Have you ever applied for a council / goverment arts music grant?

Well if any one has can you tell me how you got on. I rang my local council up today and enquired about one.
The thing is I wrote some music and managed to get it published. My publisher told me we’ve just got our first sale . . bloody great / over the moon etc, best Christmas present I’ve had so far. Yip heeeeeeeeee . .

Anyway , I’d be lying if I told you its an Irish song cos it ain’t . . its actually a song / tune for a brass band . Anybody heard of Grimethorpe brass band? well they are arguebly the best brass band in the world . . I exaggerate not.
The band is based about 5 miles from where I live, (thats Barnsley England by the way,) and so if I could get this band to play my music it would be fantastic, and as well great for the culture and image of the town.
I haven’t actually approached the band yet . . thought I’d do some research first. But I do know they are very busy and I am betting they would want paying to play/perform/record my music . . hence the application for an arts grant.

Well what do you think? Advise/comments/ donations 🙂

Would they really want paying to play / perform your music? Recording I can understand, but surely a band should pay you, if anything? Anyway why not see what happens when you ask - and you could always try another band in the meantime, or get a rough recording of the piece to give the Grimethorpe band on CD so they can decide.

Anyway, best of luck. I know squat about this, so just my 2 euro!

Mark

I too know diddly-squat about this but I imagine the best thing to do would be first to write to the Grimethorpe secretary /inquiries person just asking if you could send them a MS / demo CD. To send unsolicited stuff might just irritate them. But the brass band world may have open competitions for personal compositions, as the traditional music world has, and if so you could try your luck there.

I play for a Brass Band and a composer recently came to one of our concertys and asked if wed like to play his music and basically gave us a load of pieces he had written. were a local youth band hardly the same league as Grimethorpe but is worth a shot going down and having a chat with the MD or posting an exaample of your music. Let us know how it goes.

If it turns out my government has any money left over from nation-building and abstinence-only education for 29-year-olds, I’ll be sure to look into this!

I thought Jeremy might have disallowed this discussion . . but anyway I’ll let everyone know whoose interested what the outcome is . . I’m quite excited at the prospect . . ooohh I just feel like crushing a grape 🙂

Don’t know what it’s like over there, but down here in OZ you need the band to agree to do it (in writing) before you apply for the grant. Also, you need several diferent quotes from studios. Get as much support documentation together as you possibly can. Most Arts councils etc are only too happy to let you know what they want. But remember, they are beaurocrats, and need to be able to justify any money spent. And they usually want you to show exactly how this project will add to the cultural life of the commnity. Check out the guidelines for the different grants available and taylor your submisssion to whatever one you go for.

I am sure Karen Ryan from london lasses has first hand experience in this field contact her for advice on the matter

http://www.londonlasses.net/

Most granting bodies have some sort of guidelines for putting in an application. The big mistake beginner grant applicants make is explaining how worthy their project is artistically, instrinsically, and for the artist…..rather than doing the background research and finding out what the priorities and results are that the granting bodies are looking for….and writing the application that explains that.

You need to explain how your project meets THEIR (the council or government) aims and objectives and will give them results they can measure.

So it’s less about the fact that you write songs for a band….and will be more about how writing these tunes/songs meets the need for educational or skill development in band members, or brings a new audience to the band, or brings about new interest in joining the band or participating in community and cultural life.

There will be key phrases or result areas in the application literature you have to throw back at them. Most funding bodies get more applications than they can possibly fund….and it isn’t the most worthy artistically or musically that’s gonna get the money….it’s the one that helps the government look like its doing something constructive.

Strungup is 100% correct. I write grant applications for a living and also review grants for a state (US) granting body and the primary emphasis is on how the project will benefit the audience. After all, you’re asking for taxpayer’s money, so it’s only fair that the taxpayers benefit. When I write a grant application for a client, I make sure to stress who the audience will be, how they will benefit, and how we will reach out to both existing and new audiences. And when I review applications (no I don’t review my own), I look for the same things.

People, foundations and government bodies don’t give away money for the fun of it, they expect some sort of a return…even if it is an indirect one in the form of helping them reach goals of building particular capacities within a community. So if you’re going to be sucessful asking for money you have to research the funder’s priorities and make sure that they match what you are trying to do.

You also have to make sure that all the players are on board. So if you want a particular band to play your music, you have to establish that they are willing to do that before you ask for the money. In fact, the funding organization may be more willing to channel the grant through the band than through you as an individual. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be paid, just that the band as an organization is considered a more appropriate conduit, particularly if it is incorporated as a non-profit organization.

Also a good piece of advice about grant writing given to me by a local songwriter who has successfully scored grants for about 25 years…..was to give your application a catchy title (much like a song title). If it is witty and pithy, and explains the project…..the committee reviewing applications will remember it.

My first grant application took 8 hours of brainstorming with a very clever and creative thinker (take a bow *thedon*) to articulate a fabulous concept……then about 40 gallons of coffee, 15 re-writes, much agonising, and showing it to everyone and anyone who had knowledge and experience….and sending it off with my blood sweat and tears still all over it. It worked, and in fact the feedback from the granting committee was that it was such a good match against their key result areas….they gave a wink and a nudge and suggested repeating it with some tweaking and re-badging for the following two years.

In my limited experience of this subject these goverment bodies have piles of cash to give away, and are just waiting for the right persons / project to give it to. But your right Kate , I would have to prove in some way that the local community / audience would some how benefit from the exercise wether it be in a cultural or education sence . . ?

How do I do a bowing smilie? 😉

🙂 😲 😀 (Dunno actually!)

I’m happy for ya!

Cheers 🙂 🙂 🙂