Yesterday, I attended a workshop that was directed toward a professional artist who expected that applying for grants would be part of their life as an artist. There was a representative from the Manitoba Art Council, one of the primary sources of artists' grants locally. Then we spent time with a nationally recognized artist who has also practiced in academia. She took us through discussion and exercises on how one writes a grant proposal.
This has lead me to spent a great deal of time since in sorting out in my own mind whether grants will play any part in my artistic practice. The answer is definitely "no" in terms of my own practice, but maybe "yes", relative to the special interest groups I belong to, and strongly support, although any such grant proposals would be directed to other funding bodies. So, probably time well spent.
But the secondary benefit I see is in the writing necessary to support my own involvement in exhibitions, such as a professional c.v., as well as things like artist's statements for specific pieces, and the more general artist's statement one needs in describing their body of work- so so called "elevator piece". This term describing how you would explain what you do to someone you meet in an elevator-the 30 second "this is who I am and what I do" piece.
This is the same person who will be leading a critique session that I will be taking part in on Tuesday. In the past I have found the few such sessions I've attended very stimulating, informative and thought provoking. That sounds trite, but it's true. Now I have something to look forward to, but at the same time, not much time to make sure my artist's statement hits all the marks in terms of the information I received.
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