GRANTWRITING IS LIKE A JOURNEYWriting the Grant Application
If a man will begin with uncertainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
—FRANCIS BACON, ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING
The moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived. I know some of you flipped the pages directly to this chapter, wanting to write your application first. You can catch up when you need to, and for those who have followed along you can review the information when questions come up, as they are bound to when you are learning something new.
GRANTWRITING IS LIKE A JOURNEY
This chapter will help you prepare and write a grant application. We will review the various types and their differences. You’ve come prepared to write, and even if you don’t feel prepared, the exercises will gently tease it out of you. We will look specifically at two main types of grant applications for artists. These include the application for a travel and study grant and a fellowship application.
In the process, we will study and analyze actual grant guidelines and the many pieces that are required for a successful send-off. Even though this chapter may prove to be somewhat technical, I promise it will be fun and worthwhile to proceed through it all. Think of it as a mini-workshop, and give yourself enough time to complete the writing exercises. Finally, I will present the lifecycle of a grant application process, from beginning to end.
Success in this game is really about getting the application to the office of the foundation. This is all you can control. The rest is something you don’t have control over, so once it is mailed, no amount of worry will help make the outcome any better or quicker. A grant judge once told me after nearly all was said and done, “Relax, and enjoy yourself.” This is definitely analogous to a journey, since there are many steps to getting grants. At first, all of it can be overwhelming, but I have loved this work all my life, and it has become second nature. It will for you, too, so hang in there! Now the real fun begins.
A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE
I said it before: foundations speak a language all their own, and sometimes translating it is difficult. The language of grant guidelines runs the gamut from seemingly clear to vague.
Also, as I know from my experience as a former grant reviewer and designer of guidelines, application forms, and information, you can be clear as the ring of a bell and still have people get it mixed up. Two factors come into play here: applicants don’t pay attention and are too flighty in preparing their information, and some disregard instructions. We will address both in this chapter.
The following narrative will help you understand the language of foundations and will help you read between the lines of what sometimes seems to be a very elusive process.
UNDERSTANDING GUIDELINES
Grant guidelines are written in a variety of styles. Some simply state the foundation’s general interests, and some offer detailed descriptions of every step of the grantmaking process. Let’s look at a foundation that provides fellowship awards and an arts agency that regrants foundation monies through a blend of monetary awards and technical assistance.
The examples that I am using for this discussion come from my home state of Minnesota, where some of the leading grantmakers for supporting individual artists exist. We will look at the fellowship guidelines of the Bush Foundation, which grants its monies directly, and the McKnight Foundation, which regrants its fellowship monies through an arts agency. We will also look specifically at the Jerome Foundation for its great travel and study program. These and others are truly angels in disguise, and their grant programs have been running for many years. This makes them well-versed in the ways of helping an artist develop.
The guidelines that I am going to showcase are very specific and as the adage says, the devil is in the details. But I don’t want you to get scared off, frustrated, or, on the flip side, cavalier about it. Think of it all as great because these details will help you prepare an application that is stellar, competitive, and successful.
Taking a closer look at guideline components from the Bush Foundation, let’s dissect and analyze some of the items and consider the specifics for eligibility and selection. The following is directly quoted from the foundation’s guidelines:
GRANT CATEGORIES
The artist program makes awards in eight categories, which rotate on a two-year cycle. For 2006, the categories are: Visual Arts: Two-Dimensional, Visual Arts: Three-Dimensional, Choreography, Multimedia, Performance Art/Storytelling Traditional and Folk Arts
ELIGIBILITY
Residence: Applicants must be U.S. ctizens or permanent residents and residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota or one of the following twenty-six counties of northwestern Wisconsin (Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Florence, Forest, Iron, La Crosse, Lincoln, Oneida, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Price, Rusk, St. Croix, Sawyer, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vilas, and Washburn) and must have lived in this funding region for at least twelve of the thirty-six months preceding the application deadline.
Age: Applicants must be twenty-five years or older at the time of the application deadline.
Past recipients: Former Bush Artist Fellows who have submitted a final report are welcome to reapply five years after the completion of their previous fellowship. No more than two former fellows a year will receive fellowships.
Ineligible: Artists are not eligible to apply if they are a student enrolled full- or part-time in a degree-granting program after July 1,2006; a director or staff member of the Bush Foundation; or a spouse, parent, child, or grandchild of a director or staff member of the foundation.
Dissection and Translation
These sections of the guidelines are fairly straightforward and easy to understand. However, the “Grant Categories” section does bring up a question in my mind. If the foundation funds eight categories in twoyear rotations, what are the other categories, since only five are listed here? The answer may help alleviate any concern or anxiety you have when you don’t see other art forms mentioned like literary arts, photography, or music composition. In looking further at other sections of the Web site and annual report, you would find that it funds the other categories in alternate years, which is a common practice with these kinds of grants. If you are an artist in one of those disciplines you must wait for completion of the grant cycle. The wait is not that long; you may need more time to meet the minimum requirements to apply, so that is a good thing.
In looking at the “Eligibility” section, a few questions arise for me, only because what is stated is somewhat open-ended. The questions that I want to clarify are related to the performance art category. I might have an art form that isn’t listed here, and so I would need to determine whether the category is restricted to the five areas listed. Further reading of the foundation’s entire guidelines and Web site would give me the clarity and the answer I need, but a question to staff could help clarify this, too.
The “Residence” section is defined in location and included the minimum length of residence to be considered. And the rest is very clear except for the “Age” section, which doesn’t have an upward limit. The question I have then is, does the foundation have a limit related to age? If not, as an applicant I have an opportunity to read between the lines for other information.
If there is no limit on age, you have to understand that the competitive pool for these grants includes people of nearly all ages. Your peers may be people much younger or older than you. And the relevance of this says a lot about the foundation’s openness, but it is also a harbinger for you as an applicant, since it may make the process fairly competitive. Here’s what I mean. These grant programs attract a lot of attention because they offer great opportunities and the grant size is substantial. But given the age range here, you can surmise that there will be senior artists with a fair amount of experience who can show a career’s worth of work. You may not be at that level, but do not let this deter you and make think that your application won’t be considered. On the contrary, an individual’s art matures at different times, and so the only message to take here in reading between the lines is to be as competitive as possible by having a strong application.
