Application Support Guide

This is an example for a funding application. In this article we look at what a funding application is and examples of what you can ask for. The neurodivergent brain is varied and wide, yet it can be tricky for many of us to fully understand how to ask for money. Particularly when our brains work so fast that we often don’t have time to wait for funding and just set out to do it!

When I set about to write this, I realised that this is a perfect example for when I should ask for funding to write this Guide! However, because there are so many deadlines looming, I want to make sure more neurodivergent artists feel supported to apply! Don’t hold it off any longer, your practice is worthy of support!

This has been written in such a way that it is accessible for neurodivergent artists and has been written by a neurodivergent artist, Elinor Rowlands.

Please note:

Magical Women is run by a neurodivergent artist. She has made this available for free to support the ND community. If you’d like 1:1 arts mentoring or art psychotherapy with her, this is separate and costs money until she herself has funding to offer reduced mentoring sessions:

If you’d like to donate to this Guide, you can do so here:

Let’s begin!

Always read the application link before making any assumptions, they will always clearly outline what they do and don’t fund. For this exercise, I have used what the Artists Network funds and I have simplified each one to make it more accessible to a neurodivergent artist’s way of thinking. For future funding applications you could use the wording in this guide to help you.

1) What can be funded.

This means you can apply for money to pay for the following things:

This is the actual list in the Artists Network bursary list. I have simplified it under each bullet point to help you identify what activity you might like to apply to be covered by funding.

• Studio or workshop rent

So, most neurodivergent artists cannot access other spaces or studios due to communication and interaction barriers. Many neurodivergent artists work from home (like I do, because of my communication/interaction and also travel barriers) however, for those of you who may have a studio space or workshop space or would like to rent somewhere this is what you can put down in your application to ask for money to cover. Depending on how much it is, if it’s the only thing you want covered, you can ask for up to the maximum amount for several months or even a year.

If you work from home, but still require funding costs like support to pay the bills or even your own rent at home, this is important too and you can ask for that.

What you can write:

“I would like to apply for funding to cover the rent of my workshop/home studio/artist studio at (name of studio). The cost of the studio is XYZ per month. I would like to apply for 4 months of rent. (here you explain why you need 4 months). “

• Outgoings such as mortgage or rent

So this is where you can apply for money to cover your own mortgage or rent especially during a difficult time where you may have been affected by Covid19 or the lockdowns, you might have lost your job and for whatever reason you might not get benefits. You can still apply for funding if you get benefits.

What you can say:

“Covid19 has meant that I lost my job. I used to work as a gallery assistant. Covid19 also meant that a few clients also lost their jobs and so I lost commissions and funding. I would like to apply for financial support to cover 6 months of my mortgage payments which are XYZ per month. This would greatly help me get back on my feet, and I will set out with an action plan to secure new clients/customers or work with new organisations”

• Lost income such as cancelled contracts for future work

So, I was jumping a few steps ahead above and had mentioned losing clients or customers - Covid19 affected many of us - and losing income from cancelled contracts for work is a massive deal for artists. Even if this was just 1 commission for £100 - that’s still a big deal for you and your practice. Using the neurotypical way of speaking, use the language they provide you already in this list.

“Due to Covid19 I have lost income such as cancelled contracts for future work. This has had a significant negative impact on my ability to pay rent and my expenses and I have gotten behind on my mortgage payments/bills/rent.”

• Time to rethink/recreate your creative space

So many Neurodivergent artists have NO IDEA that you can apply for funding simply so you can spend time to paint and be creative! YES YOU CAN.

“I need funding so that I can have some time to rethink and recreate my creative space. I normally paint in the kitchen on the floor, but now that I have had several commissions, I have realised I need a bigger space to create. I have found a local artists’ studio (name/place) who is offering me this space free of charge, but I will need funding to cover my travel there and back, my lunches and also the time it takes to rethink my creative practice and space.”

• Research and Development

So here, this is something that comes so so so naturally to neurodivergent artists that we never consider that we can ask for funding to cover our time to do research, develop ideas, test out, play and experiment. Yes this can be covered by money! This means photoopying, printing, getting Zines made, or anything you need when testing out ideas with people or by yourself, access to libraries, events and even meetings with other artists can be covered.

Printing is usually between £50-100

Museum or archives days out - you can decide how much you would pay yourself either by the hour or by the day. A good figure is to look at how long you have been practising as an artist. The Artists Union and Artists’ Network websites have some great information on how much you should pay yourself.

As an example, you can choose to pay yourself between £10-25 per hour, and most people usually pay themselves as an artist £125 for half a day and £200 -250 per day.

This means when you’re in a museum, or a library and doing the research, you are paying yourself to do that from the funding. How many days do you think you’ll need? If it’s 4 days, write that down, then work out how much you’d like to be paid. If that’s 4 days @ £200/day then you’re asking for £800 to research in museums and libraries. Make sure to name the libraries and museums you’re going to and explain what you’re going to be doing in them.

