LIFE IS LIKE A GAME OF DARTSPreparation for Grantseeking
What can anyone give you greater than now, starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?
—WILLIAM STAFFORD, FROM YOU READING THIS, BE READY
Yes, be ready, get ready, it’s time. The bells of the present moment are clanging you into action. It’s now! No more worrying, fretting—what to do, how to do it? Yes, you are an artist making that next step in becoming.
This chapter will help you prepare yourself and your work for viewing by grant reviewers and by the public. We will discuss the preparatory phase in grantseeking and cover what is needed before you actually approach a grantmaker or foundation.
I will present this information in a continuum, covering the needs of the emerging artist, the artist in mid-career, and the seasoned professional. This chapter will provide many ideas for you to consider, as the steps following this will involve strategy and planning. But before we get that focused, let’s allow our minds to think of the options and ways we can advance our creative lives. Let’s be ready, and let’s prepare for success!
LIFE IS LIKE A GAME OF DARTS
I have always said that life is like a game of darts. Some people stand in front of the dartboard, darts in hand, but never throw a single dart. Not one. Like risks and opportunities, few people chance them.If you don’t, you never really have a chance, if you don’t throw the dart, you never get the bull’s-eye. And yes, you are right; you may throw it and still not get the bull’s-eye. But remember—life is like a game of darts—you have to throw the darned things to play. You won’t know how close you can get until you do.
You have to get beyond the procrastination, laziness, fear of failure, indecision, and uncertainty that block you from living your dream. Too many artists live in a world where they are “wannabe” writers, painters, photographers, and so on. They envision a life outside of what they are doing right now. They haven’t managed to integrate their present situation into their artistic goals. And fairly speaking, it can be difficult to make our dreams a reality. Let’s look first at the common barriers that impede our progress in achieving what we want.
Fear of Failing
One of the greatest factors impeding our progress is the fear of failure. It’s not an easy thing to face the possibility of failing, but the biggest failure is not trying. Much of life’s achievement is about practicing and trying to succeed. The more times you try, the closer you get to the goal. At the very least, like Thomas Edison said, you know hundreds of ways not to do something.
In a Zen or holistic way of thinking about it, for some of us, trying is the goal. If you are that far in your thinking, the fear vanishes. You will stop living a label of artist- or writer-wannabe, and do the creative work that brings joy. That is the ultimate goal of any dream.
Fear of Change
Another major block to realizing your dreams is a fear of how they will change your life. Even when the familiar is dull, boring, or painful, we hang on like a bad piece of cling wrap. Please try to understand something here; when I talk about living an artist’s life and embracing change, I’m not talking about things that are intangible and out of reach. I’m talking about simple blockades we put up in order to resist achieving what we want—those self-defeating behaviors, judgments, and attitudes that we carry around with us.
A good example is the idea that you can’t be an artist because you don’t have the time to do your art. How does one find time during a workday to paint, write, design, or sculpt? We can look to our predecessors and find a rich history in how “art became them,” how they whittled away at it and learned their craft. It’s as easy as getting up early in the morning and giving yourself that time for your creative juices to flow.
When I was the director of West Bank School of Music during the late 1990s, I was surrounded by musicians who gave private lessons as a way to earn some income. This group of individuals, more than any that I have had the honor to know, found creative ways to compose, practice, and play their instruments while making a living. The pay was that of a poor nonprofit. But these musicians were entrepreneurial and passionate about their craft; many went on to do remarkable things. I remember an accordion player who left Minnesota and went to live in Louisiana. There was a flute player who practiced four hours every day (he wasn’t a beginner, either), and even the office manager went off to start the successful Galumph Theater company. All of these people had to make changes in their daily lives to do their art. They took risks and were open to having lives that were passionate—sometimes a little scary, but true.
Taking a cue from history and master artists who have gone before us, we see a general theme in their lives—the ability to adapt to change. We see sacrifice in the great painters of the Renaissance who developed themselves by literally moving through Europe and uprooting their lives. There are countless examples of clandestine poets and female writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who worked under pseudonyms just to get their work published. Nowadays, we don’t have this barrier and I am not suggesting you become nomadic, but these masters didn’t shirk the responsibility they had to themselves. They didn’t veer off the path that brought changes into their lives.
