ARSC Research Grants Program

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Research Grants Program is designed to encourage and support scholarship and publication by individuals in the field of sound recordings or audio preservation. Specific projects eligible for support include discography, bibliography, historical studies of the sound recording industry and its products, and any other subject likely to increase the public's understanding and appreciation of the lasting importance of recorded sound. Both ARSC members and non-members are eligible for grants in amounts up to $1,000. ARSC encourages applications from individuals whose research forms part of an academic program at the master's or doctoral level. Grant recipients receive reimbursement for eligible expenses, up to the amount of their grant award. Documentation of eligible expenses must be submitted before reimbursement, and eligible expenses must be incurred after the grant is awarded (generally mid-March), with funds disbursed by the end of the calendar year. Grant funds can be used to underwrite clerical, travel, and editorial expenses. However, grant funds may not be used to purchase capital equipment or recordings, to create recordings (including field recordings), to perform operations on sound recordings, to reimburse applicants for work already performed before the grant was awarded, or to support projects which form part of a job. Applications are reviewed by committee members in an open peer review process. Committee members are volunteers with expertise in areas of recorded sound and all members participate in the review process. Proposals are evaluated on the extent to which they focus on sound recordings as research materials or on the sound recording industry, and the extent to which applications materials meet the format requirements.