..because we can
ArtStart
I just handed in an application for an ArtStart grant this morning. It's a newish grant so not many people know about it, but it's a pretty good one because it's so broad. It's an Australia Council grant but it's not a grant for making artwork like most grants are. It's better to think of it as a business grant for artists.
It's for people graduating from an art course this year or who've graduated within the last three years, and who want to be professional artists. You get up to $10,000: up to half can be for equipment; the rest can be for training, promotion, studio rent, business costs, travel for residencies, fees for mentorships etc etc. Like I said: it's broad. They don't care much what you're going to do, they mostly care that you've thought through how you might professionalise your practice.
They can give out up to 150 of these grants each time, and there are two rounds a year. One closes today, the next is in September. Both Kit Webster and Que Nguyen from this course got one last year.
The application asks seven questions, and you get 10,000 characters (about 2,000 words) to answer the whole thing:
- What are your 3 most significant artistic achievements of the last 3 years?
- What are your goals as a professional artist in the next 5 years?
- What are the key activities you’ll need to undertake to achieve these goals?
- Which of these activities would you undertake in the next 12 months with your ArtStart grant?
- How would the activities you propose in questions 4 assist you in establishing a professional art practice and why are they important?
- How will you measure the success of activities you would undertake in the next 12 months?
- Please provide an estimate of the income you plan to earn from your arts practice over the 12 months of the ArtStart grant.
Apart from that you submit a simple budget saying how you'll use the money and three letters of recommendation from teachers or peers.
(If you were smart you could do a whole bunch of this while doing your Professional Practice assignment in third year.. just a thought.)
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Lizzie on -
hey Mike. When is the one in Sept? I might go for that. A little unprepared for this one.. Thanks for the heads up!
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Pulsford on -
Here's a better link: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/grants/artstart
Actually it's October 4th, not September: my mistake.
And yeah, it takes a while to write the application! I didn't start until a week or two ago and it's been a solid effort since then, mostly making sure each part of the application connected up well to the other bits. So plans make sense in terms of goals, and the budget makes sense in terms of plans etc.
The main thing you want to do ahead of time is organise letters of support. Because pretty much anyone you'd want to recommend you is going to be busy doing stuff.. :)
Lizzie said:hey Mike. When is the one in Sept? I might go for that. A little unprepared for this one.. Thanks for the heads up!
-
Permalink Reply by Lizzie on
-
Yeah...Umm, Phil, would you mind dashing me off a reference when you're back from that glacier...and pop it in your nearest express post box? ;)
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Pulsford on
-
About
© 2010 Created by Michael Pulsford
Powered by 
.