Fear of Power
The third side to this triangle of fears, and one that keeps us from achieving our goals, is the fear of power. As we progress as artists and interact with other artists, the community, and benefactors, many of us show our timid or rebellious sides. Some of us can be downright reclusive and even antisocial, preferring to forge an independent path that shuns “the establishment.” We tell ourselves we are so unique, so complex, few will really understand us. We believe our peers have “sold out,” that they will steal our ideas, or that we have little in common with anyone else.
Artists and creative people certainly are wired in different ways, and they and their creations can be misunderstood. Yet I want to make clear the difference between not knowing how to talk about your muse, process, and creativity, and isolating yourself because you have great mistrust. Some of you are saying that it “takes away” from a piece of work to analyze and talk about it. That may be true at some point in its development, but your creative process is something you can share with others. And some of us need to do this but are afraid.
Vulnerabilities Are Exposed
Even for those among us who are the most confident, there is vulnerability in putting ourselves and our art up to the light. There is a deep-seated fear of lack of control and power in such a situation. In setting ourselves up for “review,” we open ourselves up for scrutiny, criticism, and even rejection.
Through the process of getting grants, the fear of power can come into play. The perception is that the foundation and grantmaker have all the money and power to fund or do as they like. But that is somewhat of a misperception, because they are obligated (again by way of tax laws) to give grants away.
Through discussion and exercises in prepping ourselves and our work for greater exposure, we can become desensitized to the fears that can derail us from our true paths.
TOOLS OF YOUR TRADE
The following section describes the tools of your trade, those items that are pertinent to where you are in your career. These relate generally to what is needed to be a successful artist and, more specifically, to the process of grantseeking and exposing your work. I present the tools needed for the inner work and outer work of becoming a great artist.
As I present this continuum, you may want to directly focus on the stage of development that you are working from. Some of the basic elements and “tools” transcend all levels of an artist and are pertinent to all stages of your career. Be open-minded to all of it, as you may find something worthwhile in a stage that you may have actually passed. For example, all artists need inspiration and encouragement, and some of the suggestions here will support this, no matter your level.
The following table outlines some of these basic tools. It also shows how artists advance in their careers. Of course, there is no cookiecutter pattern for all artists, and this is not meant to generalize, but I have presented this with the criteria and logic of grantmakers who support artists. Key items are discussed in further detail in the following narrative, as they are very important and worth a special note.
Now let’s look at each phase of an artist’s career and pay closer attention to some of the necessary tools for that phase.
PRIMARY TOOLS FOR THE EMERGING ARTIST
We have all been there, and some of us still are. The emerging artist has great passion and is inspired by his environment and experiences. In this neophyte stage, we also find that people are inspired by the idea of being an artist. Hopefully, as they continue along the creative path, something else takes hold and a slow transformation occurs: the person who is “infected” by a passion for art will eventually achieve an integration of his or her external view of what an “artist” should be, and his or her own true muse and creative spirit. This is what I call the inner and outer working process of an artist.
Some of you are thinking, is she nuts or something? And what is all the talk about integration? I mean, isn’t it enough to write a few songs, a few poems, paint for a summer? The emerging and beginning artist certainly has the luxury, it seems, of dabbling, experimenting, and finding a muse. But like a great love relationship, we can’t stay in the flirtation stage forever. Over time, we need to fuel the fire with more than a lust for being an artist.
The next three tools are more practice modes than they are physical tools. Good habits and attitudes are as essential as film, paint, canvas, dance studio, and so on. Incorporate these into your “tool kit,” as they are essential to your development as an artist. These tools will help you in the long run and demonstrate to funders that you are indeed serious about your creative pursuit, which is not just a hobby.
Practice Your Craft Every Day
A primary tool or habit to develop is to take time to be creative. This usually means that you will find time for unstructured and spontaneous bursts of creativity. Then as you progress, it is important to transform this unstructured time into more disciplined forms of creative space and time to “practice” your craft. It becomes a vital part of your routine; like wearing an earring, it’s a precious part of your ensemble.
Practicing your craft every day will help you incorporate new learning that goes beyond technique and inspiration. After the romance stage of being an artist dissipates with the first blush of inspiration, you will find that you have to face the blank page, canvas, wheel, screen, etc., each and every day. That takes focus, time on task, and an openness to learning the craft.
Study the Craft of Others
Former poet laureate Billy Collins says that if young poets and wannabe writers are going to write good poems, they have to also read good poems. He goes on to say incredulously how many of his young students refuse to read literature and poetry, all the while focusing on writing their own.