For example, “I will be visiting the National Archives and going behind the scenes at the National History Museum to work with some scientists and explore my subject interests on parasites. I then want to explore from an artistic viewpoint, how we can show that parasitic matter exists in politics. For this, I will need to spend 1 day at the National History museum, 1 day at the National Archives and then 2 evenings interviewing scientists. This works out to 2 full days @ £200 per day, and 2 half days at £125 per half day.”

• Market development

From google: Market development is a growth strategy that identifies and develops new market segments for current products. A development strategy targets non-buying customers in currently targeted segments. It also targets new customers in new segments. ... Another way is to expand sales through new uses for the product.

So, in this way, Market development is working with a marketing or communications expert to identify how best to sell your artwork.

“I would like to work with Marketing and Communications company name, to research how to best market my art to a diverse audience. For this, they charge £100 per day, or £350 per campaign. I have chosen the campaign because XYZ”

A lot of the below is self explanatory and I hope that the below template will help you to ask for more funding in that area.

Write: “ (Bullet point name below) is essential to my development as an artist because I need to identify ways in which to present my work better and develop relationships with (art organisations/customers/clients) and meet the demand I am currently experiencing and it is currently a bit overwhelming. Having the necessary support at this time means I can (then explain why one of the bullet points below will transform your practice.”

Think of why one of the activities below will be essential to your art practice.

- Why is it so important to your art practice?

- How will it move you forward in your art practice?

- What if you could access one of these activities, how would it help you?

• Online skills development/courses

• Website development as a way to present your work

• Portfolio development

• Professional memberships

• Tools for business development in relation to your creative practice

• Expert consultations (e.g. for business development, modelling, planning associated with your practice)

• Learning new skills through professional training, courses, peer-to-peer learning with visual arts or non-arts experts

• Mentoring, coaching or curatorial feedback

• Networking with artists, galleries, organisations or other groups of interest

• Visiting national conferences, biennials, exhibitions, organisations, cities or any other specific location or event relevant to your practice.

2) Next, in an application form they will often have little boxes for you to fill in the questions - it is always advisable to do this as a word document, in google docs, or in notes first, just in case anything goes wrong and you lose all your work.

For example, from the A-N funding form:

How to apply

Applications are submitted via an online application form.

Please read the Further information and Application guidance below, before starting your application.

We advise you to first write your application offline and to then transfer your answers to the online form. Please note that you will not be sent a copy of your submitted application, therefore we encourage you to save your own copy offline.

Always read the guidance first and always write a rough draft. Get someone you know to read your rough draft before you submit so you know you have answered the questions properly.

3) Okay this part is going to be simplified too:

(In the A-N form) You will be asked to provide:

• Your contact details

This means your full name (first and surname), your telephone number, your email and sometimes your home address.

• Your a-n membership number (if you are not an a-n member, you can still apply for a bursary if you are based in England and are an artist or freelancer working in the visual arts)

Your membership number if you have one. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have one.

• Confirmation of whether you made an application to a-n Artists Bursaries 2021: Time Space Money or Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice or National Lottery Project Grants programmes within the past 12 months (January 2021 – January 2022 inclusive) and whether they were successful

Just say Yes or No. If you have never heard of this before then your answer is “No.”

• Your area of visual arts practice

Do you paint? Do you make art digitally? With sound? With film? Here are some examples you can use to answer this question:

Painting, Pottery, Crafts, Digital Artist, Performance Artist, Sound Artist, Video Artist, Community Artist, Dance and Movement, Drawing, Sculpture, Textiles, Mixed media Artist, Photographer, Collage, Pastels, Screenprinter, Printing, text based artist

Using the above as examples select one or more.

• A short overview of your proposed bursary (up to 40 words)

This is a short paragraph summing up what you are asking money for -what activities do you want funded. It’s a good idea to do this one last.

• An outline of your creative practice and/or your current employment circumstances (up to 150 words)

Keep it simple, start with what your art practice involves and how you might make money, or what you spend doing when making art, and then explain whether you are employed, or not, and if you’re not earning much money or if you’re on benefits, you can either state that, or you can also explain that you are a low income artist and rely on benefits so there is not much manoeuvre for you to spend doing the things you want to be doing in your art practice, and then state what those things are.

• A full description of what you propose to use the bursary for (up to 150 words)

Explain in your own words what you will be spending the money on. Remember you only have 150 words, so lay it out like this:

-What I’ll be spending the money on.

-Why it’s important to fund this activity. (Even if it’s just space to explore a particular idea, state that).

-How it will affect my art practice and help to succeed your goals.

• Why is this activity critical to your creative practice and/or visual arts profession under the current circumstances related to Covid-19 and the impact of Omicron? How will the activity benefit you in the short and long term? (up to 150 words)

-Explain why it is essential to your visual arts profession. You might be asking for time to create, that’s because when you work your job as a waitress it offers no other time to focus on your art-practice and just 2 months off to attend to your practice will offer you that time to explore a certain question that you need answering through attending to art materials.