The other factor to consider is really what I believe is happening here. The foundation is removing the age limit at the senior level to allow for the late bloomer: the writer, painter, or sculptor who started his career when he was fifty or more and finally had the time and discipline to focus on creativity. This again says something to you about the caliber of this foundation and its awareness of what it takes to be an artist.
A Closer Look at Guidelines about Criteria and the Selection/Review Process
The “Criteria” and the “Selection/Review Process” notes in guidelines are very important sections to study and analyze. Sometimes a foundation will “weigh” a criteria by giving it a point value, you get seventy points out of one hundred for how well you match their idea for having a strong vision, perseverance, and creativity. The examples given here do not have specific “weighted” or points value to the criteria, but like most foundations, this one lists a criterion that you need to study, since some of your application narrative will need to reflect this directly. We will focus on public granting entities in the next chapter, but note here that many public funders use weighted criteria, which scores points for specific criteria.
The two areas, criteria and selection process, are often blurred and the terms are used interchangeably. Let’s study examples of both to see why. The first is a foundation that provides artist fellowships and uses a criteria statement, in addition to a selection process statement.
FOUNDATION CRITERIA STATEMENT
The fellowship program supports artists whose work reflects any of the regions’ diverse geographical, racial, cultural, and aesthetic communities. Artists may be at any stage of their life’s work from early to mature. Among the qualities we seek in a fellow are strong vision, creative energy, and perseverance. Panelists consider the artist’s past endeavors and current work, the impact an art fellowship may have on the artist’s life work and future directions, and the difference his art may make in the region.
FOUNDATION SELECTION PROCESS STATEMENT
Artist fellows are selected through a two-step process involving preliminary and final selection panels. The panels are composed primarily of working artists and some arts professionals such as curators, editors, and critics. New panelists are named each year; none are residents of our funding region. The names of the panelists will be announced after the selections are complete. Separate preliminary panels are convened for each application category to review application materials and select finalists. If the number of applications in any category seems excessive, applications may be prescreened by current or past panelists. All applicants will be notified of their status by letter after the preliminary panels meet. Please do not call the office for this information. Final selection of fellows is made by an interdisciplinary panel composed of one member from each of the preliminary panels and one additional panelist. The final panelists are selected on the basis of their knowledge and experience in all the categories being considered as well as their expertise in their own field. The final panel reviews each finalist’s initial application materials and the additional materials described below. Finalists will be notified of the results by mail. When notified of their status, finalists will be asked to provide additional information.
This next example is a selection Process statement from a regranting agency supporting playwrights.
REGRANTING AGENCY’S STATEMENT FOR SELECTION PROCESS
Each application will be independently screened for eligibility, then read and evaluated by a panel of Minnesota Theater Artists. Finalists’ applications will be further evaluated by the center’s producing artistic director, in consultation with a committee of local theater artists. Selection is based on artistic excellence, potential, and commitment, and is guided by the core values written in the center’s mission statement. [These state]. . . nurturing artists’ excellence and new visions of the theater; fostering playwright initiative and leadership; protecting cultural pluralism; discovering emerging artists; advocating for playwrights and their work; connecting playwrights with audiences; and developing a community for new work.
Analysis of the Three Statements
Before we look at these statements, there is one caveat to remember: we do not have an exact comparison between these examples. The first two examples of foundations I chose to showcase provide a monetary award, and the regranting agency provides a monetary award along with placement in a special working lab and production of the work. Even though the grants are a bit different, these three statements are great examples of how foundations describe their processes.
Each tells you the step-by-step approach to selection with having both preliminary and final stages in the review. Each talks about values and qualities of the recipients. These are in essence some of the criteria that they will use to make their decision, qualities like artistic excellence, potential, and commitment, as well as strong vision, creative energy, and perseverance.
It is important to note that the first statement talks about the societal landscape—that is, geographic, racial, cultural, and aesthetic qualities of the community as reflected in the artist’s work. Similarly, the regranting agency defers to values stated in its mission, which are part of a societal backdrop to the core attributes that it also requires. One more important thing to note is that the first statement includes a reference to the artist’s past work and a very interesting remark about how the grant will in essence help the artist develop. This is inferred in the regranting agency’s statement in that it uses a very important word in its lists of values: the verb “nurturing.” From my past experience with these entities, I know this is one of their main functions, and yet they state this in different ways.
Finally, they are similar in that their statements mention an important aspect of getting the grants that we discussed earlier. If you recall, your application will be more competitive if it adds to the relevance of the community, as is seen in the statement, “and the difference their art may make in the region.”
Looking at the differences, there is one main item in contrast. The primary difference in these three entities is in the panelists and reviewers. The foundation and fellowship grantor uses panelists that are not local, whereas the regranting agency has a very local contingent to review the applicant. Although all three use panels and reviewer committees, the regranting agency specifically states that the process involves a screening “by the center’s producing artistic director.”
Although each uses a peer review, the fact that the foundation’s process involves people outside of the immediate area as opposed to the local community is a major difference. The reasons are many, but some relate to the foundation’s sense that panelists who were not local would be more objective, although this ignores the fact that artists often have far-reaching audiences.
Advantage or Disadvantage
Although I could act like a referee and “make the call,” I won’t express any opinion about the advantage or disadvantage of having a local versus national review committee. In previous chapters, while discussing the researching aspects of grantors, I said it was helpful to have grantors nearby, for general information meetings and networking. In the case of peer reviewers and judges for fellowships, initiating information meetings and meetings outside of the purview of the selection process may not be allowed. Lord knows I have paid the price for misunderstanding the boundary surrounding this issue. In one instance, a judge had to recuse himself after meeting with me because I asked for feedback about my previous and first attempt for a grant. I may have inadvertently caused my own disqualification, of sorts, by interviewing a panelist before I applied. So be cautious and ask staff what is allowed before talking to judges outside of the review process.
Networking behavior may be deemed inappropriate, no matter how innocent or naïve your intention. Even if you are trying to understand a past failed attempt (as I was), it is best to avoid contact with judges altogether. These kinds of queries are best addressed to staff and not judges.