Emerging artists need to formally or informally learn about the craft they feel compelled to create. Your tools will include books as well as basic tools to be creative. The Internet has also become an encyclopedia of knowledge, and nearly anything you want to know can be found there.
Over time, you may be inspired by that painter, that poet, or that screenwriter you have just learned about. Over time, if you are lucky, your art consumes you, which is a good thing in the beginning stage of a developing artist. It fuels the fires to create a collection and body of work that will advance your learning and skill over a period of time.
Many of us have the romantic notion that finding a creative muse is all you need to create art. Inspiration will fuel the fire and whatever we do will be perfect, because we have a muse whispering in our ear. But the muse is fickle and misunderstood. Reality hits a bit hard for the emerging artist when faced with the biggest challenge of all, which is to stay focused on creating our art, whether the muse is there or not. Keeping focused and centered is a very difficult task in general, especially for an emerging artist who has to sustain the vision and dream of becoming an artist. With the myriad of responsibilities we face in our daily lives, finding the time and space to create is a challenge. We have to try to focus ourselves and avoid distractions and tangents as much as possible.
Here’s the central message I’m trying to put across: the integration of who you are with your artistic self is a telltale sign to grantmakers as to how serious, passionate, and developed you are in your process. Focus is a means to this integration, and that is why I will be harping like a football coach for you to “get real” about what you want and to balance your creative work with your life.
I have used many tricks to keep focused or at least keep the dream alive. In 1980, after nearly being hired to write children’s stories, I got the bug. I was a social worker with a résumé that showed previous stints as a nurse but little in the way of real writing. When I submitted a story I had written, hoping the creative department of a toy factory would see some spark of talent, it got noticed. That was the confidence boost I needed to start on this journey. I continued in social work, in challenging jobs—jobs where they give you a can of mace on your first day and explain that newspaper is a good barrier to sit on if you happen to be in a roach-infested place. These were tough jobs, and it was time for me to get a desk job that included writing.
So I did, as a grantwriter. At the same time, I started writing poetry, short stories, and technical books. I told myself that writing eight hours a day or more had to do something. I was dabbling but having a ball. I decided to take the big leap and started to work independently, consulting with nonprofits. With a flexible schedule, I thought I would have more time for my writing. I became very popular, and at the height of it all worked some crazy hours, sixty to seventy a week. I became involved in the work of an advocate and activist for environmental and humanitarian causes. I was exhausted and had little balance, and even though I didn’t write every day, I never lost sight of my goal. In creative ways, I stayed focused on my vision of being a writer. I carried poetry and literature books with me everywhere. My briefcase always included my own poems, and it seemed that poetry and literature always had a welcome place in my social circles, so I could at least talk about my latest work and favorite writers. I put black-and-white photos of famous writers on my curio tables, inspiring me to carry on. I never gave up the time to read and began my own self-study in art and literature.
And I did something daring, moving to a small cabin-like place amid a two-hundred-acre forest along the St. Croix River in Wisconsin. I finally had a room of my own and a view that was perpetually inspiring. And I was alone. Some of you may say that I lived like a nun or a hermit, and sometimes it felt like it. Aside from Karen and Arnie Kustritz, the owners of the property, who were there only seasonally, I saw few people. I had my own version of Walden Pond. This place high above the cliffs of the St. Croix would be my crucible, and from it came some of the defining moments in my life. I called it the Birdhouse, and it began to transform me.
Certainly, you don’t have to find a cabin in the woods to be an artist. This example points to how much people will change their lives to pursue an artist’s dream. As you follow your own path, no matter the twists and turns, remember that there are creative ways to keep focused on where you are headed.
VITAL TOOLS FOR THE MID-CAREER ARTIST
In following along the continuum of an artist’s life and the tools needed for each phase, you will find that the artist in mid-career has the greatest needs. This is actually corroborated in the grants world as you see that most grants are for mid-career artists. So let’s look at the vital tools needed at this stage of development.
As we established earlier with the emerging artist, the basic elements of passion, inspiration, and tenacity are still in play here. In fact, if you become dedicated to your work and set aside enough time for each task, the elements of passion, inspiration, and tenacity become more profound and familiar. They feel like an integral part of who you are, and hopefully when you “show up for work” these tools are mostly present.
Naturally, inspiration in particular tests us sometimes, especially in this phase of becoming. We “show up at work,” and it doesn’t. Things don’t flow perhaps as easily as they did in the beginning, when the song, the poem, or the art piece was created in a zone of pure inspiration.
