A Friendly Introduction to Writing Proposals and Grants
Led by Lee Tusman
August 16, 2020
This workshop is a broad and beginner-friendly introduction to writing grant proposals, exhibition proposals, artist-in-residency applications and other forms of professional proposals. In this introduction, we’ll look at a few applications, sources for finding opportunities, and tips on language and style. The goal is to demystify the grant-writing process and demonstrate a basic typical workflow to make writing grants and proposals approachable and easier to do.
The talk will be oriented to artists, game-makers and other creative practitioners.
Method
Today's difficulty level: easier than Ikea instructions. Harder than playing a video game. (Except for Dwarf Fortress. Come back next week!)
Caveats: I am not evaluating your art. I take it for granted that your work is good and that people should see it! See our other workshops to learn varous art/music/game-making skills.
What are grants, proposals, call-for-artists, artist-in-residency applications?
- Call-for-Artists
- Artist-In-Residencies
- Requests for Proposals
- Grants
Where to find them?
- Websites!
- NYFA
- E-ArtNow
- Artists Guide To Computation
- Local Arts Councils (search!)
- Discord/slack groups
- Babycastles
- email lists
- Facebook groups
- Spreadsheets! The Big Artist Opportunity List and The Public Artist Opportunity List
As you start to apply to more, make a spreadsheet or page where you save them, track them. Title, URL, deadline, topic, notes
Read the language of the grant.
Why? Grants/applications are formulas or recipes. This is NOT creative writing. It's technical writing! Think of it like a packing checklist.
Now make sure you answer all of their questions succinctly and to the best of your knowledge.
Selecting Things to apply to
Questions to ask yourself:
- What are they offering?
- Do you qualify?
- Quick aside to say that you can contextualize games as art, but consider your own work's fit and the specific program you are applying to. The truth is that you likely need to be able to contextualize your work with the language of new media/media art to apply to art things! But this depends on the language of what you are applying to.
- Are you interested? Do you want to do the work, and for the amount of time of the grant, and during the time period of the grant?
- What will you get out of it if accepted beyond adding a post to instagram or a line on your resume?
- What research do you need to do?
- Who is judging?
- Who has been selected before, and for what projects, and at what stages in their career?
(Optional): Find partners
Opportunities come from you finding them! Is there a Grant for Libraries to Make Games and you're a game designer? Contact a library and see if they're interested in teaming up!
Pros and Cons of collaborative teams for grants
- PRO: Camaraderie, people to bounce ideas off, and the ability to work with friends
- PRO: Split up the work! Combine your strengths. Activate VOLTRON.
- CON: Same amount of money but split amongst for people?
- CON: Creative differences?
- CON: Communication between members and an institution
- CON: Longterm group projects are hard! - (we could do a separate workshop on how to work on group collaborative projects!)
Writing
As with all other writing: the hardest part is getting started. Here are some tips.
- Just start writing! Sloppy is fine!
- Use a minimalist writing app.
- Try the pomodoro technique.
- Set a timer for how long you want to spend. Don't waste your own time.
- Don't edit yet!
- Use the language of the grant
- Pre-write! Recycle your previous bio, some of your past language, if you have useful text
- Consider the keywords
- Be compelling. What would make their residency/program look really good?
- Make your work timely!
- Contextualize your work.
- Be a great version of yourself. You don't need to be superman. And you shouldn't be a sunday-afternoon painter. Show some ambition but don't fluff.
- It's okay and sometimes helpful to include information on your identity and the context of the work if you feel safe and comfortable doing so
- Budgets: If a range is given, ask for the max or close to the max amount. You are not more attractive for asking for less money. But of course, make sure the budget fits the context of what you're proposing. Look at other budgets. And save your past budgets for the next thing you apply to.
Editing: Cut the fat
- Things that are precious to you are not as interesting to your audience.
- Shorter is usually better!
- Have friends and family members edit (but only if you can accept the criticism)
- There are a million ways to answer things and no one right way!
DO NOT HAVE TYPOS. That's a big GAME OVER.
Submit!
If appropriate, address your application to the right person or group
Keep in mind that there is a degree of chance/randomness and outright personal preferences when it comes to grant/proposal selection. It is up to the whims of deeply flawed humans working with limited time and understanding. In other words, there is lots of luck involved!
Miscellaneous
- Grantwriting is a numbers game. Some things have LOTS of people applying. So be sure to apply to lots of things!
- Apply to things even if you don't think you have enough time, or you don't think that highly of your chances! You may surprise yourself! Or it may help you practice or refine your ideas.
- Don't apply to things that you thing will be too unpleasant to fulfill. Grants have stipulations. Fulfilling a grant is a form of labor, even if it's for your creative practice. Even if you love doing the project, you also have to file paperwork, check in with the organization, do promotional work, documentation, explain your ideas, etc.
- When you are working on applications, you don't need to read and re-read these notes. Just revisit this if it's ever helpful to you. Allow these ideas to seep into your brain or serve as a reference.
- Share your knowledge. Don't hoard opportunities. Dynamic forward motion and community is the key, and is our ultimate goal. Social and cultural capital is not the goal. I forbid you from using this information for that express purpose.