Lectures & Concerts Committee

Application deadline: 1st day of each month, September - May

Award amount: varies

Purpose, Funds, and Application Procedures

The Lectures and Concerts Committee meets monthly to review applications from the faculty for assistance in funding events that enhance the academic life of the College, including lectures, discussions, readings, workshops, concerts, dance and theatrical performances. The awards are drawn from funds allocated to the Committee from the College’s operating budget, from the Jacob Jasper Stahl Fund, the Annie Talbot Cole Lectureship, the Charles F. Adams Lectureship, the Blythe Bickel Edwards Fund, and the Lectures and Concerts General Fund. These funds are, in most cases, quite limited and all endowed funds are specifically defined and must be recognized in event publicity, making the retroactive use of endowed funds impossible. The Committee therefore encourages all applicants to carefully plan ahead, to consider the various funds’ stated purpose, and to seek additional funding from other sources.

Apply

To apply for funding through the Lectures and Concerts Committee, please download this application, complete it (using Adobe Acrobat), and submit it electronically as an attachment to landc_proposals@list.bowdoin.edu

The Committee strongly encourages applicants to plan their events well in advance and discourages retroactive applications. The Committee holds meetings during the second week of each month, beginning in September. The last meeting of the year takes place in May; no proposals will be considered after that meeting until the following September. Applications must be received by the first of the month to be considered at that month’s meeting. Early fall event proposals should be submitted to the Committee the prior spring. Please keep the above schedule in mind when preparing an application.

The application form, a writable pdf, should be downloaded, completed (using Adobe Acrobat), and submitted electronically as an attachment to landc_proposals@list.bowdoin.edu. Questions regarding the application process should be addressed to the Committee Chair, Barbara Weiden Boyd, (Department of Classics, Sills Hall, ext.3501, bboyd@bowdoin.edu).

Early submission of applications will allow the Committee to assist you with successful preparation for your event. You are asked to describe the proposed event as fully as possible (i.e., not only public lectures and performances but class visits, informal social meetings, meals and receptions, etc.). Careful explanations of budgets and possible sources of supplementary funding will also strengthen the proposal.

The Committee strongly encourages and supports applications that

  1. relate to academic life of the College, particularly to current course offerings;
  2. involve the proposed guest(s) in a variety of activities, rather than a single public lecture, including classroom and informal interaction with students, and thoroughly describe these activities in the application;
  3. show collaboration between departments/programs or between departments/programs and student organizations;
  4. show support from multiple sponsors and consider creative uses of other sources of funding, in particular the wide range of endowed lecture funds described in the College Catalog and online;
  5. follow the Committee guidelines for honoraria;
  6. keep travel and lodging expenses to a reasonable level;
  7. keep meal expenses to a reasonable level, whenever possible using meals as a forum for further discussion, involving students, and making use of Bowdoin dining services.

Guidelines for honoraria: The Committee acknowledges that honoraria vary widely among fields and according to the stature of the presenter or performer invited and the extent of their involvement on campus. Honoraria should be in keeping with disciplinary norms and not normally exceed $500 for a single speaker or artist. Honoraria requests that exceed either disciplinary norms or Committee guidelines must be thoroughly explained in the application and other sources of funding should be sought. No honorarium amount should ever be quoted to a speaker or performer prior to approval by the Committee.

Applicants will be notified of approval or denial of their request by the Committee Chair. Letters of approval will include the procedures to be followed to confirm the engagement of the guest, to arrange for payments of honoraria, and to secure additional services outlined in the approved budget. Contact Events and Summer Programs (ext. 3433) for assistance with this process. Use the college scheduling system or contact Roberta Davis, Campus Scheduler (rdavis@bowdoin.edu, ext. 3421), to reserve facilities and arrange for dining (Doris White, dwhite@bowdoin.edu, ext. 3181) or audio-visual needs early in the planning process. In the case of theatrical or musical performances, audio-visual services (Mary Hipkins, mhipkins@bowdoin.edu, ext. 3612) may advise seeking outside assistance from a production company. Applicants should contact AV prior to applying so as to plan for such substantial additional costs in the proposed budget.

Letters of approval will include the following attached forms, which the faculty sponsor will need to complete:

  1. Checklist for Faculty Sponsor
  2. Sample Welcome Letter to Guest Lecturer
  3. Guest Lecturer Agreement
  4. Audio, Video, & Media Release Form
  5. Accounting Office Voucher

Descriptions of funds managed by the Lectures and Concerts Committee

Please note that support from endowed funds must be recognized in event publicity. Therefore, in most cases, retroactive funding through endowed funds is impossible.

The Jasper Jacob Stahl Lectureship in the Humanities: This fund is "used to support a series of lectures to be delivered annually at the College by some distinguished scholarly and gifted interpreter of the Art, Life, Letters, Philosophy, or Culture, in the broadest sense, of the Ancient Hebraic World or of the Ancient Greek World or of the Roman World, or of the Renaissance in Italy and Europe, or of the Age of Elizabeth I in England, or that of Louis XIV and the Enlightenment in France, or of the era of Goethe in Germany." The Stahl fund is the largest managed by the Committee, with about $30,000 available annually.

Selected past lectures:

Annie Talbot Cole Lectureship: This fund is used to sponsor a lectureship that contributes "to the ennoblement and enrichment of life by standing for the idea that life is a glad opportunity. It shall, therefore, exhibit and endeavor to make attractive the highest ideals of character and conduct, and also, insofar as possible, foster an appreciation of the beautiful as revealed through nature, poetry, music, and the fine arts." The Cole fund provides about $2000 annually.

Selected past lectures:

Charles F. Adams Lectureship: This fund is used to support a lectureship in political science and education. The Adams fund provides about $7000 annually.

Selected past lectures:

Blythe Bickel Edwards Fund: This fund is used to enrich and enliven Bowdoin College through artistic expression and performance. The Fund should encourage the creation, performance and appreciation of all forms of art, music and performance existing today and created in the future. The artistic boundaries of the fund are limited only by imagination and creativity. The Edwards fund provides about $20,000 annually.

Lectures and Concerts General Fund: This relatively modest fund (annually about $9000) is used to support the many worthy events that cannot be supported by any of the above funds.

Other potential funding sources that should be sought out prior to or in conjunction with application to the Lectures and Concerts Committee:

Endowed Lecture Funds: Speakers may qualify as nominees for endowed lectures managed by individual departments/programs, the Office of the Dean for Academic Affairs, or the Office of Donor Relations.

The Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC): The SAFC is an arm of the Bowdoin Student Government, and receives roughly $540,000 per year to fund the nearly 100 student organizations that enrich the social and cultural life of the College through extra and co-curricular events and programs. The body is chaired by the Treasurer of the BSG, and comprised of the four class Treasurers and two at-large student members. The SAFC meets weekly to consider student funding requests, and is advised by the Director of Student Life. Funds may be requested from the SAFC by a student organization wishing to co-sponsor an event with an academic department. Applicants for Lectures and Concerts funding are encouraged to contact appropriate student organizations. Please note that the SAFC does not fund retroactive applications.

Common Hour: Each semester features approximately six Common Hours coordinated by the Office of Events & Summer Programs.  Most Common Hour presenters are identified through nominations by faculty, staff and students.  Applicants may want to consider nominating a presenter for Common Hour or contacting the Events Office staff to inquire about possibilities for co-sponsoring a Common Hour.  Note:  The Common Hour schedule of presenters is generally solidified at least a semester in advance and applicants should plan accordingly in nominating presenters.