Passion . . . But Don’t Wait for the Floodgate
A writer friend of mine is widely published and accomplished, regularly getting six-figure advances. He and I spoke a few years ago. I had just come off a particularly passionate and inspired time where I wrote and produced a great amount of work. I told him how it just flowed like a river.
I remember it well. We were drinking coffee somewhere, it was raining torrents, and in a fog-eyed dreamy state, he said, “Wouldn’t it be great to write with passion all the time?” He paused and looked so serious, and admitted, “I can’t do that. What I write . . .” He hesitated, then said, “well . . . I’m not sure, but it don’t come easy.”
He was talking about that connected feeling of passion and inspiration that we attribute to the artist and creativity. Some say it’s genius or even some sort of divine conduit. He admitted to me that the feeling of the creative spirit while making his art has only come a few times in his career. It made me wonder how this modern, prolific writer could have so much success when “that passionate visitor” only came a few times in his career. I couldn’t venture a guess as to which of his writings had that “flow,” as all were truly amazing. He taught me an important lesson, which was to work at it, as he did, and over time I could hone my skills enough to produce all the time.
We begin to realize that we have to show up, no matter what. Inspiration may have us bringing the car to a screeching halt because the muse comes and the work ideas flow, but we can’t rely on it to be like that, and so we succumb and become more disciplined.
Dedication and Discipline
If you are in the middle of your career and reading this, you will understand the need for discipline in your work. Unlike an emerging artist whose muse is sometimes haphazard, artists in mid-career usually are able to feed themselves and their muse with regularity. They dedicate themselves to the work through a focus of time and space. These are the people who may work regular jobs but have integrated ways to be creative on a regular basis, if not a daily basis. They are the people you know you can’t call or disturb after 3 P.M. because they are doing their art. They are the ones who leave early from the party because they get up early the next morning to work on their projects. They don’t watch a lot of TV, and some are contemplative sorts.
They quietly, soulfully, patiently create their art without you—their friend, partner, or spouse—even knowing it. Discipline as a basic element has become a primary step in their practice. The mid-career artist knows that when you tap on the shoulder of the muse at regular intervals, it turns around and gives you its attention. Sure, it still may wake you up at 3 A.M. with an uncontrollable flow of passion and ideas, but for the most part you are disciplining it to show up when you need it to.
Space
Early on in your development, you may have acquired a studio and place to be creative in an ad hoc fashion. For the emerging artist, anything will do: a space in the basement, garage, or even utility room. Some of you are desperate and will settle for anything. You may share a studio with another artist, and I know many who do so throughout their careers, but it is necessary to develop some autonomy within that. As your process goes deeper, you need to set up a space that is truly yours. Perhaps you are fortunate enough to have your own independent studio or space. Writers need the proverbial “room of their own.” In this phase of development, you need to “get real” about it.
If you have been creating your art on the dining room table or in your spouse’s work room, there comes a defining moment when you will need your own space. The artist in mid-career makes this a priority. Look at the number of cities with warehouse space that is converted to artist lofts and studios. Even though the rental price for these has gone up, making them unaffordable for many artists, it points to a necessity for an artist to have space to create.
Equipment
Essential tools of your trade will be the equipment you need to do your work. Certainly, as an emerging artist you obtained primary tools like the camera, canvas, drawing table, potter’s wheel, paints, clay, film, etc. If you are a writer like me, depending when you started, you may have worked on an old word processor or even a typewriter, and maybe you still do. I am actually on my fourth computer in nearly twenty years. (I have burned out the motherboards in every single one of them. I am not kidding.) And like many of my peers, I still use the most basic tools of pen and paper.
As you see in this short discussion about equipment, the artist in mid-career refines what works best, and obtains and focuses with that. During this phase, you may also upgrade your equipment to something more “professional,” durable, and solid.
This may be an opportune time to do some grantseeking for your equipment needs. This can be a bit tricky, as foundations are at both ends of the spectrum in regard to equipment grants. Some allow this directly in the project budget, with some allowing a major capitol upgrade, but others do not. Some simply allow enough grant monies to leave it to your discretion how to budget for your equipment needs.
Tools Are like a Primary Palette
Tools are literally like paints in the primary palette used by a master painter. What would Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer have done without lapis blue for his famed painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring? Vermeer was known to use only a handful of paint colors in many of his works, but he almost always used the very expensive lapis blue. This was a highly valued paint color in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as it was hand-grinded from real lapis stone. Its high cost and scarcity may be the reason for the incomplete state of many masterpieces, including Michelangelo’s unfinished work, Entombment.
