“THE INTERVIEWS CAN BE TERRIBLE AS WELL, WHEN IT’S ALL JUST ONE KIND OF PERSON ON THE PANEL, AND THEY DON’T TALK PROPERLY WITH YOU.”; “OFTEN THEY ASK IF YOU HAVE ACCESS ISSUES, BUT DON’T REALLY FOLLOW THROUGH.”; “YOU HAVE TO SWITCH UP YOUR TONE TO SUIT FUNDERS.”; “I’D LIKE TO APPLY WITH A PORTFOLIO OR AUDIO OR A VIDEO, THAT WOULD MAKE IT MORE ACCESSIBLE.”; “I WOULD PREFER TO TALK ABOUT IDEAS IN A PRESENTATION STYLE.”; “A LOT OF CREATIVES ARE DYSLEXIC (...) OR DIDN’T DO SO WELL IN SCHOOL.”
Funding applications can be intimidating and take time. For those of us who don’t have an academic background, the writing requirements are off-putting. Sometimes there’s initiatives for emerging and young artists or minority artists, where the application requirements are simpler, but those are always small pots of money. There needs to be funding which is accessible to us, which we can use for the things we really need. Ideally, funding should be open and fair for all, but in our experience who you are and who you know, and if you share a common culture with the funders makes a difference. Cultural barriers are often the hardest to overcome. They include interview panels that don’t understand our journeys or ways of expression, to experience and cultural background which is expected from us. It is important for creatives to build relationships with funders and get our work known, but it feels like we need to speak their language and move in their spaces to make this happen.
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