Ten of us gathered at Design Kompany’s conference room yesterday for Dream Kitchen, a Wednesday brown bag we’re hosting through March 14. The idea is to get creative people talking about inspirations and stuff they’re doing outside of work. Yesterday’s topics included chess, Corvallis, wooden boats, drawing classes, brownies, fish biology, and Fantagraphics.
Design Kompany invited David Miller of the Capitol Hill-based grant giving organization Artist Trust to our brown bag yesterday, so that the artists and writers attending could ask about what projects make good candidates for funding.
He urged artists and writers to apply and keep applying for special funding that’s earmarked especially for them. If you’re an artist or writer in Seattle–or anywhere in the state, for that matter–you are eligible to apply for a $1,500 GAP grant through the Artist Trust. The deadline for that is February 23.
How do you build a strong application? Don’t agonize over scripting the perfect artist statement, David cautioned. Spend your time locating stellar work samples. The quality of your portfolio is going to dictate whether or not you get a grant. Your past work is pretty much what the panelists will base their ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on.
“Don’t start slowly [with your samples] and build to a killer ending,” he said. People who pick the winners won’t give you time if you don’t start strong. And folks at the Artist Trust are ready to coach you through the application if you need help. “Ask us,” David said. “Look at samples from the past in our resource room.”
So how big is the pot of money available to artists this year? The Artist Trust raised a quarter million dollars for these GAP grants at a recent auction. Some money comes from state and government sources, but a whopping 97% of the money distributed to artists who apply for the GAP grant comes from private donations.
We have some applications here at our office, along with the resource magazine ArtSource, which lists a bunch of other grants, residencies and fellowships that are out there. One more thing: If you’re someone who needs to hold a meeting and are looking for conference space, the Artist Trust has a place you can use–for free.
Design Kompany hosts Dream Kitchen on Wednesdays through March 14. Our storefront entrance is at 1508 E. Olive Way, a couple of doors down from the restaurant Dinette and directly opposite Clever Dunne’s Irish pub. Google map
what time does the wednesday lunch start? i generally work across town on wednesdays, but would love to stop by one of these days….
john
oh never mind - i just saw it on the homepage. i’ll try to make it next wednesday.
john
Sounds good, see you then!