Grant Writing & Glossy Magazines

Just a look at a grant application - tied with a bow - going to my regional Arts Council. It's been placed on the kitchen counter so I remember to deliver it to their office tomorrow morning on my trip to Tucson for other errands.

This particular organization asks for one original and twelve copies. Makes for heavy paper and ink usage. It takes a lot of ink to reprint glossy magazine reviews with good photos. The rewards are there.

However, volunteers who sit on grant review committees are as busy, every day, as the rest of us. They may just skim the text paperwork. Good, national magazine reprints with good images catch their attention and cause them to really read the entire grant application.

I guess I'm telling you all this so that you can start looking for your own grants. It's part of the business of doing the business end of being an artist. Almost every decent sized city, region, and state has a tax supported organization that exists to encourage the arts within their locality. It is well worth your while to seek out those organizations. You have already paid for their services through your property taxes or through your rent.

Many have good tutorials - sometime they are free - sometimes they are $10. I know that my regional Arts Council really helped me learn about computers before I owned one. They taught me about copyright law. They provided a good, in city, exhibition venue as well as rural traveling venues. They gave approval and encouragement in the days when I did not know if I really was an artist.

Now, about that national magazine reprint business. Keep your eyes and ears open. There are always good writers around. Some of them may be found under the radar writing freelance articles for local newspapers. The ones who ask good questions and listen well to an artist's answers are the writers who know how to query national magazines. If you have a good story to tell, they can find a publication that will pay them a pittance to write it. If they ask you for 300 dpi digital images - usually eight for the editor to choose from - say, "Yes, sir!" smartly and get them to him in twenty four hours. It will pay you big dividends.

It not only gives you a good resume line it gives you good publicity for your portfolio. It also gives you a scan for a printable copy that you can keep on your computer and print out for any inquiry or grant application.