Lesson 2: The Big Questions

Introduction

One of the greatest challenges when applying for funding is answering the narrative questions where you must prove to the funding body that your project is a good fit for them - it is no easy task. Whoever the funding body may be, you need to ensure that your answers align with their own aims as well.

In Lesson 1: Search for Funding you learnt how to search for a funding opportunity that’s right for you. This included assessing whether the aims of a funding body are a good match for you and asking the right questions before getting started on an application.

In Lesson 2, we will consider how to answer 4 of the biggest questions asked in almost all funding applications:

  1. What is Your Project

  2. Why is Your Project Needed

  3. Who is Your Audience

  4. What is Your Budget 

Tip: Before starting to answer questions in an application, make sure you review the entire application first. If the questions are in an online form or pdf, copy and paste them into a Word doc and consider how many questions you need to answer, the word count for each question, the supporting documents you need to submit, and the submission deadline.

Before you begin, download your Working Document

We also recommend reviewing Course 001 and the answers you provided to questions in the Working Documents from that Course.

Module 1: What is Your Project

In all funding applications, you will be asked to answer questions about your project or idea either as a written entry or video.

Luckily, Course 001: Create a Project has given you all the tools to answer these questions. The challenge is to condense them into short concise answers, while incorporating the aims of the funding body as well.

Tip: Before answering a question on your project, have the funding bodies aims on hand so you can always reflect on them as you work through the application.

To get started, read A Guide to Applying for an ACE Project Grant

It’s focused on Arts Council England grants but is applicable across most disciplines and funding applications.

Start thinking about your project brief from Course 001, Lesson 2: Structure Your Project.

  • What is the project or idea?

  • Why does it need to happen?

  • Who is it for?

  • Where is it taking place?

  • When will it take place?

Then, watch 2 Tips when applying for Art Grants below.

Example

The following answer is an extract from a successful funding application submitted by COMMUN to Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts Access and Participation Fund. To apply, COMMUN was asked to write a summary of their project. 

The aims of the Fund are:

  1. Change in and across the system where a wider range of arts and cultural organisations, practitioners and artists are able to undertake meaningful and high quality work with different communities.

  2. Shifting power where communities are empowered to make decisions about their cultural lives and able to access the resources and partnerships they need in order to pursue these ambitions.

  3. Diverse and inclusive sector where the arts and cultural system is more diverse and inclusive in its leadership and workforce with many more people in these roles coming from communities which currently experience inequality and discrimination.

  4. Evidence and learning where the arts and cultural sector – organisations, practitioners, funders and others – continually shares learning, is rigorous and reflective in evaluation and appreciates the value of collective understanding and improvement.

COMMUN’s answer (extract):

COMMUN is a combined arts organisation with a focus on community building for emerging and mid-career Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists. Through collaboration and inter-disciplinary practices such as digital arts, music, film and performance, COMMUN creates engaging experiences that centre around meaningful themes to achieve a greater understanding for cultural diversity.

Research indicates that the arts sector has systemically excluded those from BIPOC communities. Covid-19 has only amplified inequalities, with recent reports demonstrating that BIPOC communities are not only among the most at-risk of contracting and dying from the virus but are among those left most vulnerable to the economic impact of lockdown and economic shortfall to follow. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) underlines this disparity, with UK unemployment levels in late-2020 being 40% for black people between 16-24 as opposed to 12% of white people. Covid-19 has shrunk the UK arts sector by 30%[1] and lockdown has left those in insecure employment, often BIPOC communities, without sufficient support.[2] With 30% of the workforce self-employed, there is a great risk of emerging and mid-career artists being forced to abandon their careers for other jobs.

Over the next 2.5 years, COMMUN will establish a multifaceted regional framework to advocate for higher BIPOC opportunities and employment in the UK arts sector. Centred around 3 regions and 5 cities in the country, our framework will offer short and long-term opportunities for artists from BIPOC communities to develop their skills, build connections with peers and creative partners, and create awareness for their practices. Ultimately, the COMMUN framework will form a network of strong, intertwined communities that empower marginalised artists across the UK to collaborate and create works while amplifying their stories to achieve a greater acceptance and understanding within society.

