As you grow as an artist, you may start thinking how you can you get to the next level.
I discovered a whole world in the grant world as an artist and it has consistently brought over 100k+ in to forward my career as an artist.
There is support for being an artist and accessing some of this support may be from applying to some grants. Grants are available to artists who want to access help from the government, foundations, and more.
Many grants help you in advancing your career as an artist.
Some of these grants include:
- Advancing your education as an artist
- Research
- Mentorship
- Marketing
- Personal Development
- Travel
- Exhibits
- relief
- Purchase things to advance your career
This is to name a few that I have ran across that I have run into, applied, and also got awarded.
There are a few grants you want to be on the look out for. These are local grants, provincial grants, and national grants. Sometimes you will run across International grants as well that will help you as an artist.
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How to Apply for Grants
There isn’t really a school for grant writing, but I think there should be.
I learned through major trail and error and found every YouTube video that I could find on the subject. They are not very fun videos to watch but it really did help me going through the videos.
I learned a lot from applying to 100s of grants and failing. Maybe that is something you have to do, just to get use to the process before you start winning.
But here is the process I found.
Many grants nowadays are just answering questions and/or fill in the blank forms. Before it use to be where you had to write a whole proposal on your own, but now it’s a lot easier.
They will ask about who you are, what you are trying to accomplish, and how you will report your results.
If you can have a clear idea about these 3 sections, you will have a good chance of winning the grant.
Grant Writing Secrets
A lot of successful people begin with the end in mind.
That means work backwards. What is the final result that you want, then work backwards from there to articulate how you will make it to this end result.
For example)
My end result is to create a new Powwow Dance regalia that I can use as an artist.
Now that I know my end result, I need to fill in the missing pieces.
These would be:
- How much will it cost
- Who will help make it
- What materials will I need
- Will I need mentorship for this, and if so, who?
- Will travel be needed
- Will I have to order, and if so, where?
- Why do I need a new regalia
- What colors
- How will it help me as an artist
I come up with all the questions I need for the grant to articulate as clear as I can to the grant and does it even align with the grant I am applying for.
Beginning with the end in mind, helps the whole process a lot easier.
Copy and Paste Grant Formula
After writing a few grants, you will start to see that many of the questions repeat themselves in other grants.
What you want to do is find out which questions are common.
Instead of writing over and over again.
Create a swipe file where you have these questions already answered on a Google Docs. Now when you get these questions, you can literally copy and paste your same answers to save you massive amounts of time applying to these grants.
This will help you apply to many more grants a lot quicker than you thought you could.
Get in Good With the People
For every grant you apply for, there is a program officer that is looking over that particular grant.
Now it’s not their job to pick who wins the grant, but it’s their job to help you apply for the grant and make it a lot easier if you get stuck on a question or need an extension on a deadline.
Become friends with the program officer. Email them, call them, and meet them if possible.
Connect with the program officer to a point where they know who you are. Get them to look over your application along the way and before you submit it.
That is literally what they are there for.
Once they like what you are about to submit, It’s time to submit it.
Don’t wait for the results. Start finding new grants and keep applying. All this is money waiting on the table for you to use to advance your career as an artist.
Is There a Secret Grant Language?
I use to think there was a secret grant language that you needed to use when applying for grants.
The secret is this:
You need to write what it is you are trying to do, in a way that whoever is reading it, will understand what they are reading.
Does your idea come across confusing?
If it does….then you need to rewrite it so it’s simplier.
No need for big academic words to make yourself look smarter….even if you are.
Ask yourself this question…..
Can Homer Simpson read this and understand it?
If so….you are on the right track.
You want your idea to be very simple to read, easy to understand, and show that you can implement what it is you are trying to do if they decide to help you with the grant.
Trial and Error Grant Writing
Now this is a lot like riding a bike.
I can give you all the pointers and things I’ve learned over the years about grant writing, but you ain’t going to truly learn without doing it yourself.
Like riding a bike. You have to try. You have to get on the bike and start peddling. You may wipe out a few times, but you get up and try and try again.
Eventually you will ride the bike like a champion. You will be able to ride almost any bike, once you know the fundamentals.
Same thing with grant writing.
How to Find Grants to Apply For
I got a few secrets on how to find grants. Do these and you will so many grants to apply for.
Social media Grant Finder Secret formula
All the social media platforms will show more of what you engage in. If you like silly funny reel videos, the social media platform will continue to feed you more of this. The reason they do this is because they want you to stay on their platform.
You want to use this to your advantage.
Search as much as you can on the social media platforms about “artist grants”, “art foundations”, “Your City + grants”.
Now you want to engage with everything that is relevant to you. Like the post, share the post, comment on the post. Find as many as you can and engage with all of them.
The more time you do this, the more the platform itself (TikTok, Snap, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram) will show you more of that same content.
Now on your feed, you will see a lot of grants being released, that are open, and other people who also apply for grants.
Literally, the social media platform can be gamed to your advantage.
Search Google For Grants
The next thing you want to do is do a search on the search engines.
Search google using these terms:
“Artist Grants”
“Artist Grants + Your City”
“Your Province/State Artist grants”
“Artist Foundations”
“Artist Foundation Grants + Your City”
Doing this will help you find a whole world of grants to apply for. Open up a separate Google Doc and start writing down the website address, the grant details, deadline, and the amount for the grant. You want to keep track of the grants available so you can go back later and apply to the ones that look/feel promising.
Double Up Tactic
When you go to these websites that are posting artist grants, look for their social media.
Many of these organizations that give grants also have social media handles. If they do, go visit their socials and interact and engage with all their posts.
The more you engage with their posts, the more they will show their content when they post again on their social medias.
This will always keep you up to date with new grants coming out.
Now it’s time for you to go out there and start getting grants for yourself as an artist.
