There are two more weekends left in February, and that means two more weekends to fill out an application for a $5000 Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, open to all artists — including writers — at all career stages. Project Awards of up to $5,000 will support short-term projects that have a clear benefit to the artist and development of their work.
I’ve blogged before about the grant-application process, which yields benefits whether or not you end up receiving an award. Just forcing yourself to fill out an application can help you:
Kick-start, revive, or focus a writing project.
Create a timeline.
Create a budget.
Produce a clean writing sample that can be used for other kinds of applications.
Make you answerable to the most important person: You.
But that’s my take on it. What’s yours?
Over the next few days, I invite all comments, tips, questions (we’ll help if we can) and excuses. (Though you know we aren’t really going to believe the excuses.)
Grant apps force us to step back to observe how and why we do what we do – always a good exercise. For those wanting to know more about Rasmuson opportunities, we'll run an interview with the Foundation's Victoria Lord early next week.
Are there examples available of successful applications?
Check the link to past winners at the Rasmuson website. The applications aren't posted, but the one-sentence summary of the projects might give you some ideas. And watch for our interview with Victoria Lord of Rasmuson, to be posted tomorrow.