Fundraising for Creative Practice
On Fridays I have been attending a fund-raising course for the creative industries run by City University and given by Anne Engel. The highlight of the afternoon was a talk from a group called Campbell Works - they are based in Hackney, London and run a series of interesting projects from their Gallery. Their work was very participatory and imaginative. They illustrated the advice we had been given that grant projects can be helped by creating useful partnerships. For example, one of their projects was for local children which used an old car engine for art projects and collaborated with local mechanics. Campbell Works art gallery
It was interesting to hear that they had set up as a Community Interest Company - a new form of Ltd Company set up for organisations that are working in the public interest but not quite charities.
Other tips were to divide projects up into segments and try and get grants for individuals parts of the project. They suggested dividing overheads between projects - so if a project ran for 2 months, put 2 months of administration costs in the application. Applications should be written in plain and simple English so that they could be understood easily by those assessors who were speed reading a huge pile of applications.
Hilary Renwich from Lambeth Council gave a very good introduction into what and how a local coundcil might fund. She emphasised that an important resource is the local Council for Voluntary Services - for example, Southwark's is SAVO. She indicated the importance of getting to know your funder - their policies, the local councillors and officers, their web site; the need for partnerships, and the need to be 'Value for Money' and to be able to deliver outputs that are important to the Council. Opportunities include festivals and summer activities. She listed the important areas for Councils - obviously social inclusion, and indicated that the present climate which was turning against 'Art for Art's Sake' towards Constructive Arts. In Education the philosophy was 'Every Child Matters'; youth matters, and entitlement for everyone.
We had a session researching possible grant giving bodies and these are the ones I found which might be useful:
Association of London Government
Gulbenkian Foundation
Bridge House Trust
Awards for All
Wellcome Trust
It was interesting to hear that they had set up as a Community Interest Company - a new form of Ltd Company set up for organisations that are working in the public interest but not quite charities.
Other tips were to divide projects up into segments and try and get grants for individuals parts of the project. They suggested dividing overheads between projects - so if a project ran for 2 months, put 2 months of administration costs in the application. Applications should be written in plain and simple English so that they could be understood easily by those assessors who were speed reading a huge pile of applications.
Hilary Renwich from Lambeth Council gave a very good introduction into what and how a local coundcil might fund. She emphasised that an important resource is the local Council for Voluntary Services - for example, Southwark's is SAVO. She indicated the importance of getting to know your funder - their policies, the local councillors and officers, their web site; the need for partnerships, and the need to be 'Value for Money' and to be able to deliver outputs that are important to the Council. Opportunities include festivals and summer activities. She listed the important areas for Councils - obviously social inclusion, and indicated that the present climate which was turning against 'Art for Art's Sake' towards Constructive Arts. In Education the philosophy was 'Every Child Matters'; youth matters, and entitlement for everyone.
We had a session researching possible grant giving bodies and these are the ones I found which might be useful:
Association of London Government
Gulbenkian Foundation
Bridge House Trust
Awards for All
Wellcome Trust
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