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Project Justification

The project justification is genuinely interesting and thorough, inviting the reader to want

to know more about the topic and see the project come to fruition. There is clearly an interest in

and passion behind the project, and the provided justification is incredibly timely and relevant as

it urges for increased media literacy and ethical media consumption. In addition, the project is

well integrated with IMLS agency level goals and special interests, both in terms of the relevance

of the project as well as who will benefit from it. As a side note, it might be helpful to have a

brief comment, for the sake of thoroughness, about the kind of propaganda that resulted from the

Voice of American Jazz and the type of propaganda being leveraged in Europe prior to where this

is delved into in greater detail under “Project Results.” Also, it is not entirely clear which IMLS

grant is being applied for.

Project Work Plan

The project work plan is sound and detailed effectively, thoughtful and explained clearly in

a way that makes it easy to visualize the steps taken to bring this project together, with an easy-

to-understand budget outlined, although the schedule of completion would be bettered by a

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visual aid such as a Gantt chart to go along with the step-by-step activities. The described risks

are particularly valid and well-founded problems to consider in formulating this project; that

being said, the narrative does not address how these risks have been accounted for in the work

plan, and/or how these issues might be mitigated.

Project Results

The project results as described are appropriately comprehensive, especially in expanding

upon the purpose and intended goals of this grant project (useful information for anyone not

well-versed in Willis Conover, Voice of America, abstract art and jazz music, and so forth),

although by comparison the discussion of what knowledge/skills/attitudes/etc. will be changed as

a result of the project seems surprisingly brief, and some points could be broken down into

separate examples of ways the intended audience’s knowledge or attitudes will change. I am also

not entirely sure it is understood how the benefits of the project will be sustained based on what

is described in the narrative; how will the listed items help to accomplish that task?

Score: 8