You might have been accepted into a group exhibition and it is not based in your town, you might want funding to attend that exhibition and help you network with more people. You might need transport covered, and maybe a friend or supportive person to come with you as you find accessing those spaces difficult by yourself.

• Amount applied for (£500 to £1,500)

  Don’t be afraid to ask for the higher amount - and remember you often have extra funds for access needs too.

• Additional disability access costs (up to £500), if required

  This can cover things like:

  -Transport costs like taxis, or petrol if someone is driving you

  -A support worker - even if this is a friend, it’s someone who understands your access needs.

  -Mentoring - ND mentoring is SUPER different because it’s usually so much more accessible and comes with notes.

  - A BSL interpreter or live captioner etc.

  - Any technology you need to access opportunities or your work.

  - In some circumstances this can include childcare.

• Details on any other sources of income, if applicable (up to 100 words)

  • If you’re in a job, it’s always best to state it but explain where that funding goes to. It might go on childcare for example so it doesn’t cover your costs for making art.

• A detailed breakdown of your expenditure budget

This is the HARDEST thing for a Neurodivergent and puts so many neurodivergent people off funding applications. I have given some examples to help you out.

Look up the Artist’s Union or A-N for artists payment, but as an example, typical half day rates are anything between £100-150 and day rates are usually between £200-250. Then on some occasions, some artists ask for £300 per day but that’s quite high end.

If you are going to be going anywhere to “do work” even if this is to the Neurodivergent artist just generally what you would do anyway - this is paid work for neurotypical artists so you must consider payment for the day.

So if you’re attending meetings, or going to a museum, or library or going for site specific work like walks in woods, or finding a location for your project that is all “doing work” and you need to be paid, so consider putting down half day or full day work.

Then, consider costs for lunch, for things you might need like photocopying, use of printer, notebook, due to your access needs you. might want a technology programme that writes up the notes for you, or you might want a person that writes up your notes for you - their fee might be the same as yours or it might be higher or lower. Find out, ask them in advance of applying, or look up the cost online.

Often they don’t pay for art materials, but will pay for the time and environment/location you need.

Mentoring costs can vary - usually between £25 - 75.

As an arts mentor I charge £45 to individuals and £60 to organisations if they’re paying for the individual. My mentoring sessions to artists include a set of notes typed up. This is because so many neurodivergent people are often forgetful and a set of notes and an action plan is important to them and my fee covers that admin time. People tell me I undersell myself for the work I put in, but I understand the cost of mentoring to people, so I have reduced my fees especially since Covid19.

For Neurodivergent artists who work from home you might want to consider buying a new shed for the garden so you finally have a studio art space to work from, think of what you need for your art practice.

• A list of your most recent solo exhibitions (up to 250 words)

Keep it simple, write up your most recent (2021/22) Name of exhibition, location name, location place name, then date for example: Light and Dark, Kingston Gallery, London, Dec 2021.

If you haven’t had a recent exhibition them explain the gap briefly and then write up your most recent for you (2012) - your argument could be why you need the time and space to get back to your practice and why.

Also, remember the work you’ve been doing at Magical Women - online exhibitions and being published in our publications count!

• A list of your most recent group exhibitions (up to 250 words)

  See above, keep it simple.

• A list of any other key achievements that support your application (up to 250 words)

  Any other awards, funding, bursaries, or any achievements like a showcase on Magical Women for example.

• A list of any relevant work experience (up to 250 words)

  This is very important. Think of your work outside of being an artist, when have you been an organiser? When have you supported a project? Have you got admin experience? What other skills can you bring? You are showing them you will put the funding to good use.

• If you’re a good networker state that, if you’re good at bringing people together or attend groups and other projects, state that. Explain your roles in those organisations or groups.

• A list of your education history (up to 250 words)

  Again, keep this simple:

  What you studied, institute/place of study, dates and location - if you think it’s important you can list any modules you think are important to the application.

• A link to your website, online portfolio or other means of viewing your work online

  • If you don’t have a website, share your instagram or a place where you share your art practice. You might need to make up a page. Wordpress and Wix offer free pages.

• Equal opportunities monitoring information (this information is separated, anonymised and does not form part of the selection process)

  Remember to fill this in - your application won’t count otherwise.

4) The application form will be accessible until 12 noon, Thursday 3 February 2022.

Pay attention to the end date - always try to get the form finished for the day before - so for the 2nd February instead!

5) Pay attention to the support some organisations offer like access support - if you have any problems - contact them and ask - they want to fund diverse individuals - don’t be afraid to reach out! They might also let you choose someone you want to help you with the form and pay that person directly, it’s worth asking!

We regret that we are not able to provide advice on developing individual applications. However, should you need any technical support or have questions about the application requirements, including access requirements, please contact us by email at EmergencyFund@a-n.co.uk