How can you make a living as a poet? You can’t, is the customary reply. Ah, but have you considered applying for a grant from Arts Council England? As ACE’s relationship manager for literature, Gemma Seltzer, puts it: “There’s not a lot of money sloshing around – but there are genuine opportunities as well.” I went along to a two-hour seminar run by Seltzer and the Poetry School not because I had a project of my own that I was seeking to fund, but in the spirit of spreading the word to those unable to get to south London on a Thursday night. (And, to be honest, Write Out Loud could do with some tips on obtaining arts funding, too).

Seltzer started off with some stats, which I found fascinating. Did you know that there are more than 120 poetry book publishers, over 200 literary magazines, and hundreds of poetry prizes in the UK? Well, I didn’t. And not only that – there are 90 universities offering postgraduate degrees in creative writing, and 10,000 short courses or classes are on offer as well. On the downside, author earnings were last year down by 29% on the 2005 figure. As Seltzer said: “It’s harder than ever to make a bit of money from your writing.” The Arts Council’s Grants for the Arts is aimed at individuals, and dispenses anything from £1,000-£100,000 to successful applicants. The average is around £8-£9,000, and the application success rate varies from 35% to 50%.

Three poets had come along to the seminar to share their experiences with the audience. First up was Hannah Lowe, who said at the outset that her main source of income was teaching poetry, drawing on her previous experience as a teacher in further education. But she had successfully won money for projects, eventually, even though she made “a couple of significant errors” along the way. The most glaring one was putting a wrong date on an application form, which was enough to make it fail. She also failed to “seek enough guidance” in negotiating the process, which includes finding other sources of funding as well. Initially she had gone to Jamaica to research her family history, thinking “I didn’t have much chance” of winning a grant, only to discover that the University of the West Indies was very interested in helping. She also talked about how Hercules Editions used crowdfunding in publishing her second poetry collection Ormonde, about which more later.  And one other thing that she hadn’t realised when she was starting out: “You’re meant to pay yourself.” As part of the budget for the project, you should work out a salary for yourself, taking guidance on the rate from the Society of Authors.

The Australian poet Cath Drake said she had received an Arts Council grant a couple of years ago, at a time when she had been working on “a lot of different things”. The winner of the Mslexia/Seren poetry pamphlet competition in 2013 had gathered supportive testimonials, and was being mentored by poets Mimi Khalvati and Roger Robinson as part of her professional development. She appreciated the fact that the Arts Council “was flexible, as things changed as I went along”. Her tips included always asking for feedback if your application is rejected; keep records and receipts, and be organised; and evaluation and marketing “is not as bad as you think”.  However, she earned her living as a journalist and non-fiction writer, rather than as a poet.

Nigerian-born Inua Ellams, who came to Britain at the age of 12, is primarily a poet, but also works as a playwright and graphic designer, and teaches. He had received five Arts Council grants for different projects, including an Edinburgh show that was aided by Apples and Snakes and Penned in the Margins as well; this year’s The Spalding Suite, pictured, a theatrical performance including poetry that was inspired by basketball, which won a grant “just shy of £100,000”; and the cross-art form The Midnight Run. His tips included demonstrating that the project needs to be done now; showing what makes it different and special; and looking at how to stretch the project in ways that are possibly more collaborative - “make it larger than yourself”.   

Other crucial things to watch out for when making your Arts Council application are:

 

• Making sure that the project budget balances, that income equals expenditure.
• Finding at least 10% of your funding from other sources.
• Being specific about who it might appeal to, when asked about your target audience. Don’t say: “Everyone”!

 

What are those other sources for funding? A few were mentioned, including the Leverhulme Trust’s artist in residence grants; the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Ideas and Pioneers Fund; the Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust; the Royal Society of Literature’s time-to-write grants; the Royal Literary Fund; the Society of Authors; the Arts Council’s own Artists’ International Development Fund; the Julia Darling Travel Fellowship; and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. 

For those seeking bursaries, commission and residencies, there are more sources of information, such as Arts Jobs, the Arts Council’s mailing list service;  ResArtis, which lists residencies; The Space, backed by the BBC and the Arts Council, and all about digital arts opportunities;  and The Writing Platform.

But one of the most important sources of alternative funding these days is crowdfunding – and there was plenty of advice on hand about that.

 

• Choose a project with clear goals
• Have a  modest funding goal, but ask for enough,
• If you fall short of the target, sites such as Indiegogo allow you to keep the money you’ve raised. Some others don’t.
• Don’t do it alone – bring in contacts, friends and family, to help.
• Give creative rewards to donors.
• Keep it active, with regular updates, and social media prompts – and don’t send the same tweet over and over again!

 

The Nesta website offers advice on digital fundraising.

Between 2015-18 the Arts Council will invest £1.1bn of government money, and a further £700m from the National Lottery Fund. Gemma Selzer stressed: “We really believe in ‘art for art’s sake’.”  But she added that projects that succeeded would have to be seen as benefiting the public, as well as the artist.