Arts Council England's Developing Your Creative Practice Grant
Last week I heard that I was being awarded a grant by Arts Council England, as part of their Developing Your Creative Practice fund!
Applications are currently open for the next round of funding (until September 5th 2021) so I wanted to write a little post to share my experience for anyone thinking of applying for this, or future, rounds. First of all, I’ll just be clear that these grants are only for individual artists living in England, who intend on using the money for activities within England. There are other grants available (at the time of writing) for group projects. The fund is also not to buy equipment or pay for studio rent, but to allow artists an extended time of personal development and creative exploration.
I built my project proposal (you have to design a period of development with a defined beginning and end) around giving myself the time and tools to develop my voice as an author/illustrator of picture books. So I budgeted for specialist mentoring, courses, and time to spend solely on my own projects (which usually get pushed aside in favour of client work). My period of development will peak with a trip to Bologna book fair 2022, followed by some reflection time to consolidate what I learned.
If all that sounds well considered, it is, but when I started my application I didn’t have a clue where to begin. That’s where Cai Burton came in. I already knew him a bit, and when I heard he’d been successful at getting this grant I asked him if he’d talk over my ideas with me. It was with his help, along with a bunch of other resources that my plan took shape over the course of a couple of weeks. So try not to be too daunted by the prospect, the hardest bit is getting started and maintaining self belief. I don’t think the Arts Council expect the applications to be prize winning literature - we’re artists after all - so being clear and to the point is more important than using lots of fancy words.
If you want to know more about the DYCP grants, sign up for Cai’s zoom workshops on 17th of August. That’ll give you everything you need to get started. You can find them HERE and also HERE.
I’ll leave you with my own top tips for making a DYCP application.
Remember that this money already exists and the Arts Council WANT to dish it out. In your application, give them as few reasons as possible to reject you rather than trying to convince them you’re worthy.
Be as SPECIFIC as possible in your application. Research thoroughly, and plan exactly what courses/workshops/books/events/classes you will invest in to develop your craft. Give prices and times. If you have a backup or Covid plan, tell them.
Employ others. If you need others to help you (i.e mentors, training, outsourcing), plan to pay them a fair wage and factor this into your budget
Employ yourself, don’t work for free. If you want to spend time working on something, calculate an hourly wage and pay yourself for your time. The Arts Council don’t want artists to be exploited.
Carefully read the aims of the DYCP programme and clearly show how your proposal addresses those points. ACE have been allocated this money by the government and need to justify how they use it, so make their job easier by telling them how your project meets their funding outcomes.
The period of development should be self contained within a year. Don’t ask for money for something that will extend beyond that year (i.e studio rent). You need to demonstrate a tangible finish to the project and what you expect to have achieved by that point because successful applicants are required to complete a report at the end of the project timeline.
HELPFUL RESOURCES:
Cai Burton’s Zoom Worksops:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/164481672109
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/164482504599
Library of previously successful applications:
https://www.thewhitepube.co.uk/fundinglibrary
DYCP Application Template:
https://www.the-uncultured.com/blog/october-2020-dycp-updated-template
Session Notes from a previous DYCP workshop:
https://www.the-hale.com/single-post/dycp-session-notes-17-05-21