I’ve skipped to the proposal part of the application now as I feel more comfortable in what I have to say there. Two hours yesterday and two this morning have taken me to 1000 words – half of what I need, but I still have 3 blocks of that section to fill in.
Realistically, this application will take in the region of 20 hours to complete start to finish. Thanks to Susan Jones’s advice, I will not write this off as my free time. This is an essential part of my work and will go in the budget.
I do need a break from it now though, but will go back to it later………
Round two? The 5 days have now dragged on to 10 days and I’m still no further down the line. I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I’ve been working on a funding application flat out for 10 days, as I haven’t at all.
The first five days, I’d spend an hour or two here and there on it , only having to grind to a stop to write up notes. This week I’ve been on holiday from work and I’ll be damned if I have to spend my total rest period stuck in front of a pc!
A few things have happened over the last week….. I’ve been away to visit friends and do some gallery hopping in the Midlands…. and I’ve been invited to become a board member for the Liverpool Independents Biennial.
I obviously can’t divulge the contents of all the correspondence I’m now privy too… but I was a little saddened when today’s emails contained the dreaded words ‘ How do we get funding ?’
If something is too hard to do, then it’s not worth doing. Homer Simpson
Can you believe that we have actually discussed pulling out of the exhibition, without even trying for funding? I think I’m on about my 5th day of going into the ACE funding application form. Every time I think I have an answer to a question, I am prompted to open another box, which leads to even more questions.
ACE is by far the most complicated of any application I have ever seen and I honestly feel it would be easier to just take Homer’s advice.
I think I may have found a loophole in ACE funding. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll get anything – but I do now know it’s all about wording.
This took a fair bit of research plus an actual call to ACE instead of relying on email.
I also naively thought that perhaps exhibitors from Supermarket 2011 could offer an insight into their funding resources. Out of the 70 artists’ initiatives from 26 countries, 3 were from England, 1 from Ireland.
Over the weekend, I emailed 2 of the London ones who I thought were on a par with our groups, asking if they had received funding of any sorts.
OK – they may have been busy, away or forgot to look at their emails…. or maybe they are guarding their secrets closely. I won’t name and shame them, but needless to say – no response.
Arts Council funding….well, that’s a bit of an enigma. I’m looking at all of the alternatives for getting funding to take some of the group to Stockholm to hang the show.
The obvious thing would be start with AC funding. ( So I thought) rather than going straight in and filling in the multi page application form which asks for more or less the same answers in duplicate, I first filled in the basic eligibility check and passed, no problems.
Double checked the wording on the 4 page ‘Grants for the Arts – International activity’..and yes, we fit the bill in several areas. e.g. Link with Peers internationally…opportunities for artist and arts organisations from England to attend networking events… tick.
The document advises that we contact the enquiry team to get good advice and to save time. OK – I was in work, so it was easier for me to email.
The response I got was : Your project must be a self-contained, time limited activity with a definite start and end date that demonstrates a clear engagement for the English Public. It cannot be of a purely commercial nature or designed to gain financial profit.
OK – so I wrote back that perhaps I hadn’t explained myself very well, although it was classed as an ‘Arts Fair’, the work is not for sale – it is purely a networking activity and will hopefully raise the profile of a UK artist led group.
Got exactly the same response back, so they obviously didn’t read it.
So – are they saying that no UK artist can be funded by AC for an exhibition, as there is a very small possibility that the work will sell?
Hmmm… time to make some phone calls? Or should I give up now with them?