The COMMUN framework will comprise 3 primary components:

1. Combined Arts Programme – A series of residencies across 5 UK cities that bring together emerging to mid-career BIPOC artists, mentors, and creative partners to explore intersectional issues that exist within their communities (such as race, gender, class, and ethnicity) which translate into live performance evenings for the general public

2. Film Interviews – A collection of short film interviews that feature BIPOC voices from 5 UK cities who share their personal stories and creative practices. Film interviews will be featured on COMMUN’s new website that offers original interviews, concerts, and short films to bring audiences closer to the experiences of BIPOC artists

3. Online Courses – A series of courses aimed to provide equal access to establishing and sustaining a career in the arts formulated through a series of design-thinking chats with artists and partners

Engaging in creative collaborations and educational discourse between artists, partners, and the general public will be instrumental to all components of the framework, achieved through:

• Engaging 250+ emerging to mid-career BIPOC artists over the course of 2.5 years

• Engaging 10 mid-career project mentors and local project managers from our community to lead the programme

• Engaging 10 creative partners and 5 venue partners to host and actualise key activities

• Leading design-thinking chats with artists and partners to develop our courses in a simple and relatable way

• Engaging the general public through attending the performances from our Combined Arts Programme, subscribing to watch our collection of Film Interviews, and achieving a wider audience awareness of 1.5M digital impressions through promotional campaigns and social media engagements over the course of 2.5 years

Read through COMMUN’s excerpt and then ask yourself:

-        Do I know the What, Why, Who, Where, and When?

-        Does it address the aims of the funding body?

Tip: Most funding bodies will provide a guidance document with their funding application questions. Ensure you read these while answering the application questions as they will guide you as to what information to provide.

Your Turn

The following questions are taken from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants. Have a go at answering them within the given word count – this will be useful for any funding opportunity you apply for.

Q1. Summarise your project (300 characters).

Q2. Give a more detailed description of your project (800 characters).

(answer on your downloaded Working Document)

Module 2: Why is Your Project Needed?

Now that you’ve answered the big question on what your project is, it is time to think about why your project is needed. No matter what funding body you apply to, they will most likely all ask this question and why you are the right person to address the need.

To start thinking about it, read ‘3 what’s and a why’ by Manchester Community Central.

In Course 001, Lesson 1: Define Your Project, you began developing why your project is needed. Now, it’s time to really develop the ‘why’ to strength your argument. Remember, in your response you must also keep the funding body’s aims in mind. In doing so, consider the following:

• What is the need?

• What evidence is there for this need? (Are there published reports, articles, research?)

• How will your project address the need?

• What impact will your project ultimately have?

• How does the need fit with the funding body’s own interests?

Tip: Including statistics, figures, and / or references in your response will help strengthen your argument.

Example

Let’s return to the example we saw in Module 1 of this course (see above). This time, think about:

• What is the need?

• What evidence has been provided that there is a need?

• How does the project address that need?

• What impact will the project ultimately have?

• How does project align with the aims of the funding body?

Your Turn

The following questions are taken from The Rayne Foundation’s grant application. Have a go answering the questions keeping in mind the above.

Q3. Please provide an outline of the issue you want to address and why you are the best placed to respond to this need.

Q4. What practical difference do you want to make and how do you propose to do this?

(answer on your downloaded Working Document)

Module 3: Who is Your Audience?

You have now begun the process of answering the big questions on your project, well done! Next, we turn our attention to another big question on most funding applications: Who is Your Audience? The majority of funding bodies want to know who your target audience is and how you will get them to engage with your project.

To start thinking about your audience, consider the following questions from Arts Council England’s Audience Development and Marketing toolkit.

• Do you have an audience already and, if so, who are they?

• Do you have new activities you want to do? If so, who do you want to reach with these new activities and who could the audience be?

