Most of the funding information in the course manual does not apply outside the UK, i.e. National Arts Councils, Regional Development Agencies in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. So I have identified organisations that provide funding in Canada.
National Council
Canadian Council for the Arts: It’s Canada’s public arts funder. Has 6 grant programs, as well as strategic funds, initiatives and awards. It has a pilot program for new and early career artists.
Regional Councils
British Columbia Arts Council: Agency of the Province of British Columbia under the Arts Council Act. Reviews and approves funding and offers support to artists. It seems grants to individual visual artists range from CAD$4,000 to CAD$15,000.
BC Alliance for Art and Culture: has an online directory with links to government, provincial and corporate institutions. Not restricted to photography but open to all arts.
Partnership Funding
In July I answered a call on the local Shuswap Everything Friendly Facebook group, expressing an interest to showcase my work in a wellness clinic. I was in the throes of preparing for assessment and mentioned that I would be available for this opportunity from October onwards. I have touched base with the owner of the wellness clinic again and am just waiting to hear back from her whether she can fit me into the 3 month schedule. Fingers crossed this will pan out.
Foundations, awards and grants
The main source of this type of funding is the Canadian Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council and the BC Alliance for Art and Culture as listed above. Little Dog Creative Consulting has a grant application calendar on its website which lists the program name, funder, funder type, program focus, opening and closing deadlines, website, eligibility requirements and geographic region.
Crowdfunding
Kickstarter: Basic principle is that one sets a goal, e.g. raise $X.00 to produce a photo book. You then decide on the time length of your campaign – can be up to 60 days. Have to have rewards to entice the investor to take part – this can be on a sliding scale. The more the investor donates the larger the reward. You create your spiel usually on a video and then invite friends, family, and contacts to support the project. Kickstarter works on the principle that all goal must be reached or surpassed before any funds are released. Kickstarter takes a 5% cut. If the goal is not reached, then no funds are released.
Some other crowdfunding sites are:
- Indiegogo
- Hemeria (specifically for photobooks)
- Donorhut
I’m rather wary of these crowdfunding companies, especially after February 2022 when the protesting truckers in Canada had their funds seized from GoFundMe and later from GiveSendGo – all at the whim of government intervention.
Working out the Budget and What am I Really Worth
At this stage in my life photography is not going to be a full time career for me. I retired four years ago and no desire to enter the rat race again. However, it is still a good idea to find out what my cost implications would be if I decided to apply for funding to produce my photobook. So what are the costs I’m looking at?
- Website www.lyndakuit.com C$154/year – includes domain name and hosting.
- Petrol C$1.719 per litre
- Just for interest’s sake I did a costing of one of the trips I did around the lake using Gas Buddy’s Trip Cost Calculator. What a nifty tool!
- Printing costs. I’ve already mentioned the calculations around this on my Working out costs for Prints post. Now that I have a formula to work from, it should be relatively easy to calculate different size print costs. Cost of 8 ink cartridges for my Canon Pro-100 is CAD$225.71. Photo paper – Canon Matt 8.5″ x 11″ is CAD$16.78 for 50; Canon Pro Lustre 8.5″ x 11″ is CAD$59.99 for 50.
- Book design and production costs. I used Affinity Publisher to create my book layout which I purchased for C$30. I have sent off for quotes from: https://exwhyzed.co.uk/, Zno – for a layflat linen cover with cameo window and debossed text quotes at about US$269. Lulu offers US$14.15 for a paperback book. The costs are really all over the map and I will have to email a few other printers that don’t provide details on their websites.
- Portfolio reviews. I have one free one to use from Shutterhub, but still need to schedule a few other reviews. Costs range from US$45 to US$100. I’m not prepared to spend more than that. So far I have spent Euros 15 on the BredaPhoto Festival review, and US$15 for each of the LensCulture reviews I’ve had.
- Gallery hire. I haven’t really looked into having a physical solo exhibition. I may rather go for a virtual exhibition using Kunsmatrix which would cost between US$12 and US$30 per month.
- Usage. I have had a look at the Association of Photographer’s Usage Calculator, but it geared towards UK photographers and is a little difficult to understand.
- Running costs. I know I should factor in the square footage my office and printing room and work out the percentage of the electricity and heating I for this space.
- Mounting and framing. I purchased three 11″ x 14″ pre-matted frames for $22.97 each for the Sewllkwe exhibition. If I was going to do a solo physical exhibition, I would source better quality frames off the internet.
- Silk prints. 1 Real Georgette Silk – 35.43″ square format CAD$136 from Contrado. Two 52′ x 39″ Silk Habotai from ArtFabrics CAD$64.00.
I have renewed my free student membership with AOP.
Support in kind
Some ideas:
ArtFabrics – a discount
Framing – possible discounts
Book cover design – a collaboration with another OCA student
I had a look at both the Canadian Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council to see what their definitions of ‘support in kind’ are and could find nothing on their sites. It is possible that these definitions are only available on the secure application portal.
Engaging with the audience and audience outreach
If I’m applying for funding I need to know who my audience is. I think this applies whether I’m applying for funding or not, if I am presenting my work to the public. In Canada it is customary to acknowledge the local First Nations people on whose unceded territory we are operating. I know I have to work at being more succinct in explaining my work. I am due to give an artist talk next week as part of the Sewllkwe Exhibition and I will need to give careful thought to my speech. I only have three of my photomontages in the exhibition and these do provide a fair representation on my whole body of work. Do I mention briefly work that the audience won’t be able to see, or do I just stick to what is in the exhibition?
Doug Boarwick’s piece on audience outreach mentions that there are 4 types of audience engagement:
- Artists meet audiences: this is the usual presentation followed by Q&A which we are familiar with
- New Population Centres: taking the art to places where it is not normally seen, e.g. going to smaller villages or under-served communities.
- New Venues: think outside the white cube box here – hospitals, shopping malls. Viewing the artwork outside its normal milieu.
- Relatable Cultural Idioms: (Familiar/popular forms and styles). Arts organisations showing work outside their normal culture in order to reach a wider audience.
Bibliography
BC Alliance for Arts + Culture (s.d.) Grants and Funding. At: https://www.allianceforarts.com/grants (Accessed 30/10/2022).
Borwick, D. (2013) Outreach and Audience Engagement. At: https://www.artsjournal.com/engage/2013/01/outreach-and-audience-engagement/ (Accessed 12/11/2022).
BC Arts Council (2019) At: https://www.bcartscouncil.ca/ (Accessed 28/10/2022).
Canada Council for the Arts (s.d.) At: https://canadacouncil.ca/ (Accessed 28/10/2022).
Crowdfund Innovations & Support Entrepreneurs (s.d.) At: https://www.indiegogo.com/ (Accessed 07/11/2022).
Donorhut (s.d.) Simplify your fundraising with Donorhut cloud fundraising software. At: https://www.donorhut.com/ (Accessed 07/11/2022).
Gas Trip Calculator. Find lowest fuel prices & save – GasBuddy.com (s.d.) At: https://www.gasbuddy.com/tripcostcalculator (Accessed 10/11/2022).
Hemeria Crowdfunding : Bring Your Photo Books Projects to Life (s.d.) At: https://crowdfunding.hemeria.com/ (Accessed 07/11/2022).
Kickstarter (s.d.) At: https://www.kickstarter.com/?ref=nav (Accessed 07/11/2022).
Little Dog Creative Consulting (s.d.) Grant Calendar. At: https://www.littledog.ca/grant-calender (Accessed 07/11/2022).
Lynda Kuit Photography Level 3 