Arts Development Funding (2015)

Arts Development Slide

In my previous post, I was considering the skills that an artist needed to learn to operate in a way that was akin to a small business. I have mulled over this point and come to the conclusion that if we were to ask ‘Does an artist need to operate like a small business?’, the answer could be ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Maybe’.

In short, it all depends on how an emerging Fine Art artist wishes to make their living. Here are the options I've noted so far:

1. If you’d asked your tutors you may have been told, as I was, to get a full-time job and make your art in the evenings and weekends. As a degree student I was disappointed by that suggestion. It seemed to reduce our graduate efforts to the same level as a self-taught artist (and some of those are excellent), effectively making the degree merely three years of negotiating how to obtain a piece of paper with the university’s crest on it. However, some thinking suggests that getting a really dull job will leave your mind to be fully creative in your time off, without the worry of how you’ll pay the bills. 
2. If you've observed graduates working in arts admin and gallery jobs, you’d have seen the concept of portfolio working in action,  a strategy which requires you to fit your art projects around various part-time arts jobs. Working for arts bodies suggests that you’d be making valuable contacts all the while but you may risk get pigeon-holed as a technician or education officer, rather than as a practicing artist.
3. It seems to me that this leaves one other option, supposing you haven’t got a trust fund, an agent/manager, patron or a relative with deep pockets. That option is to make your own opportunities including looking for your own funding.  That may be a necessity anyway even if, as the Guerrilla Girls [1] might have put it, you have escaped the art world with your four free-lance jobs, since your income may still not stretch to a studio of your own and related expenses. So, the way I see it, once you start getting into the habit of organising your own events, promoting, selling and funding your own work, you effectively need the same skills as any other small business person.

Arts and Culture Development Day (June 2015)

In early June, Milton Keynes Council arranged for an ‘Arts and Culture Development Day’ with Arts Council England [2]. There had been a similar event last year but this time the format was different, apparently because Milton Keynes arts grant funding applications had been less successful than usual, which was a concern for ACE and the MK Council arts team.

This was a free event “For artists, arts organisations and those who use the arts in their work. Come and join us for talks, advice and discussion on the development of arts and culture in Milton Keynes. The event will include advice on developing successful funding applications as well as a chance to hear more (and have your say!) on arts and culture opportunities in Milton Keynes. “

As usual I made lengthy notes but I’ll stick to the key points in this post. Lucy Bedford* has also allowed me to share the event slides, which I have put in the cloud here. [3]

Key points from my notes:

• Council resources - Lucy Bedford*, in MK council's arts and heritage team, now has 10 years of experience of arts properties, arts strategy, development and monitoring grants, so she’s an important source of local help. Likewise, if you’re outside MK then it’ll be worth checking what arts officers may be able to offer at your local council.
• Creating Your Project – Aim to explain your project on one side of A4, in a jargon-free way. Identifying opportunities to collaborate with other groups and projects in England gets you extra brownie points.
• Do Your Research – Get information on what’s happening in your field of interest locally and nationally.
• Needs Assessment - Look for an identified need for your arts project in your local area. This information may come from a local funding organisation’s report, the council’s arts & heritage strategy or from looking through ACE papers and research (e.g. the latest Arts Council Plan in the Advice & Guidance section of their website).
• Funding – Build in other sources of funding, such as ticket sales and donations, as an ACE grant alone will not cover all your costs and you’ll be expected to show 10% match funding (which may be ‘in kind’ offers of space for example). Other grant funders may require individual artists to work with an organisation, so look for partners to put in partnership bids.
• Partners – Aim to do work that is mutually beneficial, e.g. running workshops for the host organisation and sharing expertise.
• Timescale – Project managing your time is very important. Allow 3 to 6 months to bring in the funding. Your event timescale should include workshops and other events in your project, such as reporting back to your funder, rather than just the final outcome.
• Artistic Quality – ACE are looking for this quality in your arts projects. ACE need to know a) about relevant artistic work, experience and achievement; b) who’s involved and the quality of mentors and arts supports. Your executive summary should be about 100 words and is best written like the conclusion to an essay.
• Public Engagement – Who will engage with your activity, how will they engage, how will you measure it and who is your target audience? Note that any research and development events you run can provide data for future funded events, so keep records of results throughout.

Footnotes

[1] The Guerrilla Girls – conscience of the art world
http://www.guerrillagirls.com/posters/advantages.shtml
http://www.guerrillagirls.com/info/owa/owa.shtml
[2] Arts Council England – Funding
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/browse-advice-and-guidance/great-art-and-culture-everyone
[3] MK Council slides from the Arts and Culture Development Day