Some Random Advice from Mirabee on Grants, Fellowships, Residencies and Contests

Hi everyone,



Lately I have been getting a lot of mail—actually, I always get a lot of mail—and much of it the last month has been about some of the same things so I thought I would just post a list of some FAQs that keep ending up in my inbox. It is almost September, after all, and Sept. 15th is a big date for application deadlines. October is the big month for Fulbright deadlines.



Before I go into that though, a reminder, if you write me at:

mirabartok@yahoo.com, please make sure you check ALL my FAQs before writing, okay?

Here is the FAQ link for applying for grants and Fellowships: http://miraslist.blogspot.com/2009/07/faqs-grants.html

Here's the link for residencies, art colonies and retreats: http://miraslist.blogspot.com/2009/09/faqs-residencies-artist-colonies.html

For Fulbright Awards: http://miraslist.blogspot.com/2009/04/fubright-grants-inside-scoop.html



Okay, on to those random questions of yours:



1. HELP ME PLEASE! I am desperate! I need a grant right now! Can I apply for a grant that would start next month?



No. For most grants or large fellowships you must apply nine months to a year in advance. However, if you need emergency funding, check my sidebar on the right hand side for some links to emergency funding organizations.

Also--PLEASE DO NOT SOUND DESPERATE in your application. No foundation wants to give money to people who sound like victims. It is better to present yourself as a resourceful person. Tell them how many other places you are applying to and what you are doing to get out of your unfortunate situation.



2. If I write a nice letter to you, asking you to help me find a grant or a special residency, will you help me?



Nope. PLEASE DO THE WORK. I do this for free. I know I am crazy. I get barely any donations. I think I make less than two cents an hour doing this. Actually—not even that much. Basically, I bring you to the water but you have to fish for yourself, okay? There are special circumstances where I do help individuals, like a couple people who have limited internet access because they are living in countries like Iran and China where important sites are censored and blocked from view. Otherwise—do the work yourself.



3. I run a residency (or a grant foundation) and want you to post my deadline announcement. What's the best way to send you info?



NOT in a pdf. NOT in a word doc. Please send a BRIEF announcement in the body of an email to mirabartok@yahoo.com and include deadline date, cost if there is on, stipend or award if there is one, location and something descriptive about the program. Also, which disciplines can apply. And please send me info way in advance. Thanks.



4. I am a poet who is nearly sixty years old (or an artist, composer, etc.) and have been rejected by every place I apply to. Can you help me figure out why?



Sorry—I can't. I just don't have time to critique people's work. I suggest you get involved with some kind of community—writing group, artist critique group, etc. and get feedback that way.



5. What is your opinion about writing contests that charge a fee to submit my piece?



I think some contests are good and some are bad. Here's my opinion, for what it's worth: Look to see what the big prize is. If the entry fee is, say, 10-25 dollars and the biggest prize is only 200 dollars, well, that's pretty bogus to me. That means they are just making money off you. And do they mention who the judge is? ONLY send work to contests if the judge is a reputable LITERARY writer, not some hack and if the contest is run by a literary magazine or a reputable literary online journal. The Council on Literary Magazines and Small Presses (CLMP) helps to set standards for good ethical practices among literary magazines. You can acquire a great list of presses and journals from their site: http://www.clmp.org/about/dir.html.



You can get a great listing of contests that are worth applying to on the Poets & Writers website: www.pw.org. And if you are a writer and don't subscribe to their inexpensive but invaluable magazine, I do believe you are a doody head.



By the way, you can apply this info to art and music and film contests. Just because someone is offering you money out there doesn't mean they are legit.



6. I'm a writer. Some of my friends say I should send my work to literary journals—ones like Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, Yale Review, etc. But I notice that most of those journals don't pay you a cent! They just give you two free copies and publish your work. So why bother?