As you identify your basic tools, think proactively about how to acquire, maintain, and upgrade them. You may have a highly valued tool that would be “perfect,” but as in the case of the lapis blue, it may be unaffordable.
Initially, as you enter your creative world, try to create your art with tools that you can easily acquire without a special grant. As you work into it, the need to upgrade can be made at the appropriate time.
New Discoveries
A piece of new equipment can be the trigger in providing a new discovery and direction for your work, as is the case of a photographer who has relied on manual cameras and then gets a digital camera. This situation can be one that catches the interest of a grantmaker but only if your work has been somewhat established.
BEYOND THE PRIMARY TOOLS
Beyond the primary tools of space and equipment, artists in midcareer focus on their holistic development: those elements and opportunities that help establish an artist within the community. Funders are very interested in your identity and how you extend and engage, through your art, with the community. Let’s discuss identity, the work itself, and opportunities that can add depth to your overall development and experience. These go beyond the basic accoutrements of space and equipment but are just as essential.
Identity
Establishing your identity in a particular creative mode is really one of the main emphases of the artist in mid-career. You become comfortable in your own skin so to speak, and as mentioned earlier, instead of living a label, you begin integrating the practices and life changes that make you an artist. You cannot live the label of photographer, writer, singer, musician, etc. Your identity as an artist has to be more than a title. Your art is not separate from who you are—it is who you are. Your actions, behaviors, work time, play time—all will become integrated and in balance with the total you in creative grace.
This is something you feel inwardly. And as it is reflected inwardly, it is reflected outwardly as well. It becomes the way you are perceived in social and business gatherings, and it is your anchor in the sea of endeavors that you dabble in through the stages of becoming an artist. This is the time when you have worked enough and understand your own process so that you can begin to communicate who you are as an artist. This is when some of you may get hung up, feeling challenged in needing to share, describe, and be public about a process that has previously been soulful, private, and even introverted.
In the mid-career phase, an identity of the artist emerges from an internal process and you begin to engage with the community that surrounds you. This is the beautiful time for further discovery, feedback, validation, and support. It is a great cycle of learning to be involved with the community as you extend your creativity. And most importantly, it always comes back to the work itself.
THE WORK
It is safe to say that no matter what level of artist you are, whether you are in the beginning, mid-career, or at a master level, your development and how you extend your creative spirit will inevitably come back to the finished product of your work. And it is during the mid-career phase that we center a lot of our energy. As was stated before, many grantmakers focus their energy and support for artists in this phase. That’s because the work of mid-career artists has matured to the point where they can identify with it, talk about it, take it in new directions, or focus it in the particular style that they deem necessary for this stage of their own development. Grantmakers understand that artists who have spent six to ten years producing their work on the small (as well as the grand) scale are at the point of knowing what they need to do to push ahead.
Let me qualify this, since I know some of you are thinking you have an idea about a future, albeit unclear direction for your art. Not to worry, because applying for grants in mid-career usually involves a preplanning stage. Most foundations have developed preplanning processes, whereby they host information meetings and public forums on their granting programs and how to apply. Remember, they want and need to find great candidates for these grants so they have pulled out the stops in making access easier. Also, foundations have staff that may be available for an inquiry. But to have a serious conversation about your bid for a grant, you have to show something that will demonstrate your ability and the promise of your work.
Time on Task
This brings us back to our starting point—the work. Although there are no hard-and-fast rules for when someone begins his midcareer, we usually think in time periods. If you have produced your work over a six- to ten-year period, you may be in that transition time of becoming a mid-career artist. A defining factor for this is how public you have been with your work and how developed you are. In literary disciplines, are you published, and where? Have you had a show with a group or independently? Do you have a large number of finished pieces, poems, essays, paintings, images, sculptures, plays, scores, and so on?
ADDING DEPTH TO THE ARTIST EXPERIENCE
Our work is a litmus test, as is our résumé and curriculum vitae. Grantmakers will ask for your recent work, pieces produced within the last five years. They will also ask for your résumé or CV to see how you have applied yourself in the community. Now, I’ve made some of you nervous. Perhaps your CV demonstrates little art experience, similar to mine in the beginning of my career, as I was once a nurse.