The advantage you would have if a local artist is a reviewer is that you can personally view his work if he has public exhibitions or performances. If he is part of the literati, access to books and magazine articles is not usually limited by geography, and so you could still familiarize yourself with the reviewer’s work. Is this necessary? No. Is it helpful? Perhaps. But only in a general way, as it lets you know who the reviewer is and helps you see him more as a peer.
READY TO WRITE YOUR FIRST GRANT APPLICATION?
What? You’re not ready? You say that there are 101 other things you’d rather do? Oh, I understand. You don’t like to write. Well, not to worry, this application process is really straightforward, and remember, you have your very own personal grantwriter helping you along the way.
THE TRAVEL AND STUDY GRANT
Travel and study grants come in many forms, ranging from those associated with academic programs to those that are more independent and have no requirement for college work, graduate, or postgraduate focus. Finding the resources for these in general is relatively easy, through the traditional research methods we have described earlier. Web searches also provide a quick array of resources that will link you to many programs.
For our working purposes, we will focus on a relatively easy travel and study application that is available to the artist at large and is not directly involved in an academic program. I will again reference a foundation from my home state of Minnesota, the Jerome Foundation, named after Jerome J. Hill who was an artist and philanthropist.
The Jerome Foundation has provided small grants supporting emerging artists in a variety of ways, travel and study being one of them. Here is a press release from their 2004 grant round, which will help you understand the context of these grants:
The Jerome Foundation announces the 2004 Travel and Study Grant Program recipients. Thirty-three grants totaling $117, 185, ranging in size from $620 to $5,000, were authorized. The Travel and Study Grant Program awards grants to independent artists and nonprofit arts administrators. Funds are authorized to support travel for the purpose of professional development. Grant categories are separated by geographic region (seven-county metropolitan area and Greater Minnesota) and artistic discipline (dance, theater, and visual arts). Three, three-person panels reviewed 215 applications in April. Jerome Foundation directors approved the panelists’ recommendations.
Sample of Grants Made
Now let’s look at a few of the recipients from that grant round. Pay close attention to the modes of study and not so much to the location of the artists’ travel.
* A Dancer. She will travel to Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic, and Berlin, Germany, to increase her expertise in Central and Eastern European modern/contemporary dance forms. She will meet with several Central European dance professionals. This investigation will inform her role as an international dance organizer preparing a Central European/Minneapolis Dance Exchange Project.
* A Puppet Artist. He will travel to Portland, Oregon, where he will spend seven days attending Sojourn Theatre’s Summer Institute for adults working in theater, education, and community settings This workshop will inform his interest in community change through the use of puppetry.
* A Visual Artist and Writer. He will spend three weeks in Denver, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh to study the phenomenon of the neglected artist by focusing upon three unrecognized but skilled artists in these locations. These are talented visual artists who’ve worked for decades without attaining success. He intends to write about what he discovers in a series of critical essays/profiles and to explore what the social phenomenon of neglected artists may mean to the future of cultural production in this country. He believes that these artists’ efforts to continue producing despite their inability to make money to survive from their art reveals a glimpse of the creative soul of humanity, something he ever seeks to understand as a writer on art.
* A Painter. She will spend thirty-five days studying at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy. She will take two intensive, month-long drawing and painting courses, and attend weekly lectures, technical demonstrations, and additional drawing classes. Each student receives two critiques per day. She will visit specific collections, museums, and art centers. This travel and study experience is designed to expand her abilities and strengthen her technique. She is pushing toward increased self-confidence, a visual understanding that is subtle, and more precise powers of description.
* A Potter. He will spend three weeks in South Korea and Japan to learn more about the forms, kilns, and glazes of folk pottery. He’s interested in the hand building and wood firing techniques used by the Onggi potters of Korea and the Mengei of Japan. He’ll visit kiln sites in five different provinces in Korea, looking at design, construction materials, firing processes, firing materials, and the rhythm and routine of the annual production and firing cycles. He’ll visit museums and the leading proponent of the Mengei Movement in Mashiko, Japan.
* A Sculptor. He will spend three weeks visiting large-scale outdoor sculpture venues and artists on a road trip exploring the nature of large-scale outdoor sculpture in America today. He’ll visit and document—through photography and writing—major sculpture venues between Minnesota and the East Coast, and will meet with sculptors along the way. This information will feed his professional and aesthetic development, enable him to critically assess his strengths and weaknesses, and assist him in understanding the place of his own work within a broader context.
* A Web Artist. He will spend ten days at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. He will do research dealing with philosophies of imaging and notions of language and visualization, while at the same time undertaking a practical examination of digital imaging tools in light of photography’s and imagemaking’s history. He’ll participate in a workshop titled Web Animation for Artists ... focusing on the Web as an artistic medium. He’ll also spend some time making new images while in the east Snowmass wilderness area.
What We Glean from These Samples
These are excellent samples of the kinds of travel and study programs that receive funding. Each of these gives some very important information and will help us in developing our own applications. Note that as much as each artist has traveled to a place, the focus is really on their study plan and how it relates to their artistic development and even to the greater community.
Also, all of these are written in a declarative style. Funders like to be the support cog in the wheel, and the most competitive applicants are those who have already secured their places and plans. The grant merely helps them do what they were already intending to do. And even though this is catch-22 in that most of us may be dependent on the grant, it does help you think about plans B or C if the grant doesn’t come through. It also encourages you to seek multiple funding sources, especially as the overall budget for a plan may exceed the grant amount from one funder. As mentioned previously, grantors like very much that their grant leverages other grants, and so it is prudent to approach more than one funder.
The Travel and Study Guidelines
The following are the “Music, Theater, and Visual Arts” application guidelines for the Jerome Foundation’s Travel and Study Grant Program for Literature, Film/Video, and Dance. We won’t dissect them, as they are very informative and clear. To help you become more familiar with these, I have presented them here in their entirety. Also, these will prepare you for the writing exercises that follow in the “Application Requirements.”
ELIGIBILITY
1. The Twin Cities portion of the program requires that applicants reside in the eleven-county metropolitan area at the time of application and have lived in Minnesota at least one year prior to the application deadline. Counties include Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington, Wright, Sherburne, Isanti, and Chisago. The New York City and Greater Minnesota portions of the program require that applicants currently reside in the five boroughs of New York City or Greater Minnesota and have lived in those areas for at least one year prior to the application deadline.
