Access to Funding: Arts NSW

On March 21 M&G NSW, in partnership with the Museum of the Riverina, presented Access to Funding, a workshop delivering skills to make accessing funds a reality. Below are the presentations from the federal organisations.

Gabrielle Eade Acting Manager, Funding Programs Visual Arts, Museums, Major Festivals, Literature and New MediaArts NSW

Gabrielle is currently A/Manager, Funding Programs, at Arts NSW, working across a range of areas including Visual Arts, Museums, Major Festivals, Literature, History and New Media.

Arts NSW is the NSW Government’s arts funding and policy body. Through the Arts Funding Program the NSW Government offers a range of opportunities that support artists and arts and cultural organisations in NSW.

This presentation will introduce the Arts NSW Arts Funding Program, including a range of devolved funding programs which offer alternative opportunities for volunteer run organisations, galleries and museums, and offer tips and advice on how to apply for funding.

Access to Funding: VIM Grants

On March 21 M&G NSW, in partnership with the Museum of the Riverina, presented Access to Funding, a workshop delivering skills to make accessing funds a reality. 

Phoebe Arthur
Museum Programs & Collections Coordinator Museums & Galleries NSW 

Phoebe coordinates the Volunteer Initiated Museum (VIM) grant program, including Small Grants, Development Project Grants and Skills Development Grants for volunteer-managed museums. She is also responsible for the delivery of the Standards Review Program, a development program that has so far worked with 89 participating museums across NSW. 

Volunteer Initiated Museum (VIM) Grant Program

The Volunteer Initiated Museum (VIM) Grant Program provides assistance to volunteer-initiated community museums and keeping places in NSW. The VIM Program encourages museum volunteers to build their skills and confidence in both project management and grant applications, by undertaking progressively more complex projects.

The VIM Grant Program is an Arts NSW devolved funding program, administered by Museums & Galleries NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.

Access to Funding: Federal Funding

On March 21 M&G NSW, in partnership with the Museum of the Riverina, presented Access to Funding, a workshop delivering skills to make accessing funds a reality. Below are the presentations from the federal organisations.

Lani Houston
Chief Executive Officer Regional Development Australia (RDA) - Riverina 

Riverina First Community Fund

RDA Riverina operates a small funding program called Riverina First Community Fund that provides funding of up to $2000 for community projects. This funding is only available to the 14 LGAs in the RDA Riverina region. The RDA Riverina Committee also plays a role in the Commonwealth's Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF). The RDAF program funds capital infrastructure projects identified as priorities by local communities. Round 3 and Round 4 are in progress at the moment. 


The Riverina First Community Fund is philanthropic fund. The fund is now a project of RDA-Riverina. The Commonwealth Government’s Regional Development Australia Fund is administered by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.

Sharyn O’Brien
Coordinator, Community Heritage Grants
National Library of Australia

The Community Heritage Grants

The Community Heritage Grants (CHG) program provides funding of up to $15,000 to assist in the preservation of cultural heritage collections of national significance. Not-for profit organisations, such as historical societies, regional museums, public libraries and Indigenous and migrant community groups, are encouraged to apply. This presentation will provide further information for potential applicants on the wide range of activities eligible for CHG grants and how to navigate the new online application process.

CHG is funded by the Australian Government through the National Library of Australia; the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport; the National Archives of Australia; the National Film and Sound Archive and the National Museum of Australia.

Sharon Babbage
Project Assistant, Operations Australian National Maritime Museum 

Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme

In its 17th year, MMAPSS is an annual grants program providing support to Australian organisations that care for and preserve Australia's rich maritime heritage. This presentation provides an overview of the scheme, describing how to apply with recent successful projects and internships. 

The Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Accessing funding in Batemans Bay

Show me the Money - Access to Funding is a workshop we put on every year in a different part of NSW. Previous Standards participants, local museums, galleries and community arts groups are given the opportunity to hear from a range of funding providers and even chat with them about potential projects for funding. 