• How is the best way to communicate with your target audience?

• What are the real selling points or benefits you have to offer?

• What is the best location and environment?

• What are your audience objectives? This might include attendance, income from tickets, secondary sales (such as merchandise), or particular audiences (for example, new audiences from a specific area or community). Do you have tactics in place to meet your objectives?

• Are there other people or organisations you could learn from (for example, those who have experience of doing similar things or reaching similar audiences)?

Example

Let’s say you are a collective of young female photographers looking to put on a photography exhibition of your work in Manchester. You have partnered with a gallery space for the exhibition which will last 30 days including an opening evening. You will also host a panel discussion in person at the event which will be live streamed online.

Consider the following questions:

Who is your target audience?

Based on the example provided above, the target audience will be people interested in art and photography and may be familiar with the work of the collective, the gallery, or similar platforms and organisations. They will also have an interest in female artists. They are predominantly based in Manchester and therefore are local to the gallery. As this is a collective of young artists, the target ages are between 18 – 35.

How can your audience interact with the project and how many will?

Based on the above information, we know that the audience can interact with the project in the following ways:

• Attend the exhibition
• Attend the launch party
• Attend the panel discussion (in person and online)

As the exhibition has project partners, you can estimate the audience based on previous exhibitions. In this example, let’s say it is:

• 350 people will attend the exhibition over the course of 30 days
• 150 people will attend the launch party of which;
• 100 people will attend the panel discussion and an additional 50 people will watch the live stream online.

Tip: If you are stuck on how to calculate audience numbers, have a look at people doing similar work to you with a similar sized community. Remember, you can always reach out to others for advice.

How will you reach your audience?

For this question, it is important to consider the behaviours of your target audience. In this example, the target audience are young people between the ages of 18 - 35 who are local to the area. Therefore, you might consider reaching them online and in-person.

Online

●      Posting to social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok)

●      Sending newsletters to the gallery and collective’s mailing lists

●      Posting the event on the website of the collective and the gallery

●      Sending a press release and event artwork to What’s On blogs and media websites to post about it

●      Targeted ads on social media or google

In-person

●      Placing posters in the gallery and around the local area

●      Distributing flyers to related businesses in the local area

●      Word of mouth marketing

Tip: Be honest about your audience size. If you are a new initiative with a small following, be realistic about your audience numbers, be realistic. And remember, if you plan to reach people through targeted ads, ensure you account for this expense in your budget.

Your Turn

Q5. Who is your target audience?

Q6. How can your target audience interact with your project and how many will?

Q7. How will you reach your target audience?

(answer on your downloaded Working Document)

Module 4: Tell us About Your Budget

In the last module of Lesson 2, we look at the final big question: Tell us About Your Budget. All funding bodies will require you to answer questions about your expected income and expenses. It is crucial that you take the time to answer these questions accurately as funders need to know that, if awarded funding, you will be able to manage the funds received responsibly.

In Course 001, Lesson 4: Create a Budget you successfully created a project budget with income and expenses so you are already one step ahead! In this module, we will look at how to answer questions related to your budget within a funding application.

Tip: Funding bodies have different rules related to budgets. Some will only fund a certain percentage of your overall budget while others will only permit a certain amount of the budget to be allocated to management fees (eg. salaries).

To get started, watch Budgets & Narratives for Grants below.

Part 1: Questions on Income and In-Kind Support

Answering questions on income is just as important as those on expenditure. Funding bodies will want to see that you have outlined a clear and diverse income plan for your project. Often, they will want to know that they are not the only supporters of your project and that you have secured other income and / or in-kind support to give your project the best chances for success.

Confirmed or expected income?

The more income and in-kind support you can confirm prior to submitting a funding application to a major funding body, the better! This will demonstrate that you have considered the sustainability of your project through securing diverse income streams, that there is interest in your project from other reputable organisations, and it reduces the burden of relying exclusively on them to cover all of your expenses.

Lingo

Confirmed Income: Any income or in-kind support that you have already secured for the project. For example, if you have been awarded money from a foundation or private donor or you have crowdfunded, this is considered Confirmed Income.

