| Product: |
Arts Council of England |
| Date: |
04/07/01 (18 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: they fund some of the largest and most important arts events in the country.
Disadvantages: The odds that they will fund your art project is very small.
The Arts Council of England is a body devoted to promoting and supporting arts in the UK. This body distributes governemtn and national lottery money, which means it has a political aspect.
The Arts council of England is both a body in its own right and a focal point for the regional arts boards, with which it is thoroughly entwined. I have some experience of approaching these organisations for funding and support, and will attempt to give you the benefit of my expereinces.
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The structure of Arts councils:
I'll start at the bottom. Your local council will have some funding to promote the arts - usually for community projects and events of benefit to local people. If you run an amateur arts group, your local council may well give you money - something in the hundreds of pounds bracket is possible. At the next level up we have the regional arts councils - these are quite large, my local one covers the whole west midlands.
Regional arts councils have money to fund projects - they only support proffessional artists and more often than not they favour "in the community" projects. most are very political and will have their own agenda. it is well worth getting to know your arts council before you apply for a grant - visit them, ask to meet with them, read their paperwork. Getting a grant is like getting blood out of a stone.
At the top is the Arts Council of England, responible for keeping an eye on the regional councils and for funding large scale projects (for this you can usually read projects in London) Organisations like the Covent Garden Opera House get their money straight from the top.
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Grant application forms.
If you visit the arts council website, you can get some ideas about grants, these may vary at a local level. The forms are long and complicated, they require lots of detail and knowledge. You may also
have to go to an interview. Funding tends to follow political fashions, which can make it very frustrating. Deadlines are tight - thre are two or three times during the year when you can submit, normally it takes them at least 6 weeks to get back to you. After the project they will require you to asses how it went and to give a report. The odds are that you will be dealing with a regional council rather than the actual arts council of England - unless you have a really big project.
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Who gets funded? If you look at the website, you can get some more ideas. Currently, educational art gets funded. Your projectmust be inclusive, accessible, and serving some functional purpose - community building, awareness raising, fitness, communication, edication - that sot of thing. If you cater to minority groups you have a better chance of getting fundered than if your project appeals to middle class white people.
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If you are looking for funding, the only thing I can do now is wish you the very best of luck - funding is haerd to get and you really d have to work for it and be extreemly fortunate.
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