Call for Proposals: Currently Closed to Submissions

Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV) is seeking proposals from community members, community groups, educators, activists, and regional artists for publicly engaged projects. Proposed projects should be aligned with MAAV’s directive to assist communities’ efforts to reclaim, amplify, imagine, reinterpret, document, and display histories and experiences that highlight collective struggles for the vitality of people and our shared environment, especially by and for people whose stories have been silenced, denied, or excluded. 

MAAV is funding the creation of 6 to 10 new monuments across Appalachian Virginia. We recognize that state boundaries are artifacts of colonialism and that cultural and social relationships extend beyond these borders. We welcome applications from Appalachian Virginia and adjacent areas stewarded by Indigenous groups with ancestral relationships to present-day western Virginia. 

MAAV has identified the following topics for prioritization: the diversity of Appalachian communities (with regard to race, ethnicity, indigeneity, national origin, sexuality, and more); movement across the landscape via migration and population displacement; resource extraction and environmental change; and collective struggles for social justice including anti-racist, environmental justice, feminist, and labor movements.

MAAV follows Monument Lab’s expansive definition of a monument as “a statement of power and presence in public.” MAAV encourages unconventional public history and/or public arts projects in a wide variety of formats including but not limited to figurative or non-figurative statues, sculptures, or other works of art; physical or digital exhibits; interpretative signage; performances or festivals; archives; or oral histories. Projects may also amplify or interpret existing monuments in a way that reshapes public spaces. Visit this list of exciting projects for inspiration.

We welcome your involvement!

people at a discussion forum

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Community Projects Timeline

SEP 25, 2023

Call for Proposals published

DEC 4, 2023

Q&A Session for potential applicants (online)

JAN 10, 2024

Proposals Due (5:00 pm ET)

JAN 17, 2024

MAAV Leadership Team screens applications

FEB 1, 2024

Advisory Board review

FEB 2024

Phone and email consultations with finalists

MAR 4, 2024

Additional Information Due (5:00 pm ET)

MAR 14, 2024

Advisory Board review

MAY 2024

Selected Projects Announced

OCT 2025

Project Unveilings & Presentations Begin

Project Funding and Support:

MAAV Community Projects will receive the following funding and support from MAAV:

  • Between $60,000 and $95,000 paid directly to a community organization to support its work on the monument project;

  • Between $140,000 and $210,000 for artistic processes, monument design, materials, and installation;

  • Technical and artistic support provided by the MAAV Resource Team to help the project succeed;

  • A dedicated undergraduate assistant paid by MAAV to support the project.

Additionally,

  • Projects working to identify an artist/practitioner to bring their concept to life can have support finding and choosing an artist.

  • MAAV can help a project identify a VT Faculty Partner who will receive a one-time summer salary stipend of $7,500 and one (1) course buyout.

Eligibility

We welcome applications for projects at sites throughout Appalachian Virginia (see map) and from Indigenous peoples with a historical connection to present-day western Virginia. 

Appalachian Virginia. This map shows Appalachian Virginia as designated by Ann Dewitt Watts’ Terrain Map (Southeastern Geographer, 1978) plus John Alexander Williams’ Loosely Constructed definition (Journal of Appalachian Studies, 1966). This combination is one of the most inclusive definitions of Appalachian Virginia available. Map by Stewart Scales, 2023. Complete list of eligible counties and cities here.

Appalachian Virginia overlaid on homelands of Eastern Siouan speaking peoples circa 1650. Map by Stewart Scales, 2023. 

Evaluation Criteria

  • Articulation of alignment with MAAV’s Mission

    Will the project be publicly accessible and promote stories that are not already represented in public spaces? Does the project commemorate communities’ efforts to reclaim, amplify, imagine, reinterpret, document, and display histories and experiences that highlight their collective struggles for the vitality of people and our shared environment? Does the project connect local memories and moments to broader Appalachian and global stories and issues? If the proposal occupies an existing commemorative site, does it contextualize or recontextualize the space to tell stories that have not yet been told?

  • Community Leadership

    Does the project represent storytelling by and for the community it represents? Does the project represent a community-defined aspiration, challenge,or vision?

  • Goals & Outcomes

    Does the proposal articulate an intellectual vision and/or aesthetic direction? Does the project expand our understanding of what a monument can be? Does the application indicate how this project will educate, benefit, define, or further impact the community in which it exists? Will the project have continued usefulness in and for the communities represented? Does the project offer both an event/time-bound component and a permanent dimension?

  • Budget

    Does the budget reflect MAAV values? For example, does the application indicate that artists, community organizations, and other collaborators will be equitably compensated?

How to Apply

There is a two stage proposal process. Interested community groups should submit an application by January 10, 2024. Projects selected for further review will receive feedback in early February 2024. Finalists will be asked to provide the following by March 4, 2024: Landowner and/or Government Official Acknowledgement; a project  timeline (see MAAV timeline); revised budget; a plan for continued usefulness, project maintenance, archiving, or preservation, as applicable. 

A PDF version of this Call for Proposals content is available here.

Please contact us with any questions at maav@vt.edu.