Introduction to: Project Grants
Claire Symonds
Senior Producer: Artist Development
The Lowry – 6.30pm/9pm
Project Grants:
- Benefit the public in England
- Distributes from the national lottery
- The national portfolio – look into this
- £97.3 million to artists / success rates art rarely higher than 40%
- Can apply at anytime
- What will you do if the arts council
- 6 week turnaround for knowing about funding
- They view your application more kindly if you are a first time applicant as they would prefer to give the money to people who haven’t been funding before. They geniuinely are on your side and will overlook some mistakes.
Must be for public demand/benefit
What they can’t support:
- Museum activity
- Creative media
- Touring projects (must return the main benefit to England)
- International non-touring projects
- Education and learning related projects
- Capital projects (building works/lots of different loops to jump through)
- Buying equipment of Assests (Van/Mac you need to make sure it benefits the public. i.e. lending van to other artists). 3 quotes of the item / they are not into second-hand goods as they would prefer the public to have the best quality for longevity
Under 15k vs Over 15k
Under 15k
- They tend to pick people on their preferred proposal, they don’t put it next to a marking system and it is down to the professional overseeing to
Over 15k
- More people judging
So you want to apply. What now?
- Count back from the event
- Don’t expect funding from them 6 weeks after you submit
- 3 ½ months minimum, for funding
- You really need to read the guidance document as they will be able to tell
- If you have started your activity (retrospective activity) before they have been able to process your project grant then they won’t touch it
- You have to pay people properly / if you need to
- Cut project into different slices, to document and create case studies
- Separate applications for each. Theatre example: Project 1: This is what I need to rehearse Project 2: This is what I need to put the show on Project 3: This is what I need to tour.
- Advice to start off with a small project. Learn the game. Applying for something that is clearly define and low risk to the arts council.
- You need to submit a report on previous stage. If you have an outstanding project that you have not completed your admin for you are not able
- It doesn’t not mean if they fund Project 1, that they will fund Project 2 even if its for the same larger project.
Grantium
- Pain in the arse/not intutiative
- You need a user profile – It can take up to 10 days for your profile to be verified
- You need an application profile - It can take up to 10 days for your profile to be verified
- Character counts not word counts. So inclusive of spaces and fullstops
- You need save frequently
- Work offline and cut and paste into the portal
- Laura J Sweeny
Making your application - (BLURB) Basic Details:
Short introduction
Be concise – really specific
Give specifics
Be clear about your outcome
Avoid arty jargon and aspiration nonsense
Setting the scene for the whole application
Be clear what youre asking for
Be clear what youre going to do
I am looking for £_____ to enable me to_____:
- What you will do
- What you will do
In order to _______ my practice.
- include planning and evaluation point (clear dates to know what to record
Making your application - Quality
- Story telling – what you want to do and why
- Do it in such a way that
- You want them to fall in love with what you are doing so you get funded
- How strong is your idea?
- How clearly have you expressed it? (
Make sure you aren’t wrapped up in your ideas. Be clear of what you are trying to find) You don’t need to be academic to write this bit, clear is better. Don’t be impressive. People viewing your document might not know the lingo of your area of expertise.
- Is it achievable?
- How will it help develop the skills of the people involved? Arts council are huge of developing all individuals.
- Will the outcome give high quality experience to audiences/participants? (This will eventually turn to relevance as well)
- Do the people involved have strong track records and are the organisations of high quality (in the right context?) They won’t know you, highly unlikely. What is the likely quality of this project going to be? Commissions, partners. You will tell them about your past experience in another section.
- In the right context? They look at each scale of project with a different set of eyes. Give them the opportunity to understand where you might be coming from.
- Artistic mentor? Have a more experienced partner or collaborator that are supporting you in the process.
They will ask you the following questions:
- Tell us about your relevant work and experience
- Tell us more about your project and what you want it to achieve (the art)
- Tell us how this project will help to develop your work
These should all be along the same narrative.
They will invite you to attached a document or link to give a sense of your work. A document can be a maximum of 5 pages, or one single web page rather than a full website. Only one document.
Public Engagement
GREAT ART FOR EVERYONE
- Public funded
They want to be absolutely clear that it will benfit the people who are funding it
- How strong is the case for public engagement
(POOR AREAS/MINING TOWNS/DEPRIVED AREAS/LOW LEVELS OF ARTS ENGAGEMENT) More people don’t engage in the arts in these areas and they are the ones that are paying through the lottery. This doesn’t mean that this is the only thin the arts council are interested in.
- Are the target audiences clear
- Does it reach new or low engaged audiences
- Does it increase opportunities for already engaged audiences
- How strong are the marketing plans
- Is there a clear case for future public benefit
For personal development, getting ducks in a row to having something in the future that will benefit the public in the future. How are capturing your information so that you can show others what you have done and they can learn from it.
- Have you considered access and diversity appropriately
Not enough to assume that the venue has everything covered. Know your audience.
They will ask the following things:
- How will you engage with your project?
- How will people engage with your project and what experience do you want them to have?
Top tips:
No activity is for everyone. If you think it is for everyone don’t
Don’t stick workshops onto your activity for the sake of it. They don’t want pointless workshops. Venues are not that keen on workshops and they have to sort a lot of things out like getting people to your workshop.
R&D activities won’t have immediate public benefit.
Finance: The Basics
- You must have at least 10% of the total income from other sources. This is a minimum and most applications have at least 30%.
- This can be made up of cash and in kind support, but cash looks better.