How many copies of my "Work Portfolio" should be included in my application?
You only need to submit one copy of your work portfolio with your application.

We are two individuals applying as a team. How many application forms should be included in our application and do we each need to submit an application fee?
Each of you should submit an application form, naming the other as the primary collaborator in the indicated section, along with any other secondary collaborators should that be applicable to your project. You need only submit one application fee.

We are applying as a team. Do you require two recommendation letters for each individual on the team?
The Institute requires two recommendation letters for each application to the fellowship. This means if you are applying as a team, you only need to submit two recommendation letters total. Note that these letters can be written on behalf of the team or on behalf of the individuals on the team. Teams are encouraged, if possible, to include at least one letter from someone who is familiar with their collaborative work. Van Alen Institute will accept more than two letters of recommendation from teams.

One of my recommendors is sending her letter directly to Van Alen Institute. Will you provide me with notification that it has been received?
As long as your email is clearly indicated at the top of the recommendation form, and your recommendor includes this form with her letter, we will send you a short email notification within 24 hours of the letter's arrival, or the next business day.

PROJECTS

What is the relationship between research and project? If I am a scholar, does my research into alternative practices of land ownership and open space in Norway count as my project?
The New York Prize Fellowship is designed to support the development and production of public projects. Public projects may be widely defined as public programs that are accessible to a general audience. They can range across media, temporalities, and scales in the form of exhibitions, installations, performances, symposia, workshops, and many other formats. Research will be crucial to any candidate's project, but the fellowship will not support research without a public program component.

I understand that my project needs to be "accessible to the general public". What does this mean?
The Institute will fund a range of projects across media, places, and scales. The Institute has a history of providing free and open-access programs to a New York public, but "general public" may mean different things for each of the fellows' projects. For example, it could be a live audience, a virtual public, or a public enabled through print or some other media.

Does the Institute support activities outside of New York City?
The Institute supports a range of projects across media, places, and scales, which includes relevant activities outside of New York City. Many fellows' projects have a component of them that is shared/presented to a public audience in New York City while the fellows are in residence here. Depending on the project proposed, however, its 'public' coponent can take different forms - live, virtual, or enabled through print or some other media. In other words, you might propose a project sited elsewhere, with a corresponding workshop or demonstration at Van Alen Institute in New York if that suited your project needs, or with a strong online component that you develop while in residence at the Institute, or some other scenario. Whatever the case may be, if your project is elsewhere, you will want to make particularly clear in your proposal how and why the time at Van Alen Institute is critical to the project's development and presentation.

Is Van Alen Institute going to make an exhibition or some other public project out of my research if I receive a fellowship award?
No, you are! Van Alen Institute provides funding to fellows so that they can develop and present public projects. The fellowship provides an opportunity for fellows and their work to have a public dimension in New York. Fellows are responsible for the production of projects from concept to implementation, and the Institute provides guidance, infrastructure and support.

Will Van Alen Institute profit or benefit from my work in some way?
Van Alen Institute is a 501(c)3 organization, which means that none of our activities or programs are for-profit. Work that is carried out under the aegis of the New York Prize Fellowship will become part of the Van Alen Institute archive and may be included in future publications or exhibitions, however fellows will always be credited for their work and fellows will retain ownership of their work. Fellows' work, quite simply, will support and strengthen Van Alen Institute's mission to promote inquiry and debate about design in the public realm.

SELECTION

What are the criteria for selection of fellows?
The general criteria that guide the Fellowship Council’s selection of Fellows are:

• Project’s originality and significance to discourses of public architecture
• Project’s strength of inquiry into important issues and matters of concern for contemporary public life and the built environment
• Project’s critical and imaginative engagement with a general public
• Candidate’s qualifications, ability, and potential to undertake and complete the work proposed
• Feasibility of the project proposed within the fellowship term as demonstrated by the application budget, timeline and other supporting materials

Does the Institute provide feedback on candidate’s applications and project proposals once the decisions have been made?
Beyond formal notification of the Fellowship Council’s decisions, Van Alen Institute cannot discuss and comment individually on fellowship applications.