Getting your CV and Work Samples ready for your Spark application
The CV and work samples are some of the most important materials in the application. They give the panelists an idea of the scope of your career to date and demonstrate the unique aspects of your creative practice. We’ve compiled some tips and resources to follow as you prepare the materials for your Spark Award application:
CV
Our colleagues at the Minnesota-based Jerome Foundation have created a helpful video tutorial of the preferred information and format of the Artist CV that is also what we recommend following in your Spark Award application (this is notrequired). This link will start at 3:54, for their tips on “What to include in your CV”
You are welcome to use other formatting, this resource linked above is offered for assistance, and is not a requirement.
The Spark Award application limits the CV upload to 5 pages maximum in PDF format.
Work Samples
The work samples you provide are the most important part of your application:
Your samples should represent what you consider to be your best and most compelling work to date.
Choose samples that demonstrate your original work: avoid including examples in which you are interpreting, translating, or performing the work of others.
Provide samples of work to which you have the rights.
When choosing the cue points/excerpts, consider what is the most engaging point of the piece/s: bring the reviewers into the most compelling moments within the first seconds of viewing/ reading. This is not necessarily the start or end of a piece. When excerpting a longer work, it’s important to provide contextual information in the ‘work sample description’ field.
Submit highquality documentation –the audio is clear, the picture is stable and in focus, etc. Reviewers will most commonly be viewing your samples on personal computers.
Test your video/audio links prior to submitting your application to ensure they are not broken.
Provide passwords so reviewers can access your samples. There is a field in the application that prompts you to enter any password.
Ask a friend or colleague who is familiar with your practice for feedback on which work samples you’re submitting.
Make use of the ‘Work sample description ’field to provide essential information and context for it. Do not assume reviewers recognize the venue, script, performers, etc.
The work samples you provide should confirmand strengthen the story you are relaying about you as an artist elsewhere in the application. It should relate directly to what you’ve discussed in the bio, artist statement, narrative questions, and CV.
