Artistic Sample Tips

Artistic samples are your opportunity to demonstrate the artistic quality of the proposed program. Here are some tips on preparing artistic samples. More information is available in the funding guidelines or by contacting the program coordinator for your category.  All New Mexico Arts grant applications, support material, and contract reporting documents must be submitted through Grants Online™(GO™), our new online grants management system.   

 General

  • Show what the applicant is currently doing or has done recently.

  • Identify the work of students as well as teaching artists, if applicable.

  • Consider getting in-kind technical assistance to produce higher quality artistic samples.

Printed Material

  • Printed material should reflect work and/or programs from within the last two years.

  • Limited to three (3) total items.

  • Printed material may include up to three (3) of the following items: several pages from a season program/brochure--to highlight season information or overview of programs, newsletter, magazine, anthology, review, article, letter of support, etc. List the three (3) items on the Artistic Samples Table on the Support Material form of the online application.

  • The online grant sytem will accept documents in the following formats: doc, docx, txt, xls, xlsx, pps, ppt, pptx, pdf.  See formats acceptable for image files below, as some formats for print material may be represented there.  New Mexico Arts recommends that Printed Material is uploaded in PDF format.

Audio/Visual Samples (images, audio, and video)

  • Audio/visual samples should reflect programs from within the last two years.

  • Avoid promotional pieces and talking about the organization or program.

  • Panelists want to see as well as hear the work that is being proposed for funding.

  • Be selective. Audio/visual artistic samples can be viewed for three to five minutes. Present your best images, audio, and video in the first three (3) to five (5) minutes. Focus on quality, not quantity.

  • Music organizations should consider uploading video samples in addition to audio samples to enable panelists to see and hear performances.

Image Samples  

  • Select up to ten (10) of the best images for upload to the online application.

  • Make sure each submitted image is listed in the Artistic Samples Table on the Support Material form of the online application.

  • The following images files will be accepted: jpg, jpeg, gif, bmp, png, and tif.  New Mexico Arts recommends jpeg files as they will not take as long to upload to the online system.  The smaller the file size the easier and faster it will be to upload.

Audio Samples   

  • Limited to three audio tracks uploaded to the online application, under Support Material and identified on the Artistic Samples Table . 

  • The following audio formats will be accepted: aac, mp3, mpa, ra, wav, wma, and eps.  All audio files are converted to mp3.  New Mexico Arts recommends that audio samples are uploaded as MP3 files.  See additional information under Tips for Conversion of Support Material below.

Video Samples         

  • Present the best three (3) to five (5) minutes of programming in your samples.  You may include up to three short video clips.  Make sure they are identified on the Artistic Samples Table.

  • Show brief montages of recent performances with shots of the audience.  This enables panelists to:        

    • Determine the breadth of programming for which funds are being requested.

    • Gauge audience size and demographics/diversity, including venue accessibility.

    • See as well as hear performers, including music and theater.

    • Video DVD samples should be audible and visible. When filming performances, make sure the lighting and sound are good.    

  • The following video formats will be accepted: 3gp, avi, flv, mov, mp4, mpg, rm, and wmv.  Video files are the only files that have additional restrictions. Videos must be greater than or equal to 480x360 resolution and 12 frames per second.  All video files are converted into mp4 in the New Mexico Arts. The final file size of the video file will be less that the original file size. The system will create 3 versions of the video to be streamed for slow, normal, fast internet connections.

  • The NEA has a great tutorial on how to convert video to higher resolutions if its too small: http://nea.culturegrants.org/navigation/links/page/video-help.

  • New Mexico Arts suggests that video files are uploaded in MP4 format.  See additional information under Tips for Conversion of Support Material below.

Tips for Converting Files for Support Material

Converting Files doc