Expected Income: Income that is not confirmed but you expect to receive. For example, if you are hosting an event that is ticketed, any income you receive from selling tickets is considered Expected Income.

Example

Take another look at the Income Sample from Course 001, Lesson 4: Create a Budget (below) and then read the income narrative:

Income - Sample

We have successfully secured £5,160 of confirmed income through private donations for the project. A further £6,273 of in-kind support is confirmed through our venue partners to provide space, technical staff, front of house staff, marketing and production fees for the event.

We expect to receive a total of £2,700 via ticket sales from the event. This is through a target of 300 tickets sold which we will facilitate through advertising & marketing efforts by our organisation and by our venue partners.

Finally, we have submitted 3 funding applications to cover the costs of our remaining expenses; an application for £3000 to the Community Fund’s Adapt Scheme, an application of £5000 to the Heritage Fund’s National Lottery fund, and a larger application of £37,329 to Arts Council England who we have successfully been awarded funding from in the last two years.

Your Turn

Using the income you noted down for your project in Course 001, Lesson 4: Create a Budget answer the following question:

Q8. Consider your income sheet. Note down which items are confirmed and which are expected – where did they come from and how will you ensure expected income is secured?

(answer on your downloaded Working Document)

Part 2: Questions on Expenses

In Course 001, Lesson 4: Create a Budget you outlined your project expenses by organising them into categories such as Travel & Accommodation, Artist Fees, Production Fees, Salaries, In-Kind Support etc.

Most funding bodies will expect you to provide a budget narrative for your expenses to explain how you calculated your costs and ensured they were fair / met market rate(s). In Part 2 of this module, we will break down some of these costs.

Lingo

Budget Narrative: A budget narrative explains or justifies the estimated costs by line item or category in the budget.

Example

Let’s return to our example above:

You are a collective of young female photographers looking to put on a photography exhibition of your work in Manchester. You have partnered with a gallery space for the exhibition which will last 30 days including a launch party and panel discussion.

Below are a few examples of related project expenses for this exhibition. Consider how each line item is justified in the budget narrative according to how it fits into your project and how each cost was calculated.

• Photographer fees: 1 photographer @ £168 per day x 2 days = £336.

1 photographer commissioned to take professional photographs of the exhibition (8 hours total) which includes the launch party (4 hours total), and panel discussion (4 hours total). Day rate based on ‘a-n’ The Artists Information Company’s suggested rates.

• Management fees – project coordinator @ £100 per day x 10 days  = £1000.

Coordinator fees for 1 days (8 hours) work to plan and coordinate the exhibition and panel event. The day rate is based on the Living Wage.

Tip: Make sure you pay yourself! All budgets should include your fees so that you are fairly compensated for your time and effort.

• Production costs –  printed materials (flyers, posters) @ £250

100 A4 posters and 250 A5 flyers printed. Quote received from XXX printers.

• Advertising fees – social media ads @£150 per month

Targeted social media ads on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at £5 per day for 30 dayss promoting the exhibition and panel discussion.

Tip: It is essential that if you are commissioning an artist or other individuals to complete freelance work as part of your project, you adhere to fair pay guidelines.

For more information, consider Arts Council’s Fair Pay resource. 

Your Turn

Using the expenses you noted down for your project in Course 001, Lesson 4: Create a Budget answer the following question:

Q9. Look at the major categories for your project’s expenses and explain how you calculated costs for each of these categories (you do not need to do this line by line for each category, you just need to give an overall picture of how you arrived at your final figures).

(answer on your downloaded Working Document)

Congratulations!

You have now completed Course 002, Lesson 2: The Big Questions. This is an important milestone and you are one step closer to submitting your funding application! Head to Lesson 3: Supporting Documents where you will learn how to create supporting documents to include with your application.

Learn More

Applying to Arts Council England’s Grants

The Art of Writing Funding Applications

Target Audiences for Events

Return to Courses

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