What is a Signature Event?

The Signature Event CFP category offers Working Groups the opportunity to apply for funding up to $12,000 toward a high-impact, public event.

• To be eligible, Working Groups must have been active and successfully managing their awards for at least 2 years.
• Signature Events require substantive involvement from at least three Corridor institutions, one of which must be Cornell, Syracuse, or the University of Rochester.
• Since funds are limited for these higher budget activities, applicants must provide as much detail as possible including rationale, target audience, and expected outcomes.
• In the interest of equity, groups cannot receive Signature Event funding in consecutive years, and continuing Working Groups may only apply for Activities or Signature Event funding (not both).
• If your Group's Signature Event proposal is declined, we may offer you the opportunity to revise/resubmit at a lower funding level.

Why do we offer these larger awards?

• Established Working Groups occasionally seek to organize a larger-scale public project or event that may not be feasible without this higher funding tier.
• When our funding pool allows, we aim to support Signature Events since public events with broad engagement showcase the Humanities as a public good and highlight the value of regional partnerships.
• Funding availability varies each year. The Corridor prioritizes regular Working Group awards to sustain their ongoing collaborations and projects. Once this baseline priority is met, the Directors evaluate Signature Event proposals.

History of Award Levels

• Signature Event funding was first offered in 2017 for up to $10,000.
• In 2023, the Corridor increased the funding level to $12,000.

Signature Events

Since Spring 2019, the Corridor has awarded nearly $290,000 toward Signature Events.

• 2026
  • HF2 Language Program Vitality - Language Program Vitality Conference: Innovative Approaches to Enrollment and Instruction at Colgate University
• 2025
  • ISD8 Cultures of Inequality in the Sinosphere - Transregional Solidarity Cultures in the Sinosphere and Beyond at University of Rochester
  • LLC38 Aestheticism & Decadence - International Walter Pater Conference: Trans/Pater at Cornell University
  • LLC40 Mexicanists of Central New York - Mexico Now: Storytelling, Body Politics, and Resistance in the 21st Century at Skidmore College
  • HS11 The Central New York Early Americas Consortium - Defining Early America: Boundaries and Vastness in the Early Modern Americas at Cornell University
• 2024
  • MP18 Improvisation in Theory and Practice - Improvisation at Work: A Dialogue with the Instrument at Cornell University
• 2023
  • LLC23 Social and Cultural Sustainability in South Asia - The Next Monsoon: Climate Change and Contemporary Cultural Production in South Asia at Cornell University
  • DH3 Global Digital Humanities - Digital Ecologies Symposium: Immediate Futures at University of Rochester
  • HF3 Community-Engaged Public Humanities - Take Me to the Palace of Love: Rina Banerjee Exhibit & Conversation with Gayatri Spivak at Syracuse University
  • MP7 ALACI: Afro-Latinx, Latin American, Caribbean and Indigenous Performance - Performing Identities Across Cultures Festival at Syracuse University
  • VAC1 Topics in Architectural History - Architecture and Property: Lines of Property at University of Rochester
• 2022
  • PCT3 Upstate New York Workshop in Early Modern Philosophy - New York Conference in Early Modern Philosophy at Cornell University
  • HS9 HIV/AIDS Activism and Public Health - Speaking Through Silence: A Public Conference on HIV/AIDS Histories at University of Rochester
  • LLC19 Networking Iroquoia - Hodinöhsö:ni′ Holding Ground at Cornell University
  • PCT1 Creighton Club - Centennial Conference at Colgate University
• 2021
  • DH3 Global Digital Humanities - #Hashtag Activism: Conversations with Moya Bailey & Digital Activism in and Outside the Classroom at University of Rochester
  • LLC12 LELACS - Border Environments at Cornell University
  • MP2 Cultural Competencies in Arts Performance and Research – ONEcomposer: Virtual Classroom Watch Party for Collegiate Students of Music: Florence Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement at Cornell University
  • PCT11 Theorizing Italy - Dante Politico at the Crossroad of Arts and Sciences at University of Rochester
  • LLC23 Social and Cultural Sustainability in South Asia - Rhythms of the Land: Indigenous Knowledge, Science, and Thriving Together in a Changing Climate at Cornell University
• 2020
  • LLC17 Jewish Studies - Di Linke: the Yiddish Immigrant Left from Popular Front to Cold War at Cornell University
  • MMH22 Performance/History - Mother Music: The African-American Spiritual and Its Role in Shaping American Musical Styles at Syracuse/Colgate/Rochester
  • PCT15 Athena in Action New York - Athena in Action Conference at Cornell University
• 2019
  • MP1 South Asian Media and Performance Cultures - Filmi Worlds: A Festival of Indian Cinema at University of Rochester