Songwriting Challenge POL Justification

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Justification - Supporting Statement

1. Necessity of Information Collection

The National Endowment for the Arts’ mission is “to advance artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.”

The Chairman establishes eligibility requirements and criteria for the review of applications for funding as authorized by the agency’s enabling legislation (20 U.S.C. §954).

The Application Form, for which clearance is requested, is used to gather basic information from youth applying to Agency Initiatives Poetry Out Loud, the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for High School Students, or other agency initiatives for youth. Information is needed to verify eligibility for the program and to facilitate judging of the entries.

2. Needs and Uses of Information

The National Endowment for the Arts needs this information in order to verify eligibility, as well as for obtaining the actual content of the applications to distribute to the judges for review. In the case of the Songwriting Challenge, the geographic information collected is necessary to ensure applications will be judged according to which region the entrant is from, ensuring geographic diversity in the selected finalists.

3. Uses of Information Technology

The use of information technology has been a prime consideration in the design of this form. Entries will be uploaded and adjudicated completely online.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

The National Endowment for the Arts has carefully analyzed existing forms to make certain that there is no duplication with the information requested.

Applicants will apply for a single, specific project. This project changes from year to year. Much of the information collected one year is not relevant to the next year’s request.

5. Minimizing the Burden in Small Businesses or Small Entities

Not Applicable

6. Consequences of Not Conducting Data Collection

Judges review applications on their merits and in competition with other applications. If the requested information were not collected, judges would not have consistent information on which to base their evaluations. The National Endowment for the Arts would be unable to ensure the fair and accountable application review.

7. Special Circumstances

Not Applicable

8. Public Comment and Consultation Outside the Agency

The collection is conducted consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6. A notice in the Federal Register was published on May 15, 2018 (83 FR 22532), to solicit comments on the approval of the data collection. No comments were received.

9. Payment to Respondents

Not Applicable

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

Assurance of confidentiality is provided under the terms of the Privacy Act of 1974.

11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature

No questions of a sensitive nature are included in the information collection.

12. Estimated Hour Burden of Respondents

Hour Burden to Respondents

Number of Potential Applicants	x	Time to Complete Form	=	Total (Annual) Hour Burden to Respondents
300	x	1 hour	=	300.0 hours

There is no cost to the respondent other than that of their time to respond.

13. Cost Burden to Respondent

Not applicable. There are no annual costs to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from this collection of information.

14. Cost to the Federal Government

All Forms are reviewed and created by employees of the Federal Government, therefore no additional cost is incurred to the government in terms of contracting. Since the forms are electronic, no mailing costs will be incurred.

15. Explanation of Changes

The increase in hour burden of respondents is due to a projected increase in the number of potential applicants as the programs enter their second years.

Optional basic descriptive questions about applicants are being included to evaluate the effectiveness of the NEA’s outreach program to reach all students.

16. Statistics

Not applicable. We do not plan to publish data.

17. Seeking Approval to Not Display OMB Expiration date

Not applicable. We are not seeking this approval.

18. Exception to the Certificate Statement

Not applicable. There are no exceptions to the certification statements.