Access Arts Achievement Award

Presentation for Access Arts members July 2015

Award application basics

• Read the guidelines before you start completing the application.

• Be clear about the nature of your proposal.

• Make sure you are eligible to apply.

• Ensure you demonstrate the outputs, outcomes and impact of your proposal.

• Make sure your budget balances.

• Be concise and articulate and make your application stand out for all the right reasons.

• Ensure you address the selection criteria.

• Answer every part of the application.

• Seek help before you complete the application.

• Read through all available material – guidelines, application, FAQs, media releases

– Ensure you are eligible

– Ensure you meet the selection criteria – is this the right funding program for your proposal?

• Consider the support material required

– Do you have a concise easy-to-read resume that clearly captures your artistic career?

– What is the best quality material you have that shows your work?

– Letters of support are optional. If you submit one, make sure it adds value to your application.

– Budget – must be reasonable (have you obtained quotes, estimates) and balanced!

• Is your proposal fully formed and practical?

– A vague idea about what you want to do won’t cut it!

Preparation before starting the application

To be eligible you must answer ‘yes’ to the questions on the first page:

• Are you an emerging or professional artist or arts worker?• Do you identify as experiencing disability?• Do you live in Queensland?• Are you an Australian citizen or permanent resident?• Are you 18 years of age or older?• Are you a current Access Arts member?

Eligibility

• ‘Emerging’ are usually defined as someone who has “...probably practised as a professional artist continually for less than 5 years but who wishes to develop his or her career in their chosen artform”

• ‘professional’ The Australia Council for the Arts has defined a ‘serious, practising professional artist’ in the Don’t Give Up Your Day Job report. “The seriousness is judged in terms of a self-assessed commitment to artistic work as a major aspect of the artist’s working life, even if arts-related work is not the main source of income. The practising aspect means that we confine our attention to artists currently working or seeking to work in their chosen occupation. The term professional is intended to indicate a degree of training, experience or talent and a manner of working that qualify artists to have their work judged against the highest professional standards of the relevant occupation”.

• People experiencing disability include “those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others” United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006.

Eligibility - definitions

• The award is about:

providing funding for Queensland artists, artsworkers and producers with disability

working in any artform to create, develop, present, produce, exhibit and/or tour

their work.

• Passion shines through good applications!

• What have you always wanted to do in your professional career but you have

lacked funds to achieve it?

• What is it about your proposal that will make the judges take notice? It is

innovative? Is it something that will challenge you as an artist? It is of a high

quality?

• You need to know exactly what you will do with the funding.

Framing your idea

Project innovation• Does the project show a new, innovative and creative approach to

arts and culture?• Does the project demonstrate high levels of artistic and creative

practice?Development opportunities• How does the project contribute to your professional development?• How will it enhance your career opportunities?• Will it build your confidence as an arts practitioner?Project viability• Is the project achievable?• Is it likely to be completed within your timetable?• Is the budget realistic?

Understanding the selection criteria

You must submit:• A resume (max 2 pages) which should include details of your career experience to date for you work as an artist, artsworker or producer. Make sure the document is well set out and easy to read. This is your opportunity to promote your work as an artist to the judges.• One category of examples of your work (URLs are preferred). Up to:

– 5 pages of written material (published writing, research or press)–10 printed photos or images of your recent work–10 minutes of video or sound recording or your recent work–3 website addresses linking to your recent work

•This should be the best examples of your work. It should also be recent and of good quality e.g high resolution images.Optional material:• Up to 3 one-page letters of support and/or confirmations or collaborators or past collaborators. Make sure any letter you submit adds value. Do not submit any other material! Maximum file size for emails is 15MB

Support material

• Ensure your budget balances!• Income plus award request should equal total expenditure.• You can apply for 100% of project expenses but must be $10,000 or less.• The budget demonstrates whether your project is viable and achievable.• Judges look to the budget to determine whether you understand what is involved in completing your project and have a good idea of the costs involved.• Use the template provided as it will be easy for the judges to assess.• Start with the expenditure side first and then work out what income you need to complete the project. Not all items will be relevant.• Source estimates or quotes for any expenditure items.• The value of in-kind contributions should be reasonable.• Any estimates of earned income must be realistic.

Budget

Budget Template

INCOME $ EXPENDITURE $

Earned Income (if applicable) Salaries, Fees, Allowances Earned Income TOTAL $ - Salaries, Fees, Allowances TOTAL $ - Other Income (if applicable) Production Costs Other Income TOTAL $ - Production Costs TOTAL $ - Applicants Contribution (if applicable) Marketing Costs Applicants Contribution TOTAL $ - Marketing TOTAL $ - Sponsorship & In-kind Contributions (if applicable) Administration Costs

Sponsorship & In-Kind Contributions TOTAL $ - Administration Costs TOTAL $ -

TOTAL INCOME $ - TOTAL EXPENDITURE $ -

Amount Requested from Award $ 0 (being: Total Expenditure less Total Income)

TOTAL INCOME + AWARD $ - = TOTAL EXPENDITURE $ -

• Ensure your details are correct and the ABN (if you provide one) is registered in your name.• Only lodge an application if you can answer ‘yes’ to each eligibility question.• Note that email is the preferred method of lodgement. • Ensure your application is received by midnight on 3 August 2015.

Application form – page 1Details and eligibility

• Ensure your details are correct and the ABN (if you provide one) is registered in your name.• Only lodge an application if you can answer ‘yes’ to each eligibility question.• Note that email is the preferred method of lodgement. • Ensure your application is received by midnight on 3 August 2015.

