Tips for Writing an Arts Grant
Non-expert advice from the perspective of an arts grant panelist
Have you ever benefitted from an arts grant? If you’re reading this, you probably have! Maybe you have thought about applying for an arts grant, but don’t know where to begin. Or you have applied in the past, but the result was either no funding or minimal funding. Here’s my take on how funding works, and who gets funded. I write from the perspective of a person who has served as an arts grant panelist.
Who benefits from arts grants?
You do!
As a grant panelist it is my job to recommend how money earmarked for the arts is re-granted to nonprofit arts organizations. After a thorough review process, our recommendations are sent on to government officials who make the final call. Funds are then distributed for the benefit of community members, and follow-up reviews ensure that funded projects are achieving their intended outcomes.
We have helped fund ballets, cultural heritage centers, senior centers, veterans organizations, immigrant community organizations, arts festivals, museums, teen theater troupes, puppeteers, and brass bands.
If you’ve visited a community center for a visual arts class or a dance lesson, participated in community choir or theater, attended an arts festival—chances are your activity was at least partially grant-funded.
Tips for writing an arts grant
Grant applicants are competing for limited amounts of money; only the best applications are funded! Here are my top tips for a successful application. I’ve based these on my experience as a grant panelist, and on observations made by other panelists.
Be thorough
Incomplete or carelessly written applications automatically have a strike against them. Double-check the application before submitting, and have someone else check as well. Find and correct obvious mistakes.
Be clear, succinct, and direct. No fluff!
When a panelist has fifteen or twenty applications to read through (some as long as small novels), and a deadline, they are going to start skimming. So, edit down to your best material. Skip repetitive and “fluffy” language. Clear language communicates what your organization does and helps it stand out; vague and lofty statements make your organization sound like all the others.
Make professional bios short and relevant.
Give a few examples of your best press material, not reams of it. Twenty choral program PDFs is not more helpful than five.
Edit narrative answers to include just essential information; make the application pleasurable to read, rather than a slog.
Don’t dodge questions—panelists will notice! Instead be truthful, explain shortcomings, and describe plans to remedy them.
I would consider an answer like this to be very clear, succinct, and direct: “We are a small but mighty visual arts center and gallery located in the heart of Any-town. Our audience is made up primarily of middle-to-upper income residents of Any-town, with a free after school arts program serving our lower income families, and free and reduced tuition classes for lower income, adult learners. We are requesting $10000 in funds to support the hiring of two part-time teachers for the after school program.” This tells me what the organization does, who they serve, and exactly what they want.
Serve the community
How does your organization serve a diverse audience?
If you struggle with answering this question, consider: What kinds of people comprise the community in the geographic area (and/or online reach) of your organization? How can your organization make itself welcoming and relevant to different kinds of people in the community? Are you succeeding in this service, and documenting evidence? If not, why not start now?
ADA Compliance
Does your organization have a wheelchair? Get in it, and partner up with a coworker for the day!
Try to navigate your facilities and enjoy the offerings as a person in a wheelchair, or pushing a wheelchair. Swap places and take notes. What was harder to access? Were there parts of the facilities that were unreachable? Do you have amenities to help patrons with other disabilities to enjoy the arts (for example, intellectual disabilities, deafness, blindness)?
Speaking from personal experience, since my mother had a stroke in 2023 she has had to rely on a family member, a wheelchair, and cane to get around. Common obstacles include uneven or broken sidewalks sections, steep hills, limited parking, lack of wheelchair ramps or elevators, pathways overgrown with plants, inoperable or missing automatic door openers. (View her story in the video below.)
Not every arts experience can be accommodated for every person, but there are reasonable measures that can (and should) be taken. Organizations that are proactive about ADA compliance get better funding.
Show us your audience
Show us imagery and videos of audiences engaged in your arts offerings (not just photos of the performers, or rooms with a couple people standing around, or photos of facilities). It’s easy to give a written description of who your audience is, but can you prove it?
The best solution to the challenge that I’ve seen is: short videos showing exit interviews with audience members or gallery attendees. The people are enthused, thoughtful, affected by the experience. Videos like this prove to me who the benefitting audience is, and how they feel about the organization or program.
Be proactive
I prefer reading about what will be accomplished. Phrases like “we hope to” or “someday in the future we may” or “we are considering the possibility of”—while maybe truthful—when overused, can sound passive, vague, and noncommittal.
Can you commit to achievable goals, have a reasonable plan, and state what you will accomplish within a certain timeline?
Place longer term goals into your long-range plan, rather than implying that these are being addressed right now.
Give credit
Have you been funded by the agency before? Is there a requirement to include funding credit to that agency, and did you remember to place their insignia on your printed materials and website?
They will notice if it’s missing!
Conclusion
Arts grants are given to organizations that serve a clear need to the community, with the diversity of those communities in mind.
The best kind of arts grant application clearly and succinctly states what the organization does, proves who benefits from the program, and describes what will be accomplished with the requested funds. There is a track record that supports these claims.
Have you ever applied for a grant or reviewed grant applications? What tips do you have? Are you aware of any arts programs that you have enjoyed, which grant funding has helped make possible?
Speaking of funding and track records… please become a funding member of this newsletter. It costs less than a coffee per month! And during November, it’s 20% off.
Loved the video of your mom!