For Stanford students seeking to complete projects in the arts, two major grant-funding sources provide financial support for arts projects, but cannot be used to compensate performers. The restriction presents distinct challenges for students hoping to complete projects in music, dance, theatre and other performing arts, which are popular ventures at the end of spring quarter, when students present senior recitals and other end-of-year performances.

The first funding source, Undergraduate Advising and Research (UAR), supports a variety of projects in all disciplines. The second, the Arts Grant Program, exclusively supports projects in the arts and is run by students.

Chris Bowen ’09, now a conducting student at Catholic University of America, received a UAR grant last spring for his senior music conducting recital. He used the grant money to rent sheet music for his recital, but had to seek alternate funding from the music department to compensate the musicians who performed in it.

“At least for musicians like conductors and composers, they need people to realize their music,” Bowen said. “If they can only get funding through the UAR . . . I think it’s problematic for those kinds of musicians.”

For English major Alexandra McKeon ‘11, finding dancers for her four-and-a-half minute piece was not a problem. McKeon, who received a winter quarter “Art + Invention” mini-grant of $100 from the Arts Grant Program, used the money to purchase costumes for a dance piece she produced, which was performed at this year’s Art Affair. The dancers who performed in her piece were volunteers.

“I guess as students, people are willing to participate in new works for free, which is lucky,” McKeon said.

“We have a few really dedicated dancers in the dance department who are looking to pursue a professional career,” McKeon added. “I just talked to some of those students who are really passionate about it.”

For those serious dancers, “the more experience, the better,” McKeon said.

The student-run Arts Grant Program, funded primarily by the Stanford Organizing Committee for the Arts (SOCA), awards funds twice annually. Summer grant recipients agree to debut their projects at Party on the Edge at Cantor Arts Center in the fall, while winter grant recipients must debut their works at SOCA’s Art Affair in the spring.

Like UAR, the Arts Grant Program prohibits grant recipients from using its funds to pay performers.

“It comes down to the fact that it’s too hard to do a process of reimbursement,” said Megan Miller, Arts in Student Life Coordinator for the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SICA). SICA provides SOCA with matching funds to support the Arts Grant Program.

Miller explained that Arts Grant Program grantees must save their receipts from project purchases and are later reimbursed by the program.

“The problem is, if you have a student performer, first, how do you have a receipt?” Miller said. “And if you’re not doing it that way, then how do you do it? How do you issue a one-time payment to a person?”

Brian Thomas, associate dean for undergraduate research opportunities, said UAR’s rationale for the prohibition on compensating performers was more than logistical, however.

“First, because funding for all of our grant programs (not just in the arts) is limited, we try to prioritize requests that propose to accomplish a lot with a modest budget,” Thomas wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.

“Secondly, we’ve seen in the past that while some students want to hire performers for their creative projects, other students are in fact looking for opportunities to gain performance experience,” Thomas said. “We think everyone is better served if these two populations work together.”

Josh Archibald-Seiffer ’10 was critical of UAR’s prohibition on using grant funds to pay performers. Archibald-Seiffer co-leads the Wet Ink Composers Collective, a group that premieres music written by undergraduate composers and often seeks funding from the music department to pay musicians who perform new works. Archibald-Seiffer is presenting a composition recital next Friday, which requires musicians to perform the works.

“All of that burden should not have to fall on the music department if there are arts grants available,” Archibald-Seiffer said.

Paying musicians who perform in recitals can “strengthen their commitment to the project,” he said. “I don’t see any good logical reason why that should not be a possibility for those grants.”

Archibald-Seiffer said that it was difficult to find musicians capable of performing pieces by Wet Ink composers, which often require “avant-garde and advanced techniques.”

“It’s a little bit easier to come up with student actors,” he added.

Thomas also emphasized that UAR’s prohibition on using grant money to pay performers isn’t hard and fast.

“We’re willing to entertain exceptions when a student’s proposal makes an especially compelling argument,” he said.