Plainly stated, your CV may lack depth. Unless you take advantage of creative ways to expand your reach and scope through your artwork, your CV may not demonstrate the breadth of your ability and experience.
The following section introduces and describes ways in which you can expand your reach during this mid-career phase of your development. Opportunity knocks with new possibilities such as collaborations, artist residencies, competitions, grant programs, and awards, which will help promote you.
Art Collaborations
Art collaborations can be formal or informal. “Informal” connotes that you and a few artists independently join together to produce a body of work. You may do this solely for showing your work (minimizing exhibition costs) or as a way to interact with other artists in your chosen discipline or across disciplines. Formal collaborations usually involve greater resources, more partnerships, and may often be originated by a funder or group of funders.
In Minnesota, where I lived for twenty-seven years, many formal art collaborations were initiated by the funder. They involved grants made to nonprofits that could be the fiscal agents or sponsors to many individual artists. This method provides the necessary tax structures and checks and balances for funders to easily make arts grants to individuals. A few examples to help illustrate these are the arts partnerships that were initiated by a group of funders who jointly committed substantial grant support for collaborative art projects. Eleven partnerships were initiated over a seven-year period, and many joint projects were created and led by individual artists. These were fairly new endeavors for funders as well as artists, and so there was much learning to be done. Some would say that collaborations are a lot of work in defining and clarifying what everyone needs and wants to accomplish. We will discuss the role of fiscal agents and artist collaboration in greater depth in chapter 9.
Collaboration through the Local Community
Another way that collaborations are implemented is through neighborhood associations that receive grant monies and then regrant to artists. This is a community-development model of city improvement, which marries civic action with art. These projects can be anything from commissioning an artist to work with marginalized youth to make a mural, to projects that employ artists to go into inner-city schools and enhance the curriculum.
Collaborations are a great way to start getting your art into the public eye in mid-career. You will have countless meetings and networking opportunities to find out who is doing what. This discovery phase will help you overall in building a strong network that knows your work and its value.
There are pros and cons as to the efficacy of this type of funding, yet it has proved beneficial to the community and has helped establish collaborative practices.
Artist Residencies and Guest Artists
As you begin to establish yourself, there are also opportunities to work within the community, in academic settings as an artist in residence or guest artist. Some of these posts are semi-permanent and can support an artist well through mid-career and beyond. Many state government humanities and art departments provide short-term grants for artists to be in residence at a school or in a community. But remember, “Be ready.” In some of these positions, one has to actually be part of that community or academic institution to be an artist in residence.
Of course, guest artists and some residencies are shorter term, seasonal, and temporary. For one lovely school year, I was the “poetry lady” to a group of fifth and sixth graders. And for one summer I collaborated with teachers and other artists mixing mediums and disciplines, such as fiber art and poetry.
These were extremely important ventures for me as they helped me extend my art publicly in a community-driven way. They challenged me to produce new work and validated and supported the level of accomplishment that I had already reached. I can’t overstate how vital these opportunities were, especially in working with children and turning the poetry lightbulb on for so many. Again, opportunity knocks and the path we choose brings about many life changes. We will explore these further in chapter 8.
Regranting Organizations
A mid-career artist can also find small grassroots arts organizations that offer grants for their projects. As mentioned earlier, these come in the form of fiscal agents or sponsorships where the arts organization acts as an umbrella to many individual artists and projects. Because it is easier for foundations to give to nonprofits and arts organizations, they do so with the caveat that these grant programs support underserved people—namely, artists whose work needs greater attention. These awards can include travel and study grants, mentorships, and special production grants.
Applying for these is no less formal, but these smaller grant awards can be leverage to the larger direct programs and fellowships that directly provide major support for an artist.
Fellowships
Fellowships in the world of grants are a completely different category, as these can provide substantial financial support for a year or more and can ultimately change your life. Where you come out at the end of the fellowship journey is a very different place than where you started, and that is the intention. Fellowships are typically available for artists in mid-career and the seasoned professional. Some foundations wisely require that you quit your day job to focus solely on the projects supported by the grant. These grants can provide living stipends, and such full support will bring about a creative freedom that the funder believes is necessary to do the work.
Depending on the requirements from a fellowship, the support it provides, and the factors of focus and intensity, you may have to quit your day job. If you are involved in an artist residency, this is your day job. You are following your bliss, as they say. This opportunity—along with commissioned work, where you are asked to produce something for money—is a great way in which your art can be profitable enough to pay the bills.