Good question. Well, here's the long answer: Many great writers started out in those smaller circulation literary magazines. And many acclaimed authors (and I'm talking LITERARY authors here, not the Danielle Steele kind of commercial bestselling blockbuster author) still send pieces to these magazines because they believe in them and they also respect the audience who reads them. That audience really loves great literature and brilliant, exquisite prose. They read the harder books, the ones you actually have to use your brain to read, not your basic page turner. i.e. We are not talking The DaVinci Code, okay? Nothing wrong with that stuff for entertainment but let's face it folks—it's not great literature.



Case in point—an earlier version of one of my chapters from The Memory Palace (which just made the New York Times bestselling list in paperback for next week :-)) was first published in Kenyon Review. And from there, KR submitted it to be in the Best American Essay series where it was mentioned as a notable essay. That stuff means something to agents and editors at larger houses who are looking for literary writers. And it meant a lot to me. You can't put a price tag on that kind of thing. These journals barely limp along financially. It is a labor of love. I used to work at one as an intern and certainly didn't do it for the money. Okay....I'm done ranting now....



A couple last things:



To people who run international residencies and want me to post deadlines: PLEASE have someone check your grammar and spelling. I spend a lot of time rewriting posts that are too hard to understand. PLEASE tell me WHERE you are located exactly. You'd be surprised how many people ask me to post about a residency with no info on what country it is, even on their website.



And, last but not least.....a reminder: if you are looking for a residency in a specific country, please don't write me and ask. Please check out my residency links on my sidebar because the places I list are amazing and you can search for each individual country.



Thanks....and hey, I'm going to bug you guys for donations soon, just so you know. Although my book is doing really well, I haven't made my advance back yet (a long and mysterious process that even I don't completely understand). I will actually run out of money in November with nothing on the horizon. I do this for free. I do not charge you. People say I am insane because I do not ask for a yearly subscription. I don't want to because I believe in a Gift Economy at heart. So pay it forward—send a donation if you can (see my sidebar for information on how to do that) and if you can't, spread some helpful information to a friend.



Thanks...I love you guys.

Mirabee



p.s. I forgot to mention this one:



I DO NOT POST ABOUT CONTESTS, PUBLISHING OR EXHIBITION OPPORTUNTIES, etc. unless they also offer a residency or there is some fellowship involved. So to all you wonderful places asking me to post about your upcoming artist call for an exhibit or for your writing contest, please go to my facebook MIRASLIST page and post it there, okay? If you write a short announcement it will also be tweeted on twitter.



By the way—I really, really try to post residencies that either don't cost money or that offer a stipend or that are pretty inexpensive. So if you send me an announcement for a residency that costs a lot of money, don't be surprised if I don't post it, okay? Thanks.

Interview with Gigi Rosenberg, Author of The Artist’s Guide to Grantwriting

Today I am happy to introduce you to Gigi Rosenberg whose book, The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing: How to Find Funds and Write Foolproof Proposals for the Visual, Literary and Performing Artist is coming out TOMORROW, December 14th, in stores nationwide. I was fortunate to grab her for a few questions before she sets out to promote her book. Gigi Rosenberg is a writer, speaker, and presentation coach. Her writing has been published by Seal Press, The Oregonian, Writer’s Digest, performed at Seattle’s On the Boards, and heard on Oregon Public Radio. As a presentation coach, she draws on her background in writing, visual art, theater, and corporate communications to teach artists and entrepreneurs how to give stellar public presentations.

Gigi, thanks so much for visiting us today. I’d like to start out by asking you to tell us a little about your new book and what motivated you to write it?

Mira: Thanks for having me! I’m a huge fan of your writing, your art, and your blog. I wrote The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing because I couldn’t find a comprehensive and inspiring reference guide as I was looking for and applying for grants and residencies for my own work as a writer. I also realized that -- in my workshops -- a book would be so useful -- students can only absorb so much in a two or three-hour session and it’s great to have a “go-to” book for when you're researching, or finessing, or feeling demoralized by grants, or the business side of being an artist. Also, I grew up in a family of visual artists so as a kid I thought that everybody made their living as an artist! I wrote the book to empower artists and to share what I knew and what I gleaned from dozens of interviews with artists and funders about how to talk about and write about your work so that others want to support it.