2. Applicants must be emerging creative artists.
3. Applicants must complete the cover sheet and comply with all application requirements. Fax and e-mail submissions are not permitted. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
4. Applicants may apply to only one discipline area and may submit no more than one proposal. Multidisciplinary artists should submit to the discipline area most closely aligned with their work. All panels will be prepared to review proposals that cross disciplines. If a proposal is declined, the applicant may submit the same request only one additional time in a subsequent year.
5. In order to be eligible for another grant, previous grant recipients must have completed and filed a final report on their trip. Individuals may not receive grants in consecutive years.
6. This program supports individuals, not organizations. Multiple-person partnerships may apply on one application form if the monies requested do not exceed $5,000.
7. Students in K-12 educational programs are not eligible for Jerome Foundation support. In general, individuals enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree programs are not eligible, with one exception. If an artist enrolls in an undergraduate or graduate degree program or takes classes while maintaining a current and active professional practice of creating and presenting work to the public, she/he is eligible.
POLICIES
1. THE APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR THE 2006 TRAVEL AND STUDY GRANT PROGRAM IS JANUARY 13, 2006. Proposals must be postmarked on or before that date to be eligible. Applications postmarked January 14, 2006, or later will not be accepted. Proposals may be hand-delivered to the Jerome Foundation office on or before 4:30 P.M. on January 13, 2006.
2. Applicants will receive cards acknowledging receipt of their proposals. If there are questions about a proposal, a Foundation staff person will contact the applicant. The Foundation will send a letter by early April 2006, notifying applicants of the decisions on their requests. No information on the panel’s recommendations will be provided prior to the letter of notification.
3. Travel may be national or international. Travel must occur between May 1, 2006, and December 31,2008. Applicants not awarded grants in 2006 may reapply in 2008 if the program is renewed.
4. This grant may not be used for touring, performances, appearances, exhibition expenses such as shipping, production of new work, and teaching.
5. In order to receive payment, recipients are required to submit an itinerary for the travel and study period, with confirmed schedules and proof of travel at least two weeks prior to departure.
6. Grants of up to $1,500 will be awarded for short-term travel of three to six days. Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded for trips of one week or longer. Applicants may use grants for extended travel and study if supplementary resources are available.
7. Recipients agree, by contract, to file a narrative report within one month of completion of the travel and study grant project.
8. Purchase of equipment is not an eligible expense. Expenses may include such items as daycare, limited purchase of necessary materials, and an appropriate amount of lost income due to absence from work for required expenses such as housing payments and utilities.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
The following are the requirements for putting the application together. The Jerome Foundation requests narrative information for three questions that summarize your plan, a résumé, and then a few work samples. In addition, it has an application form that acts as a cover sheet and includes the budget you would create, and a helpful checklist so you don’t forget any of the items required for the application.
The information that follows is stated directly from the foundation’s requirements. Included is the “Tips” section. Review these and then move on to the first writing exercise for these travel and study grants.
PLEASE DO NOT STAPLE PAGES TOGETHER OR PLACE IN FOLDERS OR BINDERS. PAPER CLIPS ARE ACCEPTABLE.
1. Describe in detail the purpose of the proposed trip, what you plan to investigate, and why you have selected the cities, organizations, and people you plan to visit. Describe how the travel and study project will affect your professional work, being as specific as possible about your expectations. If appropriate, indicate how the travel and study project will affect the organization at which you work. Recommended length is one to three pages.
2. List the groups, organizations, productions, exhibitions, performances, festivals, institutes, and names (with titles) of individuals you intend to see. Specify their locations. Indicate whether you have contacted them and received positive responses to your proposed visit. Attach copies of any confirmation letters.
3. Attach a current résumé.
4. If your study trip is supported in part by other grants or income, specify their source, and provide specific information on which expenses those contributed funds will cover, and any restrictions on those monies.
WORK SAMPLES
Submit work samples representing your current interests and potential linkages to the proposed trip. You are encouraged to submit materials that document more than one piece of work. Please do not place multiple work samples on the same tape; submit separate cued tapes for each sample. Limit written materials to ten double-spaced pages with at least one-inch margins, and video, film, audio, and computer disc materials to ten minutes. If submitting samples in more than one format, proportionately reduce the number submitted. Identify your role in the work samples. Provide preferred viewing order of samples.
LITERATURE: manuscripts, audiocassettes, videotapes, etc. FILM/VIDEO: videotapes, DVDs, CDs, script excerpts, storyboards, etc.
DANCE: videotapes, DVDs, photographs, etc.
AUDIO AND VIDEOTAPES MUST BE CUED. VIDEOTAPES
MUST BE VHS FORMAT. COMPUTER-GENERATED CDs/DVDs
ACCEPTED.
Complete Application Cover Sheet. OPTIONAL:
You may submit a ONE-PAGE statement describing your aesthetic philosophy and creative process, as additional information for the panel to review.
Persons needing communication accommodations such as signlanguage interpretation, TTY operator-assisted inquiries, translation services, alternative formats for print materials, etc., are encouraged to contact Foundation staff for assistance.
TIPS SECTION
* Be as specific as possible about expenses. If necessary, attach a separate explanation sheet and summarize on the cover sheet.
* The discipline categories of visual arts and literature are, by far, the most competitive because they draw the largest numbers of applicants.
* The optional statement describing aesthetic philosophy and creative process is often a valuable addition to a proposal.
* If attending a seminar, workshop, or conference described in a brochure or on a Web site, please send a copy of the brochure or printed information from the Web site.
* Proposals to attend the opening of an exhibition or performance of your work are rarely supported if that is the only purpose for the trip. If this purpose is one small part of a larger trip focused on study/experiential learning/research, it stands a better chance of being seriously considered.
Whew! Some of you are thinking, wow! This is a reality check, and the money doesn’t just fall from the trees. This is a process where you have to pay attention and follow the directions. Certainly, it is formidable even though there are really only four questions to the application. Don’t let any of this scare you. Foundations like the Jerome Foundation host informational meetings, as well as personal meetings to help prospective applicants.
I will coach you through writing a draft for the first and primary requirement in the Jerome application. As for the résumé requirement, you can attach what you already have.
