Grant Advice


NOTE TO APPLICANTS
Applicants for all Kildare County Council Arts Service awards may like to consider the following comments from the 2007 adjudication panel before submitting their applications.


GENERAL FEEDBACK ON ARTS GRANTS APPLICATIONS FROM THE 2007 ASSESSING PANEL
 
The Arts Grants and Award opportunities were assessed independently in 2007 - by Arts Service staff in 2 neighbouring local authorities, with experience of the Arts Grants process. The Literary Awards were adjudicated by one of Irelands leading writers.

Given the total funding pool available, it was impossible to make awards of any significance to all recipients and therefore, considerable adjudication was required. 

These awards were made based on
• The written proposals (with particular attention on the supporting material provided),
• Suitability of project within the Arts Awards scheme e.g. the scale of some of the projects were deemed to large for the total funding pool available; Capital building projects were also deemed not suitable for the scheme
• Overall artistic intention
• Viability of project, likelihood of project receiving funding elsewhere/ its dependency on Kildare County Council funding and
• A balance between supporting professional, emerging and amateur artists. 

Priority was given to first time applicants and to projects that were complementary to the aims outlined in ‘Making Inroads: An Arts Development Plan for Kildare County Council 2006-2011’.  (Copies available from the Arts Service). Priority was given to Education and Community project applications that had an emphasis on developmental work. 

It was noted that some of the applicants were seeking funding for projects that should be their core services/ activities, or could be considered as commercial ventures.

For your information, the adjudicators, in relation to the applications, noted the following general points. 

Some applicants …..
• Did not clearly state or describe the project or body of work for which they were seeking funding
• Did not supply supporting information, as requested on application form i.e.
o Income and expenditure of the project (particularly in relation to matching, or other sources of funding)
o Supporting material from previous productions, shows, exhibitions, etc. (Theatre companies were particularly guilty of this)
o Cv of artist, or profile of organisers
o Photographs (visual artists were the worst offenders!! – it is not enough to state ‘will forward photographs, images if required’, or to assume that the adjudicator is familiar with your work)
A number of applications had no supporting material included with their application

  • Did not provide details/ profile of the participants involved 
  • Did not include costings, or specify the amount of money requested, or which element of the project, specifically, that the funding was requested for
  • Listed ‘Masterclass/ Workshops with guest artists’, as the project, but did not name the artist, or sometimes the artform.  An artist should have agreed, in advance of the application to carry out the work.  The guest artists cv/ profile should be included with the application, with a breakdown of costings.   
  • 4 applications were received late, or the supporting material arrived late.

Please bear these comments in mind when applying for funding from Kildare County Council, or other agencies in the future.