I find myself in a rather unusual yet advantageous position of having all of my fragrance based endeavours for the next 12 months secured. The only anomaly to this is ‘Scents of our Time’ – which I’d like to trial somewhere before the year is out. This means that attention has turned to two things – securing opportunities for 2019 and, more pertinently, securing funding for this year.
My experience with funding is a little turbulent but also somewhat underdeveloped – I haven’t attempted many funding applications but, more recently, the ones I have attempted have been successful. This gives me confidence going forward, for sure, and it does reinforce the viability of my position as a fine art perfumer. That said, it might be useful to evaluate the reasons why I have received some successful funding in order to inform future applications.
This year, I am looking to secure funding for two solo shows, a two-man show and two group shows I have initiated; one of which is international. My first action, then, should be to assess which bodies of funding are relevant to each activity and then just get on with it. I have a tendency to deliberate for ages before I actually begin an application. Chiefly I probably overthink how to frame my endeavours as something visual, as is necessary for applications specific to visual arts. My argument is that, to an extent, perfume is a visual activity.
I am also aware that I have a tendency to be a little too flowery in my use of language (as anyone who reads this blog regularly no doubt knows already!) and this of course has an adverse effect on funding applications, where often you have to be clear and concise. This is something I’m much better at that I was, say, 12 months ago though. And the fact that I’m aware of it means I can anticipate it and act accordingly during the funding process.
So a rather administrative start to the new year then! But with my first solo show of the year only a few months off, I expect that to change very soon.
