Hmmmmm... it seems like in the last month, we have been in a bit of a grant writing treadmill for our ensemble. The are annoying things to do, but a necessary thing given the financial uncertainty of running a music ensemble. In the long term, it would be great to be either independent of grant funding or to have one of the holy grail multi-year structural grants... but we are a small start-up, and so every grant application is a bit of an outside long shot. We have passion and vision, but so do probably every other artistic outfit in the running!
We had some beginner's luck last year... and it showed us that our group and vision was viable, with unexpected support from community, audience, and concert partners. And of course, other musicians who were keen to come and play with us.
However, that little boost of money at the start was a little bit addictive... and it got us thinking about what we could accelerate with a little bit of an injection of grant money.
Now our strength remains the fact that we are husband-wife core team, and everyone else are guests. That means that we can keep our core costs low, and even if we don't invite any guests we can still present a proper concert with the forces of just the two of us. In fact, other groups have mentioned how that is an incredibly enviable position where the core team is fully committed to the group and not being dragged in multiple directions.
I had already received the feedback for a small grant that was NOT successful for our core concert offerings, and I will use that better inform my next application. It does seem like some small tweaks would make it work, but we already made the decision to drop to a contingency plan and launch our 2024 season in the reworked format (postponing the expensive concert to 2025 and using 2024 to buffer up finances for that). We now are taking donations from supporters (crypto or fiat, DM me if you are interested!), with a tax-deductible portal (Australia) for those who are interested. So far, we have received more than we had expected with 1k in tax-deductible donations, and 3.5k in private donations! That is more than enough to know that we will make it easily through the year.
So, this week, both of us are writing up different applications for two different projects... both about different focuses that are dear to our hearts.
My application is to run a larger education/training project in late 2024 or early 2025 for our local university students. They don't have a chance to experience our specialisation of music in their regular classes (aside from the few who do ensemble classes with me... and even then, it is sparse)... and so we are trying to create a project where we can train and expose more of them to our field. We manage to include students in our regular concerts, but taking part in a pedal-to-the-metal professional preparation doesn't leave time for slower explaining of key concepts as well as the time to experiment with them!
Meanwhile, my wife is putting in an application for a regional touring program for 2025. We are planning to present a program of unusual and weird baroque chamber works, alongside courtly Baroque dances in collaboration with a period dancer! Our usual, serious music quality paired with tongue-in-cheek presentation style! If we are selected, then we get put on a list and they will try and piece together a touring schedule from interested venues and towns.
So, regional concerts and education projects... two very important things to us, as they are our way of giving back to the community. As always, we have the contingency plans in case of non-selection or non-success. We are able to run with a smaller and lighter version of the education project... just with fewer guests and less students. And with the regional concerts, we are already putting out our own feelers for near-regional concerts and festivals with a few takers already!
So, grants and funding... we do view them as accelerants instead of critical infrastructure. It is something that has been drummed into me from other founders and by the funding bodies themselves. There are too many groups that receive funding, and "expect" to be entitled funding in further rounds... and that is unrealistic.
But writing these applications and grants is a real slog... I hate it, as I hate writing about myself at the best of times... and I am really not formal in the style of writing either! I have no real idea of what passes as a "good" application, as all our unsuccessful ones weren't deemed as bad either! I guess I can only write like the impassioned maniac that I am when it comes to our group and field... and we can see if that bites or not!
... but after this week, I'm done for a bit. I need a break from this and need to remember how to play music again!
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