Letter of Inquiry

December 14, 2022

Alex Midgarden

University of North Dakota

Twamley Hall 401

264 Centennial Dr.

Stop 7306

Hello, my name is Alex Midgarden, I am a college student at the University of North

Dakota who is majoring in Graphic Design and minoring in Computer Science and I believe that

there is a severe lack of digital art programs available to students here at the University of North

Dakota. I believe that this expansion to our art program will be relatively cost-effective and

should only take 6-12 months to implement. With this grant, I seek to address the lack of digital

art programs available to students at the University of North Dakota and the lack of employment

opportunities for digital art careers in the Grand Forks area and help the University reach more

students than ever before. I believe that our University is in dire need of more programs for

students hoping to learn more about digital arts. This grant would not only benefit the students at

the University of North but also provide more opportunities for teachers, help incoming students

interested in digital art, and helps the economy of Grand Forks.

Most Sincerely,

Alex Midgarden
 Executive Summary

This grant would give students the availability of several programs and several degrees

focusing on 3D modeling in the digital space, video game art design, digital animation, visual

effects, and media design. Several new teachers would be hired to help teach these classes and

students will be able to enter the business world with the skills they need to apply for a digital art

design job. By collaborating with the University of North Dakota school board, I believe that we

can properly achieve the goal of this grant and help students have the opportunity to experience

and learn more skills in our art program. I believe that I am qualified to manage this grant

because of my experience as a student in the University of North Dakota art program and my

great desire to learn about digital art. As a student, I know what other students really want and

my experience as a student here at UND combined with my involvement with the community, I

believe I would be perfectly qualified to manage this grant. I believe that this project would be

perfectly evaluated by the school board and the students that try out this new program. Students

would be able to voice their opinion of the program at the end of the semester and the school

board will be given full power to evaluate the program at any time. I am willing to provide

several statistics showing the importance of this untapped job market here in North Dakota and

express the general desire among UND art students for this expansion in the art program.

This grant seeks to allocate more resources to the UND art department and allow for the

expansion of the digital art program which is severely lacking for students hoping to specialize

further in the digital art medium. With this grant, I seek to address the lack of digital art

programs available to students at the University of North Dakota and the lack of employment

opportunities for digital art careers in the Grand Forks area. I am writing this grant because of

my personal experience here and at UND. As a graphic design student at UND, I feel that there is
a lack of digital design courses, thus hindering my ability as well as other students to be prepared

for this ever-growing career field. This grant would not only benefit the students at the

University of North but also provide more opportunities for teachers, help incoming students

interested in digital art, and helps the economy of Grand Forks. This grant would give students

the availability of several programs and several degrees focusing on 3D modeling in the digital

space, video game art design, digital animation, visual effects, and media design. Several new

teachers would be hired to help teach these classes and students will be able to enter the business

world with the skills they need to apply for a digital art design job. The goal of the University of

North Dakota has always been to ensure that students get the experience they need and grow to

their full potential while on campus. I believe that this program is essential to creating a well-

rounded artist and the benefits of such a program would greatly outweigh the costs. I believe that

I am qualified to manage this grant because of my experience as a student in the University of

North Dakota art program and my great desire to learn about digital art. As a student, I know

what other students really want and my experience as a student here at UND combined with my

involvement with the community, I believe I would be perfectly qualified to manage this grant

and help students achieve their full potential.

 Grant Proposal

This grant seeks to expand several programs and introduction of new degrees at the

College of Arts and Sciences at UND. An example of the new degrees available would be 3D

Modeling in the Digital Space, which teaches students about the different software programs

used to create 3D models, and how to use those programs to create realistic models. Another

degree that would be available is Video Game Art Design, which would teach students how to

create textures, sprites, lighting, and environments in 2D and 3D space. Digital Animation would

give the students the opportunity to develop and hone their creative skills and learn a variety of

topics including basic animation principles, the production pipeline, character, and background

design, storyboarding, and modeling, motion graphics, and video editing. Visual Effects would

give focus on providing students with 3D modeling, animation, and visual effects to let their

creativity flow and create new and exciting computer-generated effects. These are just a few of

the proposed degrees in this grant and I believe that these degrees would be extremely beneficial

to your average student and help them become more experienced in our modern world. Several

new teachers would be hired to help teach these classes and students will be able to enter the

business world with the skills they need to apply for a digital art design job.

While UND has tried to address this problem with a few online classes, I believe that this

is simply not enough to prepare a student wanting to go into the digital art world in the future.

We need to create a fully funded and hands-on program that would give students the help and

guidance they need from experienced individuals. I believe that an expansion such as this to our

art program will be relatively cost-effective and should only take 6-12 months to find the

applicable teachers and create a strong program that provides students with the tools they need to

succeed. This grant would collaborate with the University of North Dakota school board and
would include a testing phase to gather students' general opinions on the program. The

implementation of this expansion of the program would go through a few simple steps. Public

interest in the program would be gauged and a new hiring process would begin at UND looking

for teachers and experienced individuals in the digital art field. Once the proper teachers had

been hired schedules and syllabuses would be formed detailing the exact structure and main

lessons and projects found in each class. Once that has been reviewed, final preparations would

be made to bring the program to the public and it would be fully available in the next semester.

These new classes and programs would be evaluated by the school board and the students who

are trying out this brand-new program.

 Budget Summary

Revenues

Grants $60,000

Local Business Donations $30,000

Grantor Request $40,000

Total Revenues $130,000

Expenses

Salaries $80,000

Fringe Benefits $20,000

Equipment $20,000

Classroom Maintenance $10,000

Total Expenses $130,000

Budget Justification

Expense Amount % on Granter Grantor Request

Salary $80,000 40% $32,000

Fringe Benefits $20,000 30% $6,000

Equipment $20,000 10% $2,000

Classroom $10,000 0% $0
Maintenance

Total Grantor $40,000

Request
Narrative

Year 1

● Staff ($80,000)

● A Multimedia Arts professor will be hired to manage the proposed art program

expansion. The professor will have a salary of $80,000 with fringe benefits of

$20,000(30%) to develop new lesson plans and teach a Multimedia class and Digital Arts

class with an estimate of 30 students per class on a 9-month contract at the University of

North Dakota. This position is necessary to carry out the proposal by teaching students

and giving them the opportunity to learn and pursue this new program.

● Equipment ($20,000)

● $15,000 is requested to purchase 30 drawing tablets costing $500 each. Students will be

required to purchase their own laptops.

● $5,000 is requested to purchase a monthly 3D modeling subscription for both the teacher

and the students.

 Bio Sketch

The goal of this project is to expand the digital art program for students and the University of

North Dakota. Specifically, we will expand several programs and introduce new degrees at the

College of Arts and Sciences at UND which would bring the college further into the digital age.

This expansion would add several new classes such as 3D Modeling in the Digital Space, Video

Game Art Design, Digital Animation, and Visual Effects.

This project will help me achieve my professional goal of creating my own grant and

give me the knowledge and experience I need to pursue my career. My experience as a student

would be essential to this project and would give me a chance to learn more about how grants are

managed and give me a step up when entering the business world while also improving a much-

needed digital arts program and giving students like me more opportunities to learn and

experience new methods at UND’s art program.