(1) The Individual Artist Fellowship Program fosters the development of individual artists through a selection procedure that identifies individual artists of exceptional talent and demonstrated ability.
    (2) To be eligible for a fellowship an applicant must:
    (a) Be a legal resident of Florida as defined by section 196.015 or 222.17, F.S., and agree to maintain Florida residency for the duration of the fellowship period;
    (b) Be at least 18 years of age;
    (c) Not be enrolled in any undergraduate or graduate degree-seeking program during the fellowship period;
    (d) Not have received a fellowship award during the five-year period preceding the new award period; and,
    (e) Not be currently serving as a grant review panelist if he/she has an application before the same discipline panel.
    (3) Eligible applicants must submit a completed Fellowship Application (Form CA2E012, Form CA2E158 for the Folk Arts category), effective 10/09 and 07/12 respectively, incorporated by reference, and available at http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-01350, http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-01353 or www.Florida-arts.org with all required samples of work in the discipline appropriate formats described in the program guidelines, on or before the announced deadline. Samples of work must be original and authentic representations of the applicant’s work. Applications are accepted in each discipline on a rotating cycle. The disciplines of visual arts and media arts will apply together in odd years while the disciplines of literature, folk arts, music, interdisciplinary, dance, and theatre apply in even years. If additional funding becomes available and all disciplines can be accommodated in one application cycle, the two discipline groups will be combined.
    (4) Review panel scoring for the folk arts discipline must range from one (1) to fifty (50) and be scored according to the following criteria: Artistic Excellence (up to 20 points), Tradition and Authenticity (up to 15 points) and Community Impact and Engagement (up to 15 points).
    (5) Work submitted by applicants in the visual arts, music, literature, and theatre categories are initially evaluated through a blind review process, or without revealing the applicant’s identity. During the first phase of the review, panelists will not know the applicant’s identity and will assign each application a score between 1 and 40 for the criteria of Artistic Excellence based on the work samples submitted. Applications scoring a total of 32 points or higher will then move on to the second phase of the review and their identity will be released to the panel. During this phase panelists will review the applications based on the Professional Achievement of the applicant which may total up to 10 points. Applications scoring a total of 40 points or higher will be eligible for a fellowship award subject to budgetary considerations and panel recommendation.
    (6) Panelists will award fellowships in the amount of $2,500 or $5,000 in order of score, starting with the highest score until funds are depleted. The panel may choose to award fellowships in the amount of $2,500 or $5,000.
    (7) Funds are administered through a Grant Agreement (Form CA2E076, effective 10/09, incorporated by reference, and available at http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-01352 or www.Florida-arts.org); and are awarded on a non-matching basis.
    (8) Grant Report. Grant recipients are required to complete a Grant Report (Form CA2E003, effective 07/12, incorporated by reference, and available at http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-01351 or www.Florida-arts.org); which details expenditures and activities during the grant period. The grant period is January 1 through June 30. The grant report is due 30 days after the end of the grant period.
Rulemaking Authority Florida Statutes § 265.286(11). Law Implemented 265.286(5)(d) FS. History-New 10-27-09, Formerly 1T-1.001(17), Amended 7-23-12.