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Apropos of nothing, a little anecdotal thread about grants.
In my adult life, being an enthusiastic participant in both arts and sports, I have applied for grants on behalf of myself, other individuals, small and high profile organisations, in both the arts and sport.
Let me tell you if you haven’t been on the other side of the fence: the hurdles that artists and arts orgs have to jump over for even the tiniest amount of cash are way, way higher than sports clubs.
I haven’t yet seen an application for a sports grant that required an itemised budget including club contribution, for example, when a form for a comparable sized arts grant would absolutely ask for one.
For sport, they usually just ask you to explain in plain English how much you need and what for. If you get the grant, you might have to provide a receipt to show you spent it how you said you would.
Arts grants, however, require you to prove that this tiny contribution to your practice is probably going to result in the most important artwork ever to come out of your field. I’m slightly exaggerating, but that’s how the applications feel.
These are mostly government grants. But not all of them.
Lest this play into that boring, reductive “let’s fund one and not the other” debate of which some people are fond, let me be absolutely clear: this is not about which cultural practice is better/more worthy.
It’s about how our institutions and our culture forces artists to prove their intrinsic value (and thereby their material value), while for sport, that is just assumed. From where I sit, enthusiast of both worlds, that's really bloody unfair.
That’s all, talk amongst yourselves.
That’s all, talk amongst yourselves.
Actually one more thing, an example: the last time I helped an artist with a grant application, it took days to get the thing together.
The last sports grant application I pulled together took me half an hour.
Both were worth less than $10k.
The last sports grant application I pulled together took me half an hour.
Both were worth less than $10k.
