Yale Institute of Sacred Music Senior Fellowship Program
The fellowship year normally lasts from August 20 to May 15. Fellowships may also be given for either fall or spring, though applicants who are available for the entire year are strongly favored. All fellows are expected to be free of commitments that would prevent them from devoting themselves full time to the work outlined in their proposal and to live in residence within five miles of the Yale campus.
The ISM sometimes sponsors performances or guest lectures related to fellows’ work. Pictured here: Nepathya prepares for a performance of Balivadham Kutiyattam, an enactment of Sanskrit drama.
General
The quality, significance, and focus of the work fellows propose to do during the residency are of paramount importance in the selection process. Each fellow will undertake a substantive and original project that relates to the mission of the Institute. This could be original scholarship, an art exhibition, a musical composition, or work of creative writing, etc. ISM Fellows work in a variety of academic and artistic disciplines, including but not limited to anthropology, architecture, art history, composition, creative writing, ethnomusicology, film studies, languages and literatures, liturgical studies, musicology, religion and literature, religious studies, ritual studies, sociology, theatre studies, and theology.
Fellows are expected to live within a 5-mile radius of campus. Fellows may apply for research funds, and the Institute will reimburse reasonable moving expenses.
Fellows commit themselves to meet weekly in the ISM Colloquium, then with their cohort at weekly Fellows lunches, and they are asked to share their work in at least one public presentation per semester. One presentation during the year will be a public lecture, while the other may be work-in-progress shared in the smaller, less formal gathering of fellows.
Eligibility
Candidates are eligible to apply as fellows if they are employed as regular full-time faculty or if they have more than six years of related experience following the terminal degree. These fellowships are typically one-year long, though shorter residencies (e.g. one term) are possible in special circumstances. Teaching is an option for fellows, though the ISM encourages fellows to offer one course.
An applicant should typically hold the terminal degree in her or his field, although exceptions to this rule may be made in some artistic disciplines.The work applicants propose to pursue must support the mission of the Institute, and fellows are expected to work primarily on this project during their year in residence. An applicant should typically hold the terminal degree in her or his field, although exceptions to this rule may be made in some artistic disciplines. The work applicants propose to pursue must support the mission of the Institute, and fellows are expected to work primarily on this project during their year in residence.
Clustered Applications
The Institute welcomes applications from a cluster of qualified individuals who wish to work on a common project. Each person must complete a separate application and note in the appropriate place that he or she is part of a cluster. The same guidelines apply in every other way.
Financial Support
Stipends for fellowships are typically half of the fellow’s regular annual salary up to $65,000 per year. For Fellows from American universities or colleges, Yale will typically pay the stipend directly to the institution. Yale does not provide health benefits except in the case of independent or international scholars. Fellows receive additional compensation for teaching a course.
Teaching at Yale
Though Fellows are not required to teach, applicants who can offer one course during the fellowship year will be strongly favored in the review process. Courses are proposed as part of the application process and are reviewed by the relevant department.
Courses taught need not be newly created for Yale, but may be one previously taught by the applicant at other academic institutions. Courses are proposed as part of the application and are reviewed by the appropriate department or school. Fellows may also be invited to lecture in classes taught by Yale faculty throughout the year.