Since you were paying attention, I’m sure you noted the suggestion to respond to the “optional” item listed after the section on work samples. In chapter 3, we had a mini-workshop on writing the artist statement with a focus on the aesthetic and that is what is being referred to here. Yours is already completed, and this is a good demonstration of how some pieces of grantwriting can be reviewed and reused.
Three Steps to Completing the Application
Applications for individual grants are typically unique. While Common Grant Forms and application processes do exist, these are usually for organizational grants. For instance, in Minnesota, more than thirty funders share a Common Grant Form. Even though this has yet to be something grantseekers for individual support will find, we can approach our fundraising in similar fashion.
Preparing the travel and study grant is a simple three-step process, which certainly involves drafting and writing a number of responses to the funder’s requests or requirements, but the overall process is straightforward.
Step One: Formulate Your Travel Plan
Within this context and the above requirements, travel is restricted to attending a conference, workshop, or special study program, as well as travel for independent research or interviewing. This is not a holiday, respite, or adventure. These grants are restricted for travel pertinent to something related to your artwork. And unfortunately, it is not travel to do an exhibition in a new location. As is seen in the samples, it could be travel for a working retreat, or for independent study that included interviewing and learning from master artists.
So you have the parameters for what kind of travel is allowed. Now you need to identify the place, make contact, and arrange for your attendance.
Step Two: Draft a Description of Your Plan
Using the requirement as stated in the application guidelines, let’s push ahead: “Describe in detail the purpose of the proposed trip, what you plan to investigate, and why you have selected the cities, organizations, and people you plan to visit.”
This requirement is broken down well enough and gives you specific information to draft a response. Try to draft three paragraphs that say what you want to do, focusing on you as an artist. A few introductory sentences will do for this requirement, so you can be brief; you will elaborate further in subsequent paragraphs. Introduce yourself by your art form, and follow with the place you will be traveling to, with a short description of your plan.
We can start with basics and describe where and what we are attending. For example:
I am a dulcimer musician, and I will travel to Tennessee and North Carolina for a three-prong self-designed study program. The first part will be to attend the Tennessee Appalachian Cloggers Annual Forum from October 10-15, where I will participate in a special workshop for dulcimer players. The second part of the program is to spend ten days in Ashland, North Carolina, attending an annual conference for folk musicians. The third part of the program is integrated into the conference, including composition classes that I will attend daily, so at the end of the study program I will have one new composition, which will be used in a master’s class at the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor where I teach hammer dulcimer to intermediate-level artists.
Notice that I have not launched into why this particular place was chosen, only the where I will go and what I will do. The next part of the requirement gives greater detail about your choices for the overall plan. The second sentence in the requirement specifically says, “Describe how the travel and study project will affect your professional work, being as specific as possible about your expectations.”
Approach this section as clearly as you can, taking some time to develop and design a plan or piece of a plan that will help you advance yourself in your art. Knowing what you lack will be helpful, because this description is about what you need, what your strengths are, and what would support and fill any gaps or weakness you see in your development. Here’s what I mean:
I have designed this plan focusing on the venue and the special classes that are offered at the Cloggers Forum and the Conference. My approach to dulcimer work to date has been academic and technical. Even with my seven combined years of study, practice, and teaching, I lack the necessary peer and mentor aspects that support Appalachian traditional music and arts learning. Although my current composition ability and mastery level is progressing, it has not yet been informed by the true Appalachian tradition that is the hallmark of this style of folk music. My study and learning will gain greater depth, and my playing will finally achieve an organic quality that can only be attained through instruction in folk tradition. I also chose these venues because they are organized in a fairly intensive manner, maximizing the time on task. My hope is that I will come away with a deeper and profound understanding of the core of one of America’s root music genres. Participating in a primarily oral and folk tradition also keeps that tradition alive and intact.
In this requirement they also stated that they want you to indicate, “if appropriate . . . how the travel and study project will affect the organization at which you work.” This part is not mandatory, as they say “if appropriate,” but it is helpful to use the grant to its full capacity and support the organization that you work with if it is germane to your art.
This was already mentioned in the introductory sentences, but I would elaborate here and reiterate some of what you have stated:
My work as a dulcimer teacher would be informed through an oral tradition of folk music that is a vital part of the style and modalities to teach hammer dulcimer. My students [tell them the annual number of people] would have the benefit of this and would help keep the tradition of this specialized genre alive.
There you have it—one very basic example of the ways and means of writing up a description of your plan. It is important to note that in other grant requests you may only have a requirement that states, “Please describe your plan.” They may not be as helpful as the Jerome Foundation in telling you specifically what you need to cover in your response. This exercise will help in your future attempts and will at least get you started. Remember, when you tell them what your travel and study plan is, describe the place, time, and duration. Tell them your motivations for this as it relates to your artistic development, your artwork, and the community.
Now let’s look at the “optional” item. It’s really like the frosting on the cake, and we all know how that distinguishes a good cake from a mediocre one. The guidelines say, “You may submit a one-page statement describing your aesthetic philosophy and creative process, as additional information for the panel to review.”
I highly recommend providing “optional” information in any grant request, for two reasons: 1) I am competitive and know other applicants will “skip it,” which gives me greater audience time, and 2) these optional items give a reviewer unique information to consider in granting an award.
Step Three: It’s Out the Door
To get your travel study application out the door, this foundation, and most others, will have a cover form to use and a budget requirement, and will sometimes request references. These are the usual attachments, and we will have a comprehensive discussion of grant application attachments in chapter 10, but note here that a complete application will be the narrative and attachments. Reiterating from the above, pay attention to any checklist they provide, which many require as a completed attachment, and you are ready to get it out the door.
It’s appropriate to do a rain dance, a hat dance, any celebration that acknowledges that YOU HAVE DONE IT! It’s the first notch on your fundraising belt, and you are really set now. Primed for the next step? The BIG grant—fellowships, special project grants, and residencies—here we go!
FELLOWSHIPS, PROJECT GRANTS, AND RESIDENCIES
Grant size is a relative matter, and any amount is really helpful. The above travel and study grant provides as much as $5,000, which in grant terms is a good-sized award. But some of you know from your prospect research that there are fellowships, project grants, and residencies that award tens of thousands of grant dollars. As you move into this area, remember that grant size isn’t what it is about. A big grant is nice, but never look a gift horse in the mouth, as the old adage goes.
