Steve Giovinco, Award Winning Fine Art Photographer, Shares 8 Essential Tips to Wining a Grant or Award
Through real world experience, Steve Giovinco reveals eight effective ways to complete a winning grant application for fine art photographers or other artists.
New York, NY, January 14, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Steve Giovinco, a widely exhibiting contemporary fine art photographer and artist reveals eight effective tips to win a photography grant. Giovinco provides invaluable insight into today’s grant process.
Because there are very few grants for fine art photography today, and the remaining ones are very competitive, knowing how to write a winning grant proposal is crucial.
“One great option for fine art photographers to do their work is grants, but knowing how to create a winning application is often mystifying or hard for artists,” says Steve Giovinco.
After years of real world experience, Steve Giovinco shares several tips that are helpful when applying for photography grants.
Read All Grant Requirements and Information
Reading all the grant requirements may seem obvious, but it’s crucial to a successful application. The first thing to check for is the deadline or due date. There have been many times when a grant deadline is simple missed because its forgotten. “Missing a grant deadline is throwing away an important opportunity,” notes Giovinco.
One suggestion Giovinco makes is to enter the grant due date in a calendar program such as Outlook to easily keep track of upcoming grants.
Be sure to carefully follow the other requirements such as image size and format, the work statement, and anything else.
“Any grant organization look for ways to immediately reject an application. Spend an hour or so reading everything on the website before starting,” says Steve.
Plan Weeks or Months in Advance
Planning ahead is key to completing a successful application. Waiting to the last minute just makes the process more difficult than it needs to be.
Plan at least one month in advance to allow enough time to organize photographs, think about the work statement, and other tasks. Being rushed and submitting the application just before the deadline can result in errors or sloppy work.
If the photographs have been color corrected and edited, and the statement is already drafted, the whole process might take between 2 and 5 hours to complete; otherwise the application could take several days of preparation.
Research Previous Winners and Jurors
While the jurors for grants usually change for each grant cycle, it can be useful to review previous winners and jurors. This is very helpful to understand more about what the organization is looking for in general.
View Additional Information Online
Research online any other information about the grant, such as other blog posts, winners in the news, or frequently asked questions about the grant. Review also information about the grant organization or sponsor for additional tips about what they might be looking for.
Prepare Images Carefully
Be sure to prepare any work sample by carefully following the instructions. Remember than any error or mistake usually will immediately disqualify the application.
Order Photographs
Find out how the images are presented to the jurors, and plan accordingly. For example, many are projected in a certain order; other grants show only the first four, such as the New York Foundation for the Arts; others just show images online. The Guggenheim Foundation grant, for example, looks only at original photographs.
“Curating the image are important, so perhaps place the strongest work first,” observes Giovinco.
Also, present only a very cohesive body of work that represents the very best and strongest images.
Write Photography Statement
Usually a statement is required. Use descriptive language that is jargon-free. Try to modify an existing statement used for other grants rather than write a new one from scratch to save time.
Upload Images and Other Items To Complete the Application
Upload all the images, statements, resume/Bio. Be careful to review each image and fill out the required fields.
Once complete, review again all the work that was submitted for errors. Remember that the panel and jurors are looking at thousands of images and everything on the application must be correct, without typos or other errors.
Because there are very few grants for fine art photography today, and the remaining ones are very competitive, knowing how to write a winning grant proposal is crucial.
“One great option for fine art photographers to do their work is grants, but knowing how to create a winning application is often mystifying or hard for artists,” says Steve Giovinco.
After years of real world experience, Steve Giovinco shares several tips that are helpful when applying for photography grants.
Read All Grant Requirements and Information
Reading all the grant requirements may seem obvious, but it’s crucial to a successful application. The first thing to check for is the deadline or due date. There have been many times when a grant deadline is simple missed because its forgotten. “Missing a grant deadline is throwing away an important opportunity,” notes Giovinco.
One suggestion Giovinco makes is to enter the grant due date in a calendar program such as Outlook to easily keep track of upcoming grants.
Be sure to carefully follow the other requirements such as image size and format, the work statement, and anything else.
“Any grant organization look for ways to immediately reject an application. Spend an hour or so reading everything on the website before starting,” says Steve.
Plan Weeks or Months in Advance
Planning ahead is key to completing a successful application. Waiting to the last minute just makes the process more difficult than it needs to be.
Plan at least one month in advance to allow enough time to organize photographs, think about the work statement, and other tasks. Being rushed and submitting the application just before the deadline can result in errors or sloppy work.
If the photographs have been color corrected and edited, and the statement is already drafted, the whole process might take between 2 and 5 hours to complete; otherwise the application could take several days of preparation.
Research Previous Winners and Jurors
While the jurors for grants usually change for each grant cycle, it can be useful to review previous winners and jurors. This is very helpful to understand more about what the organization is looking for in general.
View Additional Information Online
Research online any other information about the grant, such as other blog posts, winners in the news, or frequently asked questions about the grant. Review also information about the grant organization or sponsor for additional tips about what they might be looking for.
Prepare Images Carefully
Be sure to prepare any work sample by carefully following the instructions. Remember than any error or mistake usually will immediately disqualify the application.
Order Photographs
Find out how the images are presented to the jurors, and plan accordingly. For example, many are projected in a certain order; other grants show only the first four, such as the New York Foundation for the Arts; others just show images online. The Guggenheim Foundation grant, for example, looks only at original photographs.
“Curating the image are important, so perhaps place the strongest work first,” observes Giovinco.
Also, present only a very cohesive body of work that represents the very best and strongest images.
Write Photography Statement
Usually a statement is required. Use descriptive language that is jargon-free. Try to modify an existing statement used for other grants rather than write a new one from scratch to save time.
Upload Images and Other Items To Complete the Application
Upload all the images, statements, resume/Bio. Be careful to review each image and fill out the required fields.
Once complete, review again all the work that was submitted for errors. Remember that the panel and jurors are looking at thousands of images and everything on the application must be correct, without typos or other errors.
Contact
Steve Giovinco, Contemporary Fine Art Photography
Steve Giovinco
347-421-7598
www.stevegiovinco.com
Steve Giovinco
347-421-7598
www.stevegiovinco.com
Contact
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