Provost Office Funding

The Cultural Affairs Committee seeks to fund events that have the potential to generate broad-based interest within the University Community. Such interest may be demonstrated by applications that share several sponsors and/or funding sources. Applications related directly to the University’s teaching program are especially encouraged. 

The following are general guidelines used in considering applications:

• All applications must be submitted on behalf of or with the support of one or more departments or programs at the University. Written letters of support – these may be emails or electronic attachments - from all supporting or co-sponsoring departments or programs must be submitted with the applications. The Committee encourages multiple sponsorships.
• Student organizations may submit applications for funding. The application must be supported by one or more departments or programs at the University and approved by the faculty or staff sponsor of the student group.
• All applications must include an itemized budget. Accepted applicants are required to submit a final report by the end of the academic year where the event occurs. This final report must include how the Committee’s funds were spent and the total program budget for the event. Recipients who do not submit final reports will not be considered for future grants until final reports are received by the Committee.

Appropriate honoraria or appearance fees, travel, logdging, and meals for guests, and marketing or advertising costs qualify for funding. Receptions, honoraria, travel or meals for full-time University faculty or staff, and recording of the event (unless such recording is an integral part of the performance) DO NOT qualify for funding.

Budget Allocations & Deadlines  

There are two rounds of applications for Cultural Affairs funding: October and February (the precise application deadline will vary from year to year and will be determined and announced by the Committee Chair). In the fall round, the Committee expects to grant roughly seventy percent of its annually budgeted funds for events taking place in the following academic year. In the Spring round of funding, the Committee expects to grant about twenty percent of its annually budgeted funds for the events taking place in the following academic year. Ten percent of funds will be reserved for smaller events ($1500 max) to be applied in the Fall round for events taking place in the following Spring (i.e. “same-year” events).

• Fall round applications are due in October and may be either for events that will take place during the following academic year or for events that take place in the spring of the current academic year. (Note: About 70% of the available funding will go to support the former and 10% will support the latter. Same-year applications have a maximum limit of $1500.)
• Spring applications are due in March and must be for events taking place in the following academic year. (The precise application deadline will vary from year to year and will be determined and announced by the Committee Chair.)

University of Richmond cultural events sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Committee may charge admission according to certain agreements listed below: 

1. You must note on your application if you want permission to charge for admission; if you do, you must specify the price you intend to charge and follow the guidelines below. Award recipients must receive the Committee’s permission to do so.
2. The event must take place in a George M. Modlin Center for the Arts concert hall or theatre space, or another appropriate prearranged facility approved by the Committee.
3. Admission will be gratis for all University of Richmond full-time and part-time students.
4. Faculty and staff of the University of Richmond will be given a reduction on ticket prices.
5. All other seats will be sold at a rate approved by the Committee.
6. Ticket sales will be handled by the box office of the Modlin Center for the Arts.
7. For those events for which admission is charged, a block of seats to include at least 20% of the house will be reserved for the UR community until one week prior to the event. Once those seats reserved for the UR community have been exhausted, all remaining available seats for the event will be open to the UR community upon individual application or purchase according to the stipulated agreements in (2) and (3) above.
8. If either the departmental contribution or the Cultural Affairs Committee contribution to the funded project exceeds 30% of the total project costs, proceeds from ticket sales will be shared by the Cultural Affairs Committee, the Modlin Center for the Arts and/or the sponsoring department or program at the same percentage rate which they contributed. Proceeds from admission will be used for future events cosponsored by Cultural Affairs and cannot be used toward funding the particular event for which said admission is charged. Parties contributing less than 30% of the total costs will not be entitled to receive any of the revenue.

Submit an application

The goal of Curriculum & Course Enhancement Grants is to support faculty and staff instructors who wish to take advantage of an opportunity to develop a significantly new course into a curriculum and/or add a curricular or co-curricular element to their course, bringing added cost (for example, attending a show or hearing a lecture; piloting the use of a new technology; materials for a project). Grants can be used for tickets, transportation, materials, etc. The grant is open to support any course for academic credit, including First Year Seminars.

Grants will support items justified as contributing significantly to academic impact and student learning in a course, but which are not supported by the Dupont Fund or by the faculty member’s own school or department.

Submit a grant application here.

The Provost’s Office invites tenured faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences, Robins School of Business, and Jepson School of Leadership Studies to apply for the Faculty Fellows Program (2026–27) to advance scholarly and/or creative work. Faculty Fellows are granted two (2) course releases for the fellowship year or spread over the next two years while maintaining a regular service and advising load. These course releases are intended to provide time to devote to the Fellow’s proposed project, as detailed in their application. The Provost’s Office will award ten Faculty Fellowships on a competitive basis for the 2026–27 academic year. 

Faculty Fellowships will be divided into three categories for this cycle: 

• Senior Scholar Fellowships (2–3). Fellowships designed for faculty who are full professors to work on a project of their design.
• Mid-Career Fellowships (3–4). Fellowships designed to support mid-career faculty whose projects are aimed to help propel them toward promotion.
• Accelerator Fellowships (3–4). Fellowships designed to support faculty launching new projects, jumpstarting existing projects, shifting existing directions, etc.

Eligibility: Tenured faculty housed within the School of Arts & Sciences, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, and Robins School of Business are eligible to apply, with the following restrictions: 

1. A faculty member may not apply for a fellowship to be taken the year before or the year following a sabbatical.
2. A faculty member may only have one Faculty Fellowship per sabbatical cycle.
3. A faculty member may only apply for one fellowship type per cycle.

Applications must be submitted using this form and submitted no later than Nov. 15, 2025.

The Office of the Provost administers a limited fund to support faculty and staff members to entertain students and advisees over a meal.

Learn more about funding for dining with students.