As you have also discovered through your research, preparing the request and application for a big grant is more complex in that you have more pieces to put together. These grants also involve greater planning, and as mentioned earlier, allow you to take new directions in your journey of developing your art.
The bigger grants come through fellowship programs, special projects grants that are affiliated through a fiscal sponsor, and residencies. Fellowships and residencies tend to have capped awards, which can range from $10,000 to $100,000. The midrange and typical award is between $20,000 and $50,000. My past attempts at artist grants ranged from $2,000 to $10,000. As mentioned earlier, I also applied for a leadership fellowship, which was very involved and the grant request was approximately $130,000.
As a finalist in some of these competitions you have to understand the value of a means to an end. The application and review process is only the means. In the case of my big fellowship plan, I didn’t get the grant, but the process was so rich in self-reflection and planning that it was an invaluable experience. Remember this when you feel any doubt through these processes.
The Arts Fellowship
For our purposes, we will work through a fellowship application of the Bush Foundation in Minnesota, since it is one of the leading funders for artists in the country. We reviewed, dissected, and analyzed the selection process and the criteria for the Bush Foundation’s fellowships.
Let’s prime the pump to get our blood flowing and look at some examples of who has received grants from the Bush Foundation. These can inspire you to begin thinking of how fellowships can be used.
* A Writer. He writes essays that explore relationships between people and their physical environments. He has received fellowships from the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Minnesota, where he recently received his PhD. His essays have appeared in such publications as The American Scholar and The North American Review. The writer is interested in “how culture and the natural world shape one another.”
* A Poet. She was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. She has an MFA from the University of Arkansas and was a Fulbright fellow to the Netherlands. She has held residencies at the Poetry Center of Chicago and the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies; her work has appeared in magazines like The American Scholar and The Iowa Review. “A central theme of art and myth is exile, and we are all exiles from the past,” she writes. “I care about the ways history and memory interact.”
* A Composer. He is currently the composer-in-residence for Kantorei in Denver. He was also the composer-in-residence for the Rose Ensemble in Minneapolis for the 2004—2005 season and a 2003 winner of the Chanticleer Composer Competition in San Francisco. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, he says, “I try to write about ‘eternal’ moments of ideas, which are experienced by everyone. In doing so, I strive to find the essence of beauty, which often contains simplicity and balance.”
* A Filmmaker. She has begun work on a video about the lives of South Dakota rural women and the rural diaspora. Her first documentary, this black soil, also about rural people, has received honors at various festivals around the country. She says, “I am committed to bringing art and social change together, to use my work to explore issues of race, class, and gender, and push boundaries to open up the documentary vernacular to include a feminine aesthetic that includes not only stories that are rarely told, but the way in which we tell these stories.”
These are only a few of the fifteen artists who were selected in the 2005 grant year. The fifteen fellows were selected from a field of more than 500 applicants by a panel of nationally known artists and curators. Each fellow received $44,000 over a twelve- to twenty-four-month period. These award notices describe the artists, their work, artistic focus, and some detail of the project they are currently working on. Unlike the travel and study examples, little detail about their actual plan is presented. Yet, as is seen here, these grants do help the artists focus on their primary discipline of art, and it is their work that is supported and celebrated.
Application Requirements
I particularly like the “form” application because it tends to be brief and less belabored. It does have a disadvantage in that you must have a computer to fill out a PDF format of the form. Given that all funders are not equal, some still use forms that are not in a PDF file and so you must go to the local library or copy center and use the old fashioned, but reliable and sturdy, typewriter.
The following is a list of the various components to the applications, along with helpful hints as to how and what to write for each of these.
Ten Easy Pieces
I am alluding to the title of an old movie in this subtitle, and I do wish it were five instead ten, but these requirements are pretty straightforward. Remember that these are grants—not handouts—so you have to do a little bit of work. The good news is, you won’t have to write heaps and heaps, because you are working with a form. You will need to be judicious in what you write, since you will have limited space.
In fact, there is a special note on margins, typeface, and so on, and you shouldn’t ever try getting by with something different. I am guilty as charged for trying to “cheat” on these requirements, and it is probably all MY fault that foundations now state emphatically the preferred margin and font size. My penance for this youthful folly came when I was a grantmaker reading hundreds of proposals with tiny words that filled the whole page. Even though I once used a smaller font on an application, it isn’t fair play. The reviewer commented on this and I could have been disqualified. So do as you are asked and make it easy for someone to actually read your application.
A Cover Sheet
This has basic information about the category you are applying to and all of the basic contact information. It has many boxes to check, for the types of grant you are applying for, your discipline, gender, and other basic facts. After you have completed this, make sure you haven’t missed any of the places to fill in.
Accomplishments
This appears first and is a great start in that you basically list all your accomplishments. A critical issue with these will be to fit what you have within the space limit of their requirements. I once inserted a table within the page, which helped economize the space I had. And it was noticed! In fact, the preliminary judge referred to it, noting that the presentation of a table demonstrated to her that I was organized, which certainly could be deduced.
If you are a beginning artist with few credits to your experience, you may be hard-pressed to stretch your accomplishments. In one case where I was helping a filmmaker fill out an application, she was clearly transitioning from a brand-new beginner to a more serious artist. She had basically filmed a commercial, and so when we mentioned it we gave it a more concentrated description, identifying what she had focused on and how this inspired her to go forward. I don’t actually recommend padding your experiences. If you are a beginner, you need to get out and produce, so that when you have amassed some work and credits you can apply for a grant and be competitive.
Funders are looking especially for such things as performances, commissions, exhibitions, collections, residencies, tours, community work, collaborations, employment, training, fellowships, honors, and awards. Clearly labeling these and putting them in chronological order helps tell your story. You only have one page to do this and it may not be easy to squeeze it all in. The funder gives instructions for prioritizing the “overflow” by stating that it is only a partial list. You know your field best, and so if you have accomplishments that are highly esteemed, prioritize your list in this manner. Remember, with many of these programs, the written application is just one layer of the process. Oftentimes, when you are a finalist they will ask whether you have more information to update your application, and you can offer more information about all of your accomplishments.
Truly, when guidelines prescribe a page limit you have to stick to it. Some funders discard anything over the limit, and they won’t even look at what you have written on additional pages, so adhere strictly to their requirement.
