: 30 fps. Minimum: 12 fps. The frame rate of the original video should be maintained without re-sampling. In particular pulldown and other frame rate re-sampling techniques are strongly discouraged.
  Codec: H.264, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Windows Media Video, and motion JPEG MPEG-1 Muxed, Apple Lossless
  Container: .3gp, .asf, .avi, .mov, .MPEG, .MPEG-2, .MP4, .ogg
  File Size: Your samples cannot be more than 100 mbs large.
  Please note your video file will be converted to flash in order for this to play back on the CulturGrants Online(tm) media player.

The TourWest application process consists of the following steps:

1. Representatives of the presenting organization review the TourWest guidelines thoroughly and consider whether the organization is eligible to apply and whether it will compete favorably in the review process.
2. New applicants and previous applicants with questions or new approaches to their applications call the WESTAF office at (303) 629-1166 to receive guidance from a TourWest staff person.
3. Contacts are made with other presenters to identify block-booking opportunities; these are opportunities that may save the presenter money and facilitate a more efficient touring schedule.
4. An artist/company is contacted and an agreement reached regarding the terms of work and the fees that will be paid. A written and signed agreement or contract cosigned by the presenter and company must be submitted with the application. If an agreement or contract is not available at the time of the application deadline, a letter of intent from the artist or artist's management will suffice.
5. Discussions take place with community partners regarding the nature and extent of both the outreach and audience development activities. Community development and participation is a key component of a successful TourWest grant application.
6. The presenting organization completes and submits the TourWest online application and sends in supporting materials by April 1, 2010.
7. A WESTAF-organized panel reviews all applications and recommends applications for funding.
8. The WESTAF executive committee reviews the recommendations, makes adjustments, and determines the final award amounts.
9. Applicants receive notice of their application's status.
10. Within 30 days of the notification of their awards, successful awardees return their signed TourWest contract to WESTAF. Failure to do so will result in the reallocation of funds to another presenting project.
11. Awardees submit a fully executed artist/company contract to WESTAF at least three weeks prior to the performance, if the contract was not submitted with the application. The contract must be cosigned by both the presenter and company, and include company fee(s), engagement date(s), the location(s) and description(s) of performance(s), and all outreach activities planned.
12. If unforeseen circumstances have altered the ability of awardees to present the companies for which they were awarded TourWest funds, applicants must secure the approval of WESTAF for a change in their engagements. WESTAF reserves the right to withdraw funding for any replacement performances.
13. Within 60 days of completion of the project, a final report (including an evaluation form and narrative) is submitted to WESTAF along with promotional materials that show proof of crediting. Final reports must be filed online to be deemed complete.
14. The presenter is reimbursed within 30 days of WESTAF's receipt of the final report materials.
    
15. Payments/Support through TourWest is contingent on available funds.