In your process of research and writing, did you learn anything new about grant writing that you didn’t know before?

My biggest surprise was realizing that “famous” artists struggle in the same way I do. There’s little difference between the time “before you succeed” and “after you succeed.” I always thought that famous artists had it easier because they’d already “made it.” In fact: every new project is scary. The only difference is that when you’re experienced you might manage the fear better or know that you just have to keep working to move through it. On the subject of grants I realized how many more opportunities there were than I thought there were. I also learned that the most important thing to do is to learn to write about your work as if you didn't create it -- that’s the challenge and that’s why you need other people to help. They can help you find the language to describe what you do and why you want to have money to make it.

I always say that too, that is, write the application as if you were someone else. I think it helps to distance yourself from talking about your work, which is really hard for some people to do. Sometimes it is the weakest link in an application and it should be the strongest, aside from the work itself. What are some of the biggest mistakes you see artists make in grant applications?

The biggest mistake that artists make is that they think grant application reviewers can read minds! Artists don’t realize that a reviewer is likely seeing their work for the first time and not everything will be obvious. Even though it’s hard, an artist has to explain what the project is in detail and why she wants to make it. Reviewers need the artist to connect the dots for them. The second biggest mistake is that artists don’t spend enough time on the work sample -- it must be not only their best work, but well-documented, and related to the grant. Lastly: budgets scare some artists and they don’t make them specific enough so they detail how the money will be spent. Think about it: when you give money away, you want to know how exactly the money is being spent.

I agree. Very good points. For me the budget one hits close to home! Even I have a hard time with the budget component of a grant application and I’ve written dozens of grants. But you get through it and if you don’t know how to do it, you ask someone to help. Sometimes artists are just too afraid to ask other professionals for help. Anyway, would you mind sharing with my readers five very short kernels of wisdom from your book?

What I learned from all the interviews I did is that 1) To win a grant, you have to apply. This may seem so dumb. But it’s true: your chances of winning are guaranteed to be zero if you don’t apply. Successful grant writers don’t let the competition dissuade them. 2) There are times when I’m better off continuing to build my body of work rather than applying for a grant. Preparing a grant application takes time. I have to decide if the time is worth it. 3) I always need an editor even though I’m a writer. 4) I can’t do a great job on a grant application if I don’t give myself enough time. 5) I don’t let one rejection get me down. I stand up again and get back to the work at hand.

You called me a few months back to talk to me about a chapter in your book. Can you tell my readers a little about that chapter and what you learned from writing it and why you think it's important in your book?

I think the chapter you’re referring to is “Stand Out from the Crowd” which is about how to take a good application and make it great. The best advice from that chapter was from you -- which is to write the grant as if you’re writing to a specific person, a friend even, someone waiting to fall in love with your project. If you write to an “institution” you’ll sound so formal and generic that it won’t grab anybody!

What do you hope your readers will get out of reading your book, Gigi?

I want readers to receive three things from the book: practical advice about where to find grants (including subscribing to your blog!), detailed advice on how to write a winning application, and inspiration so they keep applying for opportunities and keep making art. Most artists work solo and the danger of solitude is that you can lose hope. I want readers to have an inspiring and extremely practical reference guide to the world of grants and fundraising! Please let your readers know that they can download an excerpt from the book from the website: www.theartistsguidetograntwriting.com and they can get a free grant writing tip sheet when they sign up for my occasional updates -- which they can unsubscribe from at any time at www.gigirosenberg.com

Mira: Thanks for having me today. I can’t wait to read your memoir. When are you coming to Portland?!

Hah! Good question. I have never been there but plan to go sometime this coming year while I’m on book tour, or at least when the paperback comes out. I’ll let you know! Thanks so much for your time and insight. I look forward to reading your book!

For updates on Gigi’s workshops and to order her book (you can also order through my site as well), go here: http://gigirosenberg.com/book/