Another Alternative
I want to introduce another way to think here. Aside from any of the fellowship requirements, you may not want to quit your day job. If you have worked some balance into your schedule and have the space and time to do your art, there are no rules saying an artist’s life need be spent totally in soulful creative mode.
In fact, I have had this discussion with a number of artists who say that without the external distractions of other work, family, community, etc., producing in a creative mode all the time could be too intense. Some of this depends on the artistic discipline, which may or may not lend itself better to producing creatively while working. For instance, a visual artist can develop a very successful graphic design company and continue to work creatively. Writers who work in publishing can make the necessary stretch to work on their creative projects. The balance of projects for hire and projects for your own creativity will be teased out—but these are plausible scenarios. Of course, you may delve into your artistic pursuit head first, but remember to be ready. When and if this time comes and the spirit grabs you (forget the stereotype of the soft muse tapping your shoulder), you may find yourself nonplussed, confronted by your creative muse. Then what? You can’t just quit your day job to figure it out and give attention to this wonderful but at first sporadic burst of creative and artistic energy. Anxieties may arise, but hopefully if you are proactive, you will be ready. You will be able to come up with practical strategies that can balance and integrate your creativity into your daily life.
Certainly, there are a few rules here, but instead of thinking that you have to find a way for your art to solely support you in your midcareer through grants, commissions, and sales, you can think of it as frosting on the cake, and pursue and obtain these things to enhance your development. With a good plan, you can ease into an artist’s life and pay attention to a most robust muse.
THE TOOL KIT FOR THE SEASONED PROFESSIONAL
Let’s look at this next phase of an artist’s development. You may notice that the “tool kit” is atypical, as I focus on those traits and characteristics that funders look for when making their decisions
The vital tools used by artists at this level of development will certainly involve some upgrading of physical means, but the emphasis for an artist in this phase involves process, higher learning, selfmastery, and sophistication of basic elements. A seasoned professional draws great strength from the mid-career years and honing his or her art. Knowing their own processes well, seasoned professionals can manipulate their projects to benefit their muse. These artists have been able to develop an economic scaffolding that supports them through their art. And if that is not completely the case, they are able to balance the various ways in which they express their creativity and make a living.
Whatever the mix, artists in this phase of development have many accomplishments to build upon, whether that is measured in income, independence, exhibition, or publication. To avoid making too many generalizations, we will focus on mastery, a devoted public, and the challenges that the mature artist faces after producing for many years. We will also look at philanthropy’s opportunities and the expectations it provides for the seasoned professional.
Technical Mastery Versus Self-Mastery
The benchmarks in the later phases of an artist’s career have a very integrated and holistic characteristic, and lines between working, being, and producing are more muted and flexible. A seasoned professional in any chosen art discipline evolves through many experiences and demonstrates an ability to truly learn from these. In many instances, this learning is through trial and error, practice, and skill development, resulting in technical mastery. Yet as many of us know, mastery in art is not all about the applicable skills of a craft or technical ability, but a greater process that integrates many facets of creative brilliance.
Mastery at this level involves integration of every aspect of an artist’s life: personal, social, professional, spiritual, and community, all working in a sort of harmony and balance. As I have explained previously, this self-mastery is a lifelong process; it is all about the ability to learn and be aware of ourselves.
Tools for Self-Mastery
We all have favorite artists, writers, dancers, sculptors, storytellers, and so on. They may have great technical abilities, and their creativity touches us. Then there are the artists who simply appear to walk on water. They seem to have it all. There is an authentic and genuine quality about who they say they are.
The following set of tools promotes this level of mastery. It is what many of us see and feel when artists inspire us; it goes beyond their work.
Self-Awareness and Reflection
To help get beyond technical brilliance, you need to cultivate a sense of yourself that integrates your strengths and weaknesses through your vision and goals. “To thine own self be true” is the adage. But before you can find truth, you have to find yourself. Self-awareness and discovery come in the quiet, almost spiritual contemplation that is a necessary aspect of mastery. You must be able to reflect and discern how you are unique.
Renewal
The balance of inner work versus outer work is vital in developing the self-awareness that leads to great lives. If we are constantly running, chasing, and doing, we have little time for the inner workings of reflection and learning. Without time for renewal, how can we know which areas are working and which need improvement? How will we know we are making progress and not just chasing our tails?
