LOCAL ART FUNDING - THE BIG NEST

Sea Dean working on a Public Art Project

I stay in the loop in my area and attend many informational events, meetings, exhibition openings etc. Recently I had a meeting about a local art project I'm involved with and I discovered more in the works. It made me realize that there are many opportunities for funding which are not public knowledge.

One way professional artists can make a living, is to take advantage of local art funding. Most cities and towns have a department which deals with funding for art projects, events and organizations. Usually the way to find these is to go to the local government website and click around. Most websites have search areas and I suggest typing in simply "Art" and checking the results until you locate something interesting. I did this on my local government site and came up with a plethora of interesting grants and events which I will be investigating further. Here are a couple of examples below.

ART FUNDING IN KELOWNA

PUBLIC ART 

Another way to stay in the loop is to join one or more local Arts organizations or become a member of a local public gallery. Currently I am a member of three public galleries and one arts organization: Through these affiliations I am invited to submit for more than enough exhibitions, but public art funding is not as visible.

You can only do so much, so be selective and focus on income possibilites. Google your town "Art clubs", "Art Galleries" or "Art organizations" and see what comes up. e.g. "Kelowna, B.C. Canada Art Organizations". My search brought up the local Arts Council, available grants through the city, job postings and opportunities locally and further afield but still relavent. I'm fairly well connected locally, but I wasn't aware of many opportunities I discovered in the search. It's a good idea to do this on a monthly basis, to monitor recent developments. 

So click around and see what you can come up with. Certainly if you move to a new town, this is the first thing you should do after settling into your new home. I hope this has inspired you to Google and find funding. I would love to hear of any opportunities you discover with this method. Please share in comments.