Application form – page 1Details and eligibility

• Ensure the start date is on or after 1 January 2016 and the end date is on or before 31 December 2016. The timeframe needs to be achievable.• Don’t forget to insert the amount you are seeking.• Your current and past artistic career in one page or 5 minutes for video or audio recordings. This needs to tell your story eloquently and concisely. Include details of prizes or awards and any other achievements.• The judges will be looking for an applicant for whom the prize will make a difference to their career. How will this investment help you achieve your career goals? What are your career goals? Half a page or 3 to 5 minutes of video or audio should be your target.• Are you goals inspirational? Will the judges be excited by what you want to achieve?

Application form – page 2Project details and your career

• In this section you need to describe what you propose to do with the award if you are successful. It needs to be detailed so the judges have a clear understanding of your proposal and be about one page or 5 minutes for video or audio recordings.• An articulate, well-thought through proposal will be essential.• If you have partners or mentors involved then you need to complete the second section where you describe who will be involved. Who are they, why you have chosen them and what they will do?

Application form – page 3Activities and partners

Essential support material:• Resume – Maximum of 2 pages• Examples of your work• Budget

Optional:•Letters of support (max of 3 one page letters)

Make sure you stick to the size limits. Nothing makes a judge more irritable than having to read through lots of unhelpful material!

Application form – page 4Support material

• While you shouldn’t be fearful of completing the budget, budgets seem to cause a lot of grief!• If you find a budget too confusing, seek assistance from somebody with budgeting experience.• Use a calculator to check it balances especially after any change you make.• Get somebody who understands budgeting in your artform to check it over.• Budgets are best estimates and Access Arts understands that adjustments may need to be made. •Note – there are some exclusions. It can’t be used for:

– any academic course of study–any competition or fundraising for an entity–retrospective expenses

Application form – page 5Budget

• Read the certification carefully! It is a legal document.• I have read and abide by the Access Arts Achievement Award Guidelines• The statements in this application are true and correct to the best of my

knowledge• The supporting material is my own work or the work of the artists named in

this application• If successful, I consent to Access Arts releasing information about my

project to the media, and I understand I may be contacted directly by them• If successful, I will acknowledge Access Arts and the Access Arts

Achievement Award in all promotional material relating to the project, using the Access Arts logo where appropriate

• If successful, I will provide Access Arts with a report on the funded project within twelve weeks of the finish date and financial acquittal

Application form – page 6Certification

Checklist

Make sure you have completed the application form in full. Do you have all the mandatory support material – resume, an example of your work and budget? Does your budget balance?Have you completed the certification? Have you complied with all size limits?Has it been correctly addressed?

What are the other funding options?

• Government grants and funding programs• Philanthropic funds and donations• Corporate sponsorship• Crowdfunding• Earned income/enterprise• Access Arts SAFE Fund – fast grants of up to $1,000. For

more information contact Tim Brown, Project Coordinator, on Tim@accessarts.org.au or phone on 3254 9585 (local call 1300 663 651).

• Australia Council for the Arts http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants

– Next grant round closes 1 September 2015

• Arts Queensland http://www.arts.qld.gov.au/funding/index.html

– Projects and Program Fund

– Individuals Fund

• Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) http://www.arts.qld.gov.au/funding/radf.html

– Partnership between Arts Queensland and regional councils

– Creative Sparks is the Brisbane City Council equivalent http://

www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community/grants-awards/arts-history/creative-sparks-program

• Other state and federal department – education, health, infrastructure etc

• business.gov.au

Government Funding

• There are options for accessing philanthropic support and donations even if an individual e.g. Australian Cultural Fund. https://www.creativepartnershipsaustralia.org.au/how-we-can-help/australia-cultural-fund/

• Look to the website of philanthropic funds and see what types of projects they are interested in funding. Some offer funding to individuals.– Myer Foundation http://www.myerfoundation.org.au/ – Churchill fellowships http://www.churchilltrust.com.au/

• Understand the expectations of philanthropists and donors.

Philanthropic Funds & Donations

• Corporate sponsors expect a return on investment – what are you providing?– Are you in an area the company is working in or hoping to work?– Will the project help the company with its image as a good corporate citizen?

• Do your research – which companies are active in your area?– What industries operate in the vicinity?

• Exploit your networks – who do you know in the target company?• Do your homework – which corporations support arts and culture?

– Look on the websites of arts and cultural organisations and see who supports them

• Put your best foot forward – do you have a pithy, concise one-pager?• Find out about the company – what are its values and future goals?

– Companies especially resource/infrastructure one will have a wealth of useful information on their websites such social impact management plans, mission statements etc

– Are there companies with an historical connection to your area?

Corporate sponsorship

• Increasingly important way to raise money

• 56% success rate means it is more successful than most grant programs

• Tips to run campaigns available on AQ website http

://www.arts.qld.gov.au/blog/index.php/tips-on-running-a-crowdfunding-cam

paign

/

• You control the campaign including timeframe and amount requested

• Pozible has raised over $15 million since 2010

• Look at the successful campaigns

• Make sure you exploit your networks

Crowdfunding

Earned income/enterprise

• What assets do you have that could generate income?

• Do you have any intellectual property that could be exploited?

• Do you have activities that could be commercialised?

• Consider QuickstART Loan – Foresters http://foresters.org.au/community-finance-for-individuals/#quickstart-loan . A no interest loan scheme for individual artists and creative practitioners; ideal for project and professional development

AQ also has officers with expertise who are able to provide guidance & advicePhone: (07) 3034 4016

Creative Partnerships Australia - http://www.creativepartnershipsaustralia.org.au/ Australia Council for the Arts - http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/ Artslink - http://artslinkqld.com.au/

Access to available information