Receiving any kind of grant, scholarship, fellowship or award can be an excellent way to achieve your artistic dreams which otherwise may be difficult if not impossible. Receiving a grant can also be a form of recognition for your contribution to your community and/or your art form. Grants can offer financial support for a range of projects (individual or group) or allow artists to take up exciting professional development opportunities locally or overseas.

However, applying for funding, particularly for the first time, can be daunting. Talented, deserving artists can be perturbed by lack of confidence in their abilities, feeling that they are no good at the administrative side of things or at asking for money. But seemingly confusing application forms and processes can be overcome and understood. The important thing to remember is that grants are open to everyone (who is eligible), not just those who are good at paperwork. “You have to be in it to win it”, as they say, and the money usually has to go to someone!

As a musician, I have been fortunate enough to receive various levels of support from a range of organisations over the years that have allowed me to do things that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. I have received scholarships from my university to help me complete my studies, a bursary to pay the fees to play in my local Youth Orchestra, a prize to tour regional Queensland with a chamber music ensemble and numerous grants to attend music festivals, master classes, lessons and tour overseas. It is also worth mentioning that I have missed out on many grants for which I have applied, but that’s the nature of funding and I certainly learnt some important lessons from all applications submitted.

I work for the arts department of a government agency and administer the music grants program. I find it very rewarding to be involved in this process which assists artists to complete exciting projects, such as recordings, performances, festivals, showcases, master classes, workshops and tours. I find it fascinating having been on both sides of the grants process and through my work I have gained a much better appreciation of why funding programs are designed the way they are and how all the steps in the processes work. This article aims to provide some tips for applying for grants, based on my personal and professional experience, which I hope will be useful to anyone embarking on a funding endeavour.

Getting started

Work out what you want to do. This is the most important step as you must be able to articulate a clear goal and describe how and why you want to achieve it. At this stage, consider issues like the level of financial assistance necessary to complete your project. This will help you narrow down your search for a suitable funding source.

Research all possible avenues of funding. Always be on the lookout for new programs (think outside the square – often they will show up where you least expect them) and ask colleagues and friends for suggestions/recommendations. The internet is a very useful tool Morwenna Collett has received a Masters degree, Honours degree and the university medal from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. An experienced flute teache, she enjoys performing contemporary Australian music and playing the entire flute family, including her new bass flute Morwenna is currently working as an Arts Development Officer for a state government arts agency.

Some professional organisations, of which you may be a member, can keep you up to date with the latest offerings (e.g. Artshub and the Music Council of Australia). I keep a database of grants, listing key information such as name of program, organisation, aim of program, funding cap and closing dates. Just because a particular program may not suit your current chosen project, you may wish to do another project down the track for which it would be perfect. Once you have your database or list, work out what funding programs best suit your project (they won’t all match up, I can assure you!). Obtain the relevant application forms and guidelines. It can also be useful to find a list of previous recipients and their projects (often this is downloadable from their website).

Completing your application

Once you have chosen your grants program/s, read through all the documentation (including the criteria) very carefully to make sure you fully understand the aim of the program, entry/eligibility requirements, closing dates and support material required.

Work out your timeframe and allow adequate time to prepare and check your application.

Make contact with the organisation before submitting your application. There should be a contact person whose job it is to answer enquires. This way you can check any questions you need answered and they can ask you to explain anything they think needs further clarification. Many applications I come across struggle with the budget, so if you need help with this, ask! They can also check that you are eligible and will get to know you and be expecting to receive your application. They will usually be busy people, so be mindful of their time and ring with specific questions in mind. Be aware that the staff will not usually be able to read over and check your application for you (and may be restricted to phone contact, with face-to-face meetings not allowed) before you submit – imagine how unfair to others that would be to all the other applicants!

When writing your application, use plain English where possible. Make the application easy to understand and leave no questions unanswered so the assessors’ job is as simple as possible. Most funding programs are very competitive, so you need to think about ways in which to put forward the strongest case. You need to prove to them why your project is worth supporting; e.g. Why should they give you the money above everyone else? Why does the project have to be done this way at this time? Why is this financial assistance vital? If you can’t answer these questions, the assessors certainly won’t be able to!

If possible, ask a trusted friend or colleague to read over your completed application before submission – the more eyes that see it the better. They may be able to offer a different perspective or notice any gaps.

Once your application is complete, double check you have answered everything thoroughly (be comprehensive, but stick to page limits – no need for overkill) and have included relevant (and permissible) support material to strengthen your application. Also, check the closing date carefully – does the application have to be there on that date, or can it just be post-marked by the due date? Label all parts of your application and keep them together neatly.

