Should you apply for that grant or residency? How do you know if you should do it? Or if it’ll be a huge waste of time?
As an artist, grant and residency opportunities always look SO filled with possibility, and honestly much needed money, so when they land in your email or a friend forwards you a post on one that seems like a good fit, it can bring up conflicted feelings about if you should drop what you’re doing to go for it.
Usually, this is because it feels like if you don’t apply for the grant, you’re missing out on a chance to get what feels like free money. And if you apply for it, you know that you’ll need to go through the very specific, detailed application process which usually isn’t all that fun.
So you can feel great about applying or not applying for a grant or residency, I’m sharing a few tips to help with the decision making process. This will make it less overwhelming and get rid of the FOMO factor so you can honestly feel good about what you decide to do.
When To Go For a Grant or Residency…
When you feel like the grant is 80-90% in alignment with you and your work. If you read the prospectus and your work sounds perfect for it, it may be worth going for it.
When you don’t have much else going project-, exhibition- or client-wise. This means you have time to do the application and time to schedule doing the work that’s required if you win the grant or to attend the residency.
When you really want it on your C.V. Yep, if you’d like to have the street cred that being awarded a grant or residency can offer, and it feels like it’s a fit for your work, go for it. Getting awards like these are definitely positive and show that you have your stuff together enough to do what it takes to apply and follow through with the award. It gives your artist resume a certain amount of professionalism to have won a grant or residency.
You want your work to be seen by the selection committee. While it is one way to get your work in front of a set of specific jurors that you’d really like to see your work, I’d give less weight to this element of your decision. This is because you can often find a way to directly approach people that you’d like to share your work with that’s outside of this process.
Building Community. If you want to connect with other artists and people in the art world, then submitting for a residency, and even a grant, can be a good way to meet and build relationships with people who are outside of your immediate circle.
When NOT To Go For a Grant or Residency…
When you already have a good number of sales happening. If you’ve got a lot of commissions going and sales are coming in through exhibitions and through your outreach efforts, submitting for a grant or residency will likely pull you away from the good things you already have going. Stopping everything else to take the time to apply for a grant or residency can mean that you lose momentum with the good sales you already have. And when it comes time to deliver the final project that’s associated with most grants and residencies, it’ll pull you out of your regular art business
If it feels draining. And it might. If it does, for whatever reason, listen to that and take it into consideration.
The end exhibition or project doesn’t excite you. Up to a year or more after the adrenaline rush from winning has worn off, you usually need to create a project, series of work or a collection of things, including artist talks as a part of your agreement when you win a grant or residency. If that work didn’t sound absolutely exciting when you applied, it’s going to feel like a slog to see it through to completion months later. And if you bail on doing it, you will have tarnished your good reputation.
If you don’t have time. If you already have a lot of obligations in your life, say a full time job, your art career, kids and a needy dog, is applying for a grant or residency really the best use of your already limited time? Can you sell enough work to bring in the same amount of income that you’d get from the opportunity?
If your work isn’t a fit. Be honest with yourself. Does your work fit the brief? If yes, by how much? If it’s hard for you to see how it’d be a match, then it’ll be even more difficult for a selection committee to see it.
A supportive framework for opportunities like these…
If you feel like you’re always tempted to apply for more grants or residencies than you need to, this idea/question is for you to ponder and edit so it fits your needs... Can you decide now that you’ll only commit to a limited number of applications this year? Maybe one per quarter, or two per year? That way you can still apply but only for the very best opportunities, that are the best fit for your specific art and life needs.
What are your deciding factors for going after grants and residencies? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear where you land on this.
If you’re ready to start submitting applications for grants and proposals, download my top 10 Ways You Can Give Your Proposal A Fighting Chance and Increase Your Odds of Being Chosen checklist here.
Cheers,
Kate