The Artist Statement
We have seen this on the other applications and have worked on it, so we are well prepared. The examples of fellowship winners I gave earlier give smatterings of the artists’ statements. The statement may be pretty personal, but overall it must make sense to the larger community.
Defining Your Style within the Artist’s Statement: A Writing Exercise
When a funder asks for any piece of information, pay close attention to the order in which it lists the information in the request. For instance, the Bush Foundation’s application says, “you may discuss your style, subject matter, working process, or other aspects of your work.” These “lists” give important clues for writing your statement. You would conceivably have a section called “Artistic Style” or “My Style,” another called “Themes and Subject Focus,” or “Subject Matter of My Work,” and a third section called “My Process” or “My Inner Workings.” For our writing exercise, let’s focus on the style section and review some of the examples I’ve created that can capture the essence of this very important and sometimes elusive artistic quality. Here’s an example of a general statement:
My poetry has a narrative style that gives the reader a storyline, a day in the life of a normal everyday occurrence, a microscope on the smallest details of observation.
You may want to consider describing your style through a comparative statement that contrasts your style with that of a well-known artist, perhaps one whom you have admired and/or has been a guiding mentor and influence in your work. For example:
My work uses all of the psyche and aspects of personae, including the shadow self which was more prominent in my earlier career. These days, many read my poetry and see a wit and humor that is influenced by Billy Collins, the former poet laureate.
Another approach would be to relate your style to a well-known movement or school within your artistic discipline—for example, the cubist movement, realism, or postmodernism. It will be interesting to the reader to see how your work flows from or perhaps departs from that movement.
Finally, another way is to think about what you would say to a friend you haven’t seen in many years. How can you explain your work in an accessible manner?
And don’t worry about being baffling, stupendous, and fantastic in this statement; be as real and genuine as you can be. This is a true reflection of you, so make it real!
The requirements ask you to describe the general directions you plan to pursue or specific activities you intend to undertake and to indicate how you plan to focus extended periods of time on your work as an artist. The limit is one page.
Here are a few considerations and ways to approach designing your plan:
* Reflect upon your work and identify gap areas of development. Identify the resources and learning that would help fill these gaps.
* Identify your focus area, whether it is a technique, a new direction, influences, or peer learning.
* Identify the outcomes, what you are trying to produce, and what the result will be at the end of your fellowship period. Remember, many programs allow six to twenty-four months, so think through the full period and back cast.
After you have worked with the above considerations, you are ready to draft your plan. An easy approach is to break it all down chronologically. Here is an example of a plan that involves a photographer who wants to create a forty-year retrospective of his work.
My fellowship plan will extend through a ten-month period. Fifty percent of this will be spent producing new images that will stem from environments and themes of previous work. I will spend five one-month sojourns to the places where some of my work was inspired and have chosen two new environments to push through new ideas.
I will use a digital format solely during this time and through it, capture color and light in new ways, giving my aesthetic an enhanced and evolved quality. Delving into the technical side of digital photography, I will also attend the Fuji Pix Conference in May of this year. Along these lines, I will be enrolled in an S2 Web forum, which allows for a global exchange with fine arts photographers.
The second half of the fellowship will be spent exhibiting in three major venues, with each venue having the opportunity to exhibit and collaborate with design centers in each place. These are for the purpose of hosting master-level workshops.
The fellowship culminates with the production of a retrospective show in the place of my work’s origin, Paris, and in the production of a print book.
The above example is very basic, and although it isn’t jam-packed with activities, it is focused around the specific need of that artist. You must strike a balance between the work shown and what you ask for in your plan. This example is competitive if the work of this photographer has a seasoned and masterful quality about it.
Recalling the levels of artistic development, try to choose and design a plan that reflects where you are in your development. Obviously, in this example, after forty years it is appropriate to think about developing a retrospective of one’s work. Also, in this particular discipline the technical aspects of creating have changed and this photographer is delving into new methods through the use of a digital process.
Of course, this is fictitious but it gives you an idea of how you can approach designing your own plan.
Other Requirements
The final three requirements for this application form are the additional pieces of information: the list of your work samples and two references. These are fairly straightforward, and the only area you need to pay closer attention to is the work sample section. Let’s have a careful look at the example below and what the foundation’s expectations are for presenting your work samples. Note the requirements are very detailed so you must follow directions.
The Work Samples List
The form states, “List your submitted work, following the instructions. Give additional instructions, if appropriate, for presentation of your work to the panel. Please see the guidelines for additional information appropriate to the category in which you are applying.” This just means, depending on your art form, the panel needs help to view it best. You will be sending slides or videotape, as we discussed in the prepping for portfolio section, and here is how this funder requires they be prepared:
Slides: List up to twenty slides with title of piece, date completed, materials used, and dimensions. Please list all works chronologically, beginning with your earliest work. The numbers on the slides must correspond with the numbers on the list.
Videotapes, audiotapes, CDs, and DVDs: List the title of each work, date completed, length (if an excerpt, please note both the length of the excerpt and the total piece), where and when performed, number of performers and names of principal performers, designers, and composers. Be sure tapes and disks are clearly labeled as described in the guidelines. For video and audiotapes, please note cue marks if there is more than one piece on the tape.
Additional materials for traditional and folk artists: For any printed materials showing images of your work, please list the title or description of the piece, date completed, materials used, and dimensions on the reverse. The numbers on the samples must correspond with the numbers on the list.
There you have all of the pieces for this application, along with many helpful hints, a few examples, and a writing exercise. If you stay focused on each section separately and avoid being overwhelmed by all the micro-steps, it really is straightforward. And fairly said, this is a process but you have made a lot of progress and the mystery of it all is gone, given the specifics that I have provided.
ESTIMATING AND CREATING A BUDGET
To estimate and create a budget, I have chosen a basic one, using the Jerome Foundation’s requirements. This is probably a smaller budget than that used for a fellowship applications but it will illustrate how to create budgets. The example here has very basic line items that are the categories for the kinds of costs and items you could encounter in a travel and study venture. The following descriptions clarify each of the line items and the specific way in which these are used in a budget:
* Transportation: This is the cost of an air, train, or bus ticket to get you to your destination. If you are driving yourself, be as exact as possible in estimating the mileage costs. A way to help with this is to use an online calculator through Mapquest or some other Internet travel planner. Then place a quick call to the foundation staff and ask what the accepted per mile reimbursement is, and multiply this by your round-trip mileage. There are standard limits on some of these costs, so trying to get in the range will make your request more competitive.