Andrew, Cassie and I had a beautiful drive down the coast to Batemans Bay the day before the workshop, and also managed to have a good look around the Old Courthouse Museum. The museum successfuly completed the Standards Program last year and have a range of projects on the go. Our visit coincided with the opening of their new room built especially for their volunteers. 

We also had to be dragged away from Bozo the resident dog who was most disarming. 

Delegates chat with Dianne Dahlitz about the Community Heritage Grant program.

We had a great line up of speakers at the workshop – Dianne Dahlitz who manages the Community Heritage Grants from the National Library; Einar Docker from the Powerhouse Museum’s regional services; Grainne Brundson from Arts NSW, Andrew Gray from South East Arts who represented Regional Arts NSW; and Bea Brickhill from AbaF who spoke about how arts organisations can build relationships with businesses.

One of the highlights of the day was Sheena Boughden’s inspirational keynote talk on the development of the Four Winds Festival – a music festival held every second Easter in Bermagui that Sheena and her team have built up to be a hugely successful enterprise.

The Clyde River and Batemans Bay Historical Society put on some of the best catering we have ever seen, and understandably received a spontaneous round of applause from the delegates!

Thanks to our partner South East Arts and Andrew Gray, all our amazing speakers and the team at the Old Courthouse Museum.

M&G NSW has some helpful resources on grant writing and project management. And don't forget our excellent resource the 2012 Grants and Funding Guide!

Next week we should have several of the talks available through our website and Alert!

Arts Funding Worshops

Image by angusf from Flickr

This year Arts NSW and the Australia Council for the Arts combined to do a presentation on the their grants programs. They have been rolling it out as a road show across NSW so if there is one near you I encourage you to go as it is a great opportunity to hear direct form the funders about their programs. 

Contrary to myth, both of these bodies do want you to apply and want you to have the best chance at winning a grant. In some ways the odds are against you: for applicants to the Australia Council it is a bout 1 in five applications are successful. But you do have to be in it to win it

Here are some of the key tips they gave to writing a successful application

1/ Choose the Right Grant.

Check your eligibility and talk to the relevant person. Do some research and check out who has been previously awarded grants and what it was for. IF your not sure, or cant find the type of grant you are looking for then give them a call.

2/ Write in Plain English

Be concise. Be Direct. They want to know what you want to do, how you intend to do it and who will do it. This last point is important - briefly describing why the people involved are the best people for the task gives an assessment panel a sense of if the task will be completed

3/ Don't wait until the last minute.

A rushed application reads like ...well... a rushed application. If you can't plan to get the application done in a timely manner then it doesn't give a strong indication that you can manage the time line of your project.

4/ Budget!

There is an old saying "look after the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves".  (For those of you who were born after 1966 - use Google for an updated version). In your budget make sure that it balances: ie expenditure equals income. Make sure it adds up. Add notes to make it clear. Show all sources of funding. Included any "non cash" contribution.

5/ Support Materiel

Don't drown the poor assessors - each assessor is reading hundreds of applications  . Included the most relevant and potent materials/images that you can that support your case for why this project is important to you and your organisation and that you can deliver the project on time and on budget.

6/ Cut and Paste your application into the online applications

When writing your grant application do it in a word document and then cut and paste that into the on-line applications.  That way you will have solved all of your word count issues, spelling , grammar and its just a matter of publishing. Also should the system crash - you at least have a copy of your work!

7/ Visit the Website(s)

Each of the main funders list all their grants on their sites and provided a lot of information about each of the grants. It really is the quickest way to obtain a lot of information before you start writing..

Arts NSW 2012 Arts Funding Program Guidelines http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/index.php/category/funding-and-support/

The Australia Council's 2011 Arts Funding Guide is http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants

Finally don't forget that M&G NSW is also here help. Our friendly team is standing by to take your call! or you can visit our website http://mgnsw.org.au/grants/overview1111/

Michael Huxley