Arts Council Funding Tips

Last night I attended a presentation at the NSW Writers' Centre given by two staff from Australia Council for the Arts (Willow Drummond and Catherine Gray) . Basically, the presentation didn't tell those present anything new - all of the information is available on the website (www.autsraliacouncil.gov.au) but the speakers did provide a few tips for successful applications:

• Check the website


• Phone the office and ask questions about the suitability of your project


• Apply online


• Use plain English - keep it simple


• Consider - Why this? Why now? Why me? Sincerity and passion works well


• Present a reasonably balance budget


• Provide appropriate support materials in the genre you are applying for funding for


• Don't apply last minute - applications take time


• Just because you are unsuccessful in one round, doesn't mean you will be unsuccessful in the future


• Look at the videos of successful applicants on the website. Some successful applicants also write blogs with tips


• Look at what has been funded in the past and consider if your project is a good fit


• Don't give up - keep on with your arts project regardless!

Kafka trial

I have just finished reading a rather interesting essay in the London Review of Books about the Kafka trial. Kafka left unpublished and published papers to Max Brod with the explicit instructions that they should be destroyed at his death. Brod didn't do this and instead gave them to Esther Hoffe, his secretary, with whom he had a relationship with. On Esther's death, the papers passed to her daughters, Eva and Ruth. Eva and Ruth are proposing to sell the papers - unsighted - by weight. People can bid on a kilogram of paper and then later discover what they have bought. Never mind a pound of flesh, what about a pound of paper. What do you think?