National Museum of African American Music Funds
NMAAM is a premier global destination and Nashville cultural treasure just two miles from our campus.
Collaboration between Vanderbilt University and NMAAM aim to support educational experiences and research opportunities that highlight the rich contributions of African American composers, performers and supporters. One component of this partnership are the grant opportunities for archival acquisitions and campus programming explained below.
More information on VU's partnership with NMAAM can be found on the Community Relations Website.
Academic Archive Purchasing Fund
NMAAM partners with the university’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries to support an expanded collection of books, scores, sound recordings, and material objects related to African American music. This collection will be available for loan, display, and study at the museum and will also serve as an important resource for scholarly research on Vanderbilt’s campus. Faculty are invited to submit collection acquisition requests, which will require collaboration with a university librarian and a museum representative. Contact Claire Campbell in the Office of the Vice Provost for Arts, Libraries & Global Engagement for more information. Collections already acquired through the NMAAM partnership include those of musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Rissi Palmer.
Arts, Discovery, and Innovation Fund
Vanderbilt’s long-term partnership with the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) aims to enrich educational and research opportunities around African American music and culture and their intersection with other arts (literary, performance, and visual cultures), history, law, and social justice/movements. The partnership includes collaborative programming between Vanderbilt and the museum that will necessarily enhance processes of discovery and innovation in the arts.
All full-time, VU-employed staff and Provost-reporting faculty and staff are eligible to partner with the museum on innovative projects. Proposals must include:
- - Interdisciplinary collaboration
- - Partnerships need to include at least two faculty or staff members from different colleges/schools or university centers/departments
- - Museum relevance and support
- - All proposals require a museum representative, and applicants should reach out to Noëlle Taylor in NMAAM's Education department at ntaylor@nmaam.org
- - Well-defined student and community engagement strategies
- - Representation of discovery and innovation in the arts
- - Feasible budget
- - Requested funds not to exceed $10,000 and must be spent in the fiscal year in which they were applied
For questions about the Arts, Discovery, and Innovation Fund, please contact Claire Campbell in the Office of the Vice Provost for Arts, Libraries & Global Engagement.
Programs for 2023-24 have been awarded. Applications for 2024-25 proposals will open in spring 2024.