Why I want you to apply for grants.

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Applying for grants, getting rejected, seeing certain artists get (seemingly) all the awards/validation: it can be frustrating. I tell every artist I know to apply for grants. Not because I think they will get them, but because I think their work is deserving of at least trying and I believe it is important that they become familiar with the gatekeeping organizations and models that act as career boosters for artists. There are problems with the grant model and I want artists to engage with the paths available to them so they can be a part of creating better systems and alternatives.

The pool of applicants needs to grow, and available funding and support of artists needs to grow. These are big challenges, but by getting more artists involved in the system so they can critique with an understanding of where it’s failing, maybe we can start to make some changes.

Here are some numbers that you might find illuminating:

  • 10 out of the 14 Los Angeles Artadia awardees have also received the CCF Fellowship (71%)

  • Only 9 out of 31 LA Artadia awardees and finalists have not also received the CCF Fellowship (29%)

  • in 2018, only (approximately) 350 artists applied to the CCF Fellowship

  • In 2018, only 230 artists applied to the Davyd Whaley Foundation Artist Grant

  • The Harpo Foundation artist grant only had around 1600 applicants this past year. It is a NATIONAL open call grant opportunity

Why do so many of the same artists received all the grants?

This is complicated. And involves systemic problems of validation begetting more opportunity, as well as institutional priorities. However….

…it is a fact that will you will not get the grant if you don’t apply.

So how do we generate more accessible opportunities for artists? How can we develop models for widely distributed financial support? What other resources can we cultivate that don’t leave artists grasping at straws? How do we either improve or add to the grant model that creates a cycle of high hopes that usually ends in discouragement and lowered confidence? Maybe by flooding these foundations and government organizations with applications, the inundation of requests will reflect more accurately the extent of the need.

I am thinking about these things, and I hope you will engage with these questions too.

Apply for those grants - you may get one! But even if you don’t, let’s look at what is working and what is failing and come up with additional models of support for artists.