funding

[USE]

ive been working on grant applications for a while now, and im getting nearer i think to producing a viable application. ive got a bit scared of sending them off cos ive worked so hard on em, and i dont take rejection well. i was just wondering if anyone had any success with grants and if they had any tips?

the grants i am applying for are:

www.nesta.org (proper mission, loads of cash tho)
http://www.awardsforall.org.uk/ (pretty likely, few grand)http://www.princes-trust.org.uk (pretty likely, few grand)

[andythetwig]

what sort of thing are you proposing?

[videoswitchboard]

hi USE.

got money from the Brittish council and Scottish arts council for

this

this


that

and this too




bottom line: we had many rejections before receiving our first small grants (few hundreds squids or so..) then you can kind of build it up by re-applying every year for bigger amounts. Helps if you piggy back your VJing project with more conventional art events (a lot of festivals seem to have a VJ section these days). I feel that doors are opening up and it seems ok to mention VJing in applications. the Avit guys must have got some ok funding last year.

I suppose even the free party scene is ok to mention as far as artistic credentials go... look at what the ex desert-storm lot are up to (funded).

so far it still seems like you can save up more money doing an average computer job as you can by applying for grants as it takes so fuckin' long.
but it's not just about the cash i guess.


good luck.


dav

[mikef]

good answer dav, well summed up

mikef

[USE]

Originally Posted by mikef

good answer dav, well summed up

mikef

innit. food for thought. thanks so much. when ive fully digested this i'll say more.

[levon]

I applied for a grant from the South Australian government for a Visual project, got it first time, but unfortunately in the end i had to turn it down for various reasons.

I think the main thing in writing a grant proposal is to make sure the project is relatively original.. my project wasn't all that new compared to other things i've seen on VJ forums, but as no one else in Adelaide had done anything like it it was unique. depending on the grant, you might be up ageist tradition forms of art, painting, dance, music etc, so a digital project that has something new to offer will stand out. Also make sure you get the whole point across and make sure you get some non techy friends to read it, in my first draft of the proposal a friend didn't realize that it would be live visuals, they though it would be pressing play on a DVD, and if a friend doesn't understand it, some traditional artist might not. and do allot of drafts, get your mum and dad, and anyone you trust to read it.

[Amukidi]

in my first draft of the proposal a friend didn't realize that it would be live visuals, they though it would be pressing play on a DVD, and if a friend doesn't understand it, some traditional artist might not. and do allot of drafts, get your mum and dad, and anyone you trust to read it.

This is a good idea, up to a point. Your proposal should be clearly understandable, for sure, but, in order to succede in this area, you do need to carefully scan ALL of the requirements needed in each individual case. What i mean is, thoroughly read and re-read the grant awarder's documents and remit. There will be key elements that they are looking for, and if you don't meet their "agenda", it doesn't matter how good your submission is, you'll get nowhere. For this reason, it is probably a good idea to to get your friends etc to read the requirements for the grant too, and ask them what they percieve the awarder's are actually looking for - it ain't always clear in the first reading!

you might be up ageist tradition forms of art, painting, dance, music etc

In the big picture, there is nothing "ageist" about "trafition" (sic) forms of art - don't make the mistake of assuming that these folks won't understand your submission, as it could be constued as arrogance, but is more like isolationism. Any Arts organisation, set up to award financial support, will have a clear set of agendas and requirements. Their awards will be aimed at carefully chosen areas of work. All you have to do is identify these, and you are half way there. Keep plugging on, you'll have loads of "failures", that is par for the course, but persitence , combined with an understanding of how to "jump through their hoops" will pay off in the long run.

[sleepytom]

yeah sadly its all about tick boxes - this has meant that for years in the UK it is easy to get funding for educational workshops with unemployed black teenage disabled single mother lesbians but much harder to get money to actually make some good art.

the tragic reality of this situation has lead to many vulnerable people being offered wholly inappropriate "workshops" to learn skills that will be utterly useless to them, whilst simultaneously failing to be offered any real training that might have a genuine chance of improving their future.

the arts council and others are at least somewhat aware of this and i believe that they are making efforts to partly change the focus of funding - providing more support for artists to create decent work rather than forcing artists to earn a living by "educating" uninterested young people so they can spend their spare time creating art.

learning the language is still vital though - you can get money easily by identifying areas which few people apply for and creating projects that fulfill the funding requirements of these underspend areas. This tends to work best toward the end of the financial year when funders are often desperately trying to find people to give money to so as to be able to justify next years budget. (see the old question of "why are there so many roadworks in February and March?"!)

[MoRpH]

Good tips tom

[PilotX]

as usual spot on comments by sleepy and amukidi..
yes avituk recieved funding from the Arts Council for our events in brighton in 2003 and Birmingham in 2005.. also some poeple (I'm pretty sure Many2 in 2002 at least) got funding to travel to avituk events..

what is it you are thinking of doing? As tom said there is a lot of money available for educational things (and most of the money avituk received from the arts council was for education, rather than performance or the creation of any of the gallery works. It also helped that we had so much volunteer time.. any unpaid time you can add onto the costs & income as payments in kind.. this raises the total value of the project even though there is not the actual cash passing through, and makes it more attractive to funding organisations (but if they think you are taking the piss then they'll turn you down of course).

thing is you've got to send them off or you'll not get money... although avituk got it's first funding application accepted me (and most other people involved) had had applications turned down for things previously.. you'll only get experience by trying.. National Lottery awards for all is great, but is focused on community projects, and you'll need to be sure you tick their boxes in terms of the aims they have - which are often focused on disadvantaged areas & communities - but it is setup as something intended for people who are not used to applying for grants.. Prince of Wales is similar - assume you are under 30 - but I'm not sure what their grant scheme is - the (starship*) enterprise allowance scheme you have to be turned down by commercial funders (ie banks) before you can apply for them..

the good thing is that the Arts Council recognise VJing as something that is worth being funded - to be honest I think that they believe that the UK can take a leading role in the formation of a vaguely new art form and want to push this.. fuckit vjing is cool even if most people don't actually know what it is until you explain it to them.. the arts council needs to be involved in "cool" "youth" projects to offset its "we just give tons of cash to the Opera so rich people can pay slightly less for their seats whilst failing to fund more accessable art forms" image.. that's just the politics of the situation.. and it doesn't matter so much if it's small or big projects (though I'm sure they'd love national media attention for other things they fund and not just the opera) becuase it all comes down to being able to tick boxes to present reports to the politicians who decide what budget to give (unless of course they don't spend the all the money they've been given in which case they won't get as much.. thankyou mrs thatcher.)
hmm.. gone of on a bit of a rant there but never mind.. if my memory is correct (and it probably isnt') you are in Leeds (or Sheffield?) .. you shouldn't have any problems in terms of ethnic/poverty requirements.. you'll probably need to show what you are going to do to attract ethnic minorities & disadvanteged people & women if it's not immediately obvious from what the project is..
but more info on the project would be good for better advice.. pm me if you want.