* Lodging: These are the costs for room and board. Your plans may include a travel package that combines lodging and meals into one price. If yours is a self-designed program, estimate an average cost of a hotel per night; your food costs would come out of your per diem. Go with average, not high or low. Five-star lodging will usually break a budget, so try to make estimates within the grant budget.
* Materials: These are costs related to supplies you will use in the course of implementing your travel and study plan. This does not usually include equipment like computers or software, and any kind of hardware tool. Check with foundations on this, as they are pretty clear about what they allow.
* Fees: These are entrance fees for a conference, workshop, retreat, or whatever the venue you may attend.
* Per diem: This is a per day stipend that compensates you for your time and attendance and is used for the ancillary costs not covered in any of the other line items such as food, taxis, buses, subways, and other daily miscellaneous expenses. Again, be exact and estimate what these costs would actually be. Also, in the same telephone call that you make to the foundation staff, when you inquire about various parts of the application, you can ask what the range is.
Other costs are anything not listed that would pertain to the travel and study plan. Check to see whether phone costs could be included in this and whether you could charge the budget one long-distance call per day.
Sample of Worksheet for Budget
The following is an example of a worksheet to help you create a budget for your project. This is the budget form used with the Jerome Foundation travel and study grant application. Give it a quick review, and begin working on your own budget.
BUDGET: PLEASE BE AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE.
Applicants are not required to secure supplementary funds; however, if personal monies, donations, fellowships, or other grants will be used for the travel and study project, they must be included in this budget.
A Word on Budget Totals
Grant awards have ranges, limits, and set amounts. This is what they will provide, but it doesn’t mean your budget will be the exact amount of the grant. It is highly unlikely that you would draft an authentic budget that would be the exact amount allowed with a funder who has two grant categories, one for $1,500 and the second for $5,000. Creating budgets that conform exactly to the upper or lower levels allowable demonstrates to the funder that you may not be estimating things as they really are, but that you are trying to pad, skimp, or guess on the budget.
Your budget amount could exceed either end of the awards here, and that is why the funder asks whether you have supplementary support or grants. If you have a budget of near $5,000 and you have obtained another small grant of $1,000, it would make your request more competitive because you only need to ask for a $4,000 grant. Sure, the top end allowed is $5,00 but grantors want to fund as many artists as possible. Your ability to understand this and try to get other funding signals to them that you realize they are not the only bank in town.
ONLINE CONSIDERATIONS
As mentioned earlier, there are a few foundations whose entire process is online, but some, like the following, use their Web sites for items such as eligibility worksheets and budget worksheets.
Below are the eligibility questions posed online for the travel and study grant from the Jerome Foundation. These are presented on the Web site as part of the guidelines for grants. It realizes that people scan this information relatively quickly and may miss some of the eligibility description.
Examples of Qualifying Questions from an Online Worksheet
1. Are you a resident of one of the five boroughs of New York City or the State of Minnesota?
2. Are you an emerging creative artist originating work in the following art forms? Dance, literature (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, spoken word), media (film and video), music, theater, visual arts.
3. Do you have a plan to travel somewhere in the country or in the world to study, research and/or seek professional development?
These questions are very straightforward, and as you see there can be no fudging. You are either a resident who is an emerging artist and have a plan for travel and study, or you are not. It is very simple but amazing how many people will apply despite being ineligible.
THE LIFE CYCLE OF APPLYING FOR A GRANT
Before we end this chapter, I want you to see an actual timeline for applying for a fellowship grant. As you will see, the planning and research involved in these is substantial and in this example the entire process nearly took two years’ time. I might add that many of us will have been “thinking” about applying for some time, even years prior to the actual application so the process can be quite long.
Yes, it is a lot of work, and it can be very disappointing if you are not successful in winning the grant. Yet when I think of the process, its depth and the richness I gained in meeting the many people who were very willing to help me, well, that is priceless. After analyzing myself in mid-career, I know more about myself and my abilities. I had reached a milestone in my life, and the application process was a jumping-off point. The final judging process was also enlightening for me, and I felt honored to be part of such a stellar group of people. And even though I didn’t attend Harvard, which was one of the goals of my plan, I met some amazing people, including David Gergen, who has continued to guide and encourage me in my career aspirations.
Some people believe that if you dream of something, it has a chance to happen and can become reality. I believe the process opened me up to thinking about my future in unlimited ways. I wanted to end up more informed and to work with a nongovernmental organization (or nonprofit, as they are called in the United States) in a developing country—and I wanted to write. Fours years later, I find myself doing that and more in Cairo. Getting here via another formal degree and a job didn’t pan out, but the fact that I opened myself up to the ideas made the opportunities more apparent when they did arise. In the world of grants, I have come to understand that even though you may make plans that totally change your life, you do live to breathe another day, even if you do not receive the grant. After all the planning and preparation for a fellowship, you may find yourself in a completely different place relative to your vision and future. That is the wonder of the journey and some of what life holds; you can try again.
There you have it! All of the necessary application information and exercises have helped you complete or at least start your own application. Before you move on to the next chapter where we look at public grant applications, don’t forget these simple and helpful hints.
THE GRANTS ZONE
Drafting one grant application can give you enough information to draft a second or a third.
Funders want grant applications that are creative but fit within formats that prescribe specific directions.
Don’t get nervous or give up because the instructions for applying for a grant seem long-winded. Give yourself enough time to do the work properly and you will enjoy the outcome and success of having written your very own application.
BOARD PET PEEVES
Applicants who use the “mass mailing” approach in sending out applications basically copy the information for one to send to another. I know I’ve said that you can transport sections from one grant application to another, but the difference is that you use some information and customize it to the next application. Sections in applications, like the artist statement, may not change that much, so you can reuse them, but other pieces will need to be adapted.
Receiving applications where the grantseeker has not followed the directions related to page limits, font size, or word counts.
Prospective applicants who don’t make good use of informational meetings hosted by funders.