During the application process

In most cases, once you’ve submitted your application, that’s it. No more information can be added, so make sure you get everything you need together before the closing date.

Most organisations will publish dates by which applicants can expect to be notified of their outcome Write this in your diary and try not to contact the organisation before this date (there will usually be nothing they can tell you). Try to understand the process your application goes through (this should be outlined in the guidelines). At my workplace for example, a standard medium sized grants program notification takes twelve weeks to process. Hundreds of applications are received, which need to be registered, entered into a grants database system, read, short listed, sent to Industry Experts for assessment, moderated and then signed off and approved by many people. Paperwork, such as letters, contracts and outcome reports also need to be generated in this time.

Do not make any financial commitments (based on receiving the grant) to the project at this stage, as there are no guarantees.

Once notified of the results

Always gain feedback if it is available (whether your application was successful, unsuccessful or ineligible). This will certainly help you improve your next grant application and can allow you to understand why you received the result that you got.

If you are successful, start keeping track of everything to do with your project, particularly the budget You will usually need to submit a report on completion. If you are unsuccessful, it is understandable to be disheartened, but remember that very often there are knock backs before success and each rejection is part of the learning process. Also, it does not mean you are a lesser human being! Just because your application was not a high priority for this particular organisation at this particular time doesn’t mean your project won’t be suited to another organisation’s funding program, so don’t give up – where there’s a will, there’s a way!

I hope this has provided you with some things for consideration at each step of the process. Some people do choose to use a professional grant writing service, but it is primarily the

content and idea being assessed and no one knows that better than you. So, if you give it a go you might just surprise yourself. I wish you every success in your future applications!

Useful Funding websites

Australia Council for the Arts www.ozco.gov.au/

Brisbane City Council (Brisbane only) http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Community Funding Centre www.ourcommunity.com.au/funding/funding_main.jsp

Contemporary Music Touring Program www.arts.gov.au/arts/contemporary_music_touring_ program

Festivals Australia www.arts.gov.au/arts/festivals_australia

Gambling Community Benefit Fund www.olgr.qld.gov.au/grants/gcbf/index.shtml

Visions of Australia www.arts.gov.au/arts/visions_of_australia

Jupiters Casino Community Benefit Fund www.olgr.qld.gov.au/grants/JCCBF/index.shtml

Multicultural Affairs Queensland www.multicultural.qld.gov.au/

Pacific Film and Television Commission (PFTC) http://www.pftc.com.au

Playing Australia www.arts.gov.au/arts/playing_australia

Queensland Events Corporation (QEC) http://www.qldevents.com.au

Regional Arts Fund (Commonwealth funding) http://www.qac.org.au

The Foundation For Young Australians http://www.youngaustralians.org

Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship http://www.trust.com.au/philanthropy/awards/marten_ bequest/

Lord Mayors Young and Emerging Artists Fellowships (Brisbane only)

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/ BCC:BASE:504064169:pc=PC_2858

Brian Boek Bursaries http://www.empiretheatre.com.au/index.php?option= com_content&task=blogcategory&id=108&Itemi d=138

PPCA Performers Trust Foundation http://www.ppca.com.au/ppca_trust.htm

Ian Potter Foundation http://www.ianpotter.org.au/

DAAD (for study in Germany) http://www.daad.de/deutschland/foerderung/ stipendiendatenbank/00462.en.html

Fulbright (for study in the United States of America) http://www.fulbright.com.au/index.html

Churchill Fellowship http://www.churchilltrust.com.au/

Arts ACT http://www.arts.act.gov.au/

Arts NT http://www.nt.gov.au/dam

Arts Queensland http://www.arts.qld.gov.au/

Arts SA http://www.arts.sa.gov.au/

Arts Tasmania http://www.arts.tas.gov.au/

Arts Victoria http://www.arts.vic.gov.au/

ArtsWA http://www.artswa.wa.gov.au/

Arts Council of New Zealand http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/

Music Council of Australia http://www.mca.org.au/bulletin_funding.php

Community Arts Forum http://www.caf.ie/funding_tips.asp

The Australia Council for the Arts (case studies) http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/case_studies

Radio New Zealand National (interview with funding tips) http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ artsonsunday/20090705

Artsupport Australia http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/philanthropy/ artsupport_australia

Philanthropy Australia http://www.philanthropy.org.au/

Australian Business Arts Foundation http://www.abaf.org.au/

Morwenna Collett has a Masters degree, Honours degree, and the University Medal from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and works as an Arts Development Officer for a government arts agency. An experienced flute teacher, she enjoys performing contemporary Australian music and playing the entire flute family, and plays in the Gold Coast Symphony Orchestra and the Zephyr wind quintet.