Time for renewal helps us realign ourselves. This inner work is like a checks and balances system for our overall learning and success. Without it, we won’t know whether our latest tangent, adventure, or artistic direction is fruitful, or how it is fruitful, or whether it has totally derailed the train.
The seasoned professional who has mastery skills approaches his art and craft with a sense of openness that resembles the Zen-like quality of a beginner’s mind. It is an attitude and sensibility that embraces the new, the different, and the unknown. It is an almost innocent and curious quality that says, “I am still teachable,” and “I don’t know it all.” There is humility to these kinds of learners, and despite advancing age for many, they seem blissfully childlike and even playful. Even though seasoned professional artists have produced for many years and have many accomplishments, they still possess a wonder about their work.
Master-level artists can take feedback and criticism in stride and even incorporate it to improve their work. They actually welcome the opinions of others and solicit them freely. These master “learners” interact with their communities and seek out opportunities for new learning. It is not a one-sided equation either; in exchange for knowledge, artists with self-mastery are usually generous in spirit and do not hoard their talent.
Risk-Taking
This is an asset that may seem overstated but is a tough one to really harness. Some of us have the courage and sheer will to move our careers and development ahead, but the kind of risk-taking I am speaking of is almost a fluidity—a flow to new ideas and experimentation. You may seem daring, but does it make you difficult to work with and live with? Is there follow-through, and can people trust you when you are on the trapeze of an artist’s life? Or are you cavalier, using bravado to get through the fear we all have in risk-taking? Master artists go in new directions but in such a way that shows deep courage. They are perhaps bold but not reckless.
The Genuine Article
Artists who master their art have integrated their vision as an artist with who they truly are. Your values and ethics come into play here, and if these are not aligned with a public image of you, the artist, you will lack the presence and passion that demonstrate this level of artistic mastery. More than that, there will be an obvious quality that may appear superficial and inauthentic.
A Legacy and Commitment to One’s Community
As seasoned professionals, we often look to leaving a legacy through our work. Human beings naturally have this tendency as they approach mortality. Beyond the sociological motivations, many seasoned professionals want to develop a more profound experience in this phase of their careers. This may involve pioneering a new direction within your discipline or producing work with a renewed inspiration and intensity. You may collaborate more as you share your talents with the community and intentionally act in a mentoring role.
For artists, the journey is so often very introspective and the seasoned professional may find the need to be more extroverted and community-driven. Depending on the nature of the work and contribution to a particular discipline, one’s legacy may be the culmination of the work itself, and many artists are quite busy during this time of their lives. Even though their work is a great contribution, some have a fire that says they want to give more.
For the “talented artists” who have developed along the continuum that I have described, the truest gift may be the integration of the muse with our authentic selves. This is an essential spirit, and feeling, that flows so naturally through our work that it is like breath itself.
GRANTMAKERS AND YOUR DEVELOPMENT
Much of what I’ve recounted here stems from my own experience in developing as a writer and working with other artists in all phases of their careers. Being a grantseeker and a grantmaker in the arts, I want to impress upon you the importance of developing yourself holistically. Don’t underestimate a grantmaker’s ability to grasp the challenges and life processes of an artist. What I have explained here goes beyond the basics in grantseeking and touches upon the attitudes of grantmakers who look beyond your artwork in making a decision.
As you continue on your artist journey and proceed in this guidebook, you have to ask yourself the questions—why do you want a grant, and what is it you really want to accomplish? Your development as an artist can certainly be helped by grant support, but as you will see in the coming chapters, it is key to be clear about what you want, where to get it, and how to get it.
And you are almost fully prepared. But we have to return to the work, at least the initial stages of how to show it for public review. The following chapter will help you create, or recreate, and prepare a portfolio—one of the vital tools all artists need.
THE GRANTS ZONE
Focusing on grantseeking means you have to focus on your own development first.
To be ready for the “big grant,” or any grant, take some time to reflect on where you are and where you want go.
The opportunities for artistic development are wide and deep and can inspire us no matter what level we are at right now.
Your toolkit will evolve from the basic instruments and tools needed for your artwork and will include the necessary elements of passion, tenacity, and focus.
GRANTSEEKER’S DOS AND DON’TS
Do be still enough to reflect and understand your muse, its motivation, its needs, its way of expression.
Do begin asking yourself why you want a grant and what it will really serve.
Don’t assume grantmakers lack understanding about how artists become artists. Many grantmakers in this arena are educated, accomplished, and seasoned professionals who know the many phases of art mastery.