Email from the Arts Council today…..Thank you for making an application to Artists’ International Development fund.
We have completed our eligibility check and can confirm that your application is eligible to be considered for funding through AIDF. We will aim to let you know our decision by Friday 14 March 2014.
I sent it on the deadline date of 7 February and have only just got this reply. This either means (I assume) that they have had a huge amount of applications OR they just don’t have enough staff to review them all. (Or Both)
The original guidelines said I would know the outcome by the end of February, but adding another two weeks on is prolonging the agony further.
I know I should be feeling more cheerful about this as at least we now know we are on the right track and the application actually made sense …. But….
Then of course … ‘There is a high demand for our grants and we cannot fund all the eligible applications we receive. As a result, we advise you to think about what you will do if we cannot fund your activity.’
Today I have finger nails, but by mid March I won’t :-(
Two consecutive days off has given me the chance to get stuck into some ideas for additional work in the Colonize exhibition.
I want the work to sit comfortably with the large installation in the exhibition, so I’ve been experimenting with paper and maps to make smaller works.
Did I explain what the large installation was of? So much is happening in my life at the moment that I often jump from one scenario to another, not really thinking about whether it all makes sense to anyone but myself!
Briefly…. There are several large rape seed fields close to where I live and as you drive down the main road leading to my house, you can see the vast expanse of yellow ahead in the summer months. It really is lovely, but I’ve never thought of it as anything more than a field of yellow flowers.
One day, I took a wrong turning as I went to pick up a parcel from the industrial estate in the area, and came across a memorial. It was for 24 American servicemen that had lost their lives in 1944 as their Liberator aircraft virtually fell from the sky in the nearby fields.
Even after all of this time, engine parts still lie in the fields, ploughed around by the current owner.
I’m so saddened by what had happened, particularly as I hadn’t known about it – despite having lived in the area for so long.
Without making it sound so trivial, my installation is a memorial, made up of a ‘field’ of yellow flowers. I’m hoping to show all sorts of notes and documentation with the work so that people can understand that although the aircraft is a long way from ‘home’ , it is still treated with the upmost respect.
My parcel of paper flowers arrived in Jamestown yesterday, which is pretty amazing considering the Post Office said it would take more than 8 weeks ( it took 13 days) Feel a lot more relaxed about the installation now, but I still need to work on the accompanying work.
I just feel brain dead though and unable to start new work. I’m gathering things as I go along that I really want to use in a collage, but it’s just not coming. The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to panic as there’s nothing there at all.
Spending far more time on the internet than my own work ( which I’m calling looking for inspiration! ) I saw publicity for the Women’s Create exhibition, which is immediately before ours at the gallery. Jean and I will just catch the end of it as we arrive and I’ve already seen a couple of works I will gravitate towards. There’s a few artists in the exhibition that i would like to work /collaborate with over there. So I’m hoping we can at least meet to chat: http://www.womencreate.org/1/post/2014/02/opening-reception-for-women-create-onmarch-1.html ( see list of 2104 artists)
Oh well… let me put this away and try again :-/
The Artists International Development fund application has now been submitted, so all we can do now is get on with our own work and hope for the best. (And not breathe of course!)
With just over seven weeks to go, its really cutting it fine, but the last deadline in November would have meant that our activities would have to end by March. I suppose I could have sent it a week ago, but I was hoping for more inspiration. Filling in a box with only 150 words when they allow 250, makes you think that you should write more. But sometimes you can summarise everything in a paragraph and to write more would be a case of repeating yourself.
I think we fit the criteria because we are an established group who have a good history of collaboration. We have confirmed connections with our US hosts, have good activity plan and have raised a considerable amount of money ourselves ( through Kick-starter and other means)
Can’t think what else to say.
Last year I made the decision to not continue with my current website : www.wendycwilliams.co.uk for which I pay an annual fee. It was a pain to maintain, wasn’t liked by many ( including the Bluecoat’s Sara Jayne Parsons) and to be honest, got a lot less hits than the free wordpress one I’d been using as a blog.
I knew it was nearing the renewal date, but was quite taken aback when I got an email from Mr Site saying that they had taken £50 from my account. WHAT? Surely they have to give warning that they are taking money – especially as there was still 30 days to go ( they did send an email about that!)
Sooo… I logged on the site’s ‘chat room’ to complain, only to be told that they ‘would have to speak to their superiors’. What a nightmare. Anyway, to cut a long story short, money has been refunded and I can finally say goodbye to that one.
I’m still making changes as the old site gets phased out, but my wordpress blog is : http://wendycwilliamsdotorg.wordpress.com/
We waste so much money as artists, doing things that we think are expected of us. I didn’t enter this year’s annual open exhibition in a local gallery as I thought that too was a waste of time and money. Another £10 saved.
No more entering Open exhibitions with a fee, or anything / anyone else that makes a profit from my hard work.
