Thanks to the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Monument Lab is seeking applications for another round of our Re:Generation initiative. Monument Lab Re:Generation supports teams of two or more individuals working together to create a new or expand an existing public-facing project. Each selected Re:Generation team will receive a total of $100,000 in unrestricted funding towards their commemorative campaign or project.
Please visit monumentlab.com/projects/regeneration to learn more about past projects.
Monument Lab Re:Generation seeks applications from teams of two or more individuals working together. Each team may propose a new or expand upon an existing public art, public history, or public humanities project. We are committed to growing and sustaining our field by supporting and collaborating with grassroots artists, educators, organizers, researchers, and memory collectives while building purposeful relationships across locations.
For the 2024 round of Re:Generation we are emphasizing the selection of projects with creative representation and interpretation of erased, suppressed, or threatened stories and histories. We especially encourage applications for projects that have the potential to shift local and regional narratives, particularly in contexts where interventions into the commemorative landscape could foster wider transformations.
Monument Lab recognizes that projects of this nature exist within a broad range of contexts and are most successful when grounded in local communities and developed with consideration for the unique relationships, conditions, and existing support networks present in each geographical location.
Through Re:Generation, Monument Lab is seeking to build a cohort of ten teams that reflect a broad diversity of commemorative practices, participatory research models, and geographic contexts. We are especially interested in applications from underrepresented groups and regions. Selected teams will collaborate across Re:Generation sites, meeting as a cohort virtually and in person over the 2024 calendar year, presenting projects synchronously in Fall 2024, and working in coordination with Monument Lab on a broader campaign of public engagement.
How to Apply
Applications for Re:Generation open August 15, 2023. Monument Lab is hosting an informational webinar on September 15, 2023 at 5pm EST. The initial application will consist of basic contact information and a 500-1,500 word essay about your proposed project due before October 2, 2023. Teams that are selected to move forward after staff review will be asked for more information to round out the jury review in November. Re:Generation teams will be selected by a jury of Monument Lab staff, board, and advisors including external artists, educators, researchers, and practitioners.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the application process? How are teams and projects selected?
A: The initial application will consist of basic contact information, a 500-1,500 word essay about your proposed project and 3-5 work samples. This is due before October 2nd. Teams that are selected to move forward after staff review will be asked for more information to round out the jury review in November.
Applications will be evaluated on the following core criteria and conditions:
- The team explains how their local or regional context is primed for a meaningful intervention and/or structural change in representing its stories and histories.
- The team relates how their proposed project engages with their local context through creative representation and interpretation of erased, suppressed, or threatened stories and histories.
- The team demonstrates that the participatory collection of public ideas is a meaningful part of the proposed project.
- The team communicates a clear plan for a physical and public presence for their project and a plan for public engagement and amplification of their project’s outcomes.
- The team demonstrates that they have established relationships amongst coalitions in their city or region—especially those that are rooted within marginalized populations and communities, in and out of institutions, and across social justice movements.
*For the 2024 Re:Generation round, preference will be given to teams operating in states which have passed legislation limiting the teaching of accurate and diverse American history.
Q: Wait, I’m not in a state with a history ban, does that mean I shouldn’t apply?
A: 1. Yet. 2. You should absolutely apply! States which saw history targeting legislation in 2022 were also largely missing from our application pool for Re:Generation round one, we're hoping this focus helps to change that.
Q: How big or how small can a Re:Generation team be? Are there specific roles, fields, or professions you’re looking for on a team?
A: Re:Generation teams can be as small as two people and as large as you need them to be to successfully execute your project! Our round one teams often had a small core team and a much larger number of collaborators, advisors, and specialists who helped bring their projects to life. Similarly, the areas of expertise you may need to tap into should be guided by your project needs, not our expectations!
Q: If selected for Re:Generation, are we able to receive additional grants of support or should the project be executed within the limit of your grant awarded? What if there are additional funds needed to execute the project? Are there any constraints to how the funds can be spent?
A: You can absolutely seek or already have additional support, both funding and in kind! We do recommend that the scope of your project reflect the $100K scale of the Re:Generation funding if that is envisioned as the primary funding source. We expect teams to pay stipends to their core team members, and strongly encourage stipends to any interns or researchers, honorariums to any community memory holders, interviewees, artists, among others. ALL of the Re:Generation funding is available for general operating support and can support project materials, permitting and installation fees, hard costs, and other expenditures as well.
Q: Will projects that are already aligned with a local fiscal sponsor be given lesser or greater consideration? Can our museum/university center/local foundation be our team’s fiscal sponsor? Does the fiscal sponsor need to be local? What if we don’t have a fiscal sponsor?!
A: Each project will need a fiscal sponsor, but having or not having one at the application stage will not impact consideration. Additional organizational partners that are not your fiscal sponsor may appear in your application as collaborators or coalition members. If you already have a fiscal sponsor for your collective, project, coalition, campaign, or organization, that’s great and if you don’t have one, don’t worry! Monument Lab staff will work with all selected Re:Generation teams to make sure they have fiscal sponsors and appropriate budgets to execute their projects. If your affiliated institution is already offering fiscal sponsorship to your project or would be the go to ask, that’s also okay, though we will require that fiscal sponsors take no more than five to ten percent of the grant for services provided, in keeping with the industry norm. Fiscal sponsors don’t necessarily need to be local, though where possible, Monument Lab prefers to keep money circulating in local economies.
Q: What should past work samples look like? Can we include links, writing samples, or attach a portfolio? We haven’t all worked together before, can work samples represent our individual work or do they have to be collective?
A: The application form will offer multiple options for work sample submission, and we welcome all varieties of work samples. While work samples can represent either individual or collective efforts, or both, it will be very helpful for reviewers to see samples that reflect your team’s capacity to execute your proposed project, i.e. if you’re proposing a documentary, please link to film clips or a website of similar film projects as well as subject area writings or research.
Q: The one year time frame is pretty short to frame, complete, and implement a participatory project. Are you interested in a process (e.g., participatory research towards a physical intervention) or the product itself? Or both?
A: One of our major learnings from the first round of Re:Generation is that teams and their projects nearly always drew on planning, research, and engagement which predated the Re:Generation period, and that the projects' physical interventions, when well executed, provided a locus for building and strengthening constituencies and creating new opportunities for the teams. We are interested in both process and product, and will work with selected teams to scale and support interventions for the best long-term outcomes.