What is a DYCP grant?
The Arts Council of England (ACE) run a Developing Your Creative Programme Grant which runs several times a year. it provides individual creative or cultural practitioners with between £2,000 and £12,000 . the money is intended for development purposes such as researching, networking or time to create new work rather than to fund a specific project project. the work has to be completed within a year but need not extend that long. the hart can be use too pay yourself a wage whilst taking time away from your usual word to focus on a new creative direction. It can also be used to collaborate with others. ACE are clear that they expect creators (including yourself) to be paid at an appropriate wage.
How do people get a DYCP grant?
The Arts Council do provide some case studies giving examples of the kind of developmental activities they have funded in the past which you can find here. However they are generally summaries of the acicvities completed rather than examples of the actual applications made.
Artist and Photographer Amanda McCormick generously provides a copy of her full application here. Steve Angstrom who makes sound and music has posted his tips for applying along with a link to his own application form here. The Arts Council also give clear guidance on the application form of what is required to fill in the form.
My experience was that the word length is challenging in its brevity and it is important to really think about the key points and use words which are punchy and precise to make the most of the space you have. Focus on what is the step change, why you want this funding now and what exactly you want to do. Reveal a little bit of yourself so that you stand out as an individual. My success shows that revealing a particular faith-affiliation or belonging to a minority group, even in a politically charged climate, is no disadvantage.
It is worth giving yourself some time to write drafts and really think about your answers because even if I hadn’t been given the money the process of distilling where I was and what I want do do was well with a few hours in itself. Editing my drafts mad the application tighter and more clear and, it seems, persuasive!
A very clear plan of what I would do over the year seems to have helped me but at the same time I believe that they are funding exploration and so expect some deviation from sth road map as you got rough your grant period.
My Own DYCP Application
I am choosing to keep the precise financial details of my plan private as it involves other people but I am happy to say that I applied for and received £9491. The text I used to fill in the main parts of the form are as follows:
Tell us about yourself and your creative practice
I am both a writer and artist. Until recently, I was also a full-time lawyer and was forced by time constraints to alternate between these practices. The throughline of my work reflects my former identity as a family barrister. I tell stories. I make people think differently. I take broken pieces and diverse ideas and create something new.
My art contains aesemic text, calligraphic and graffiti-like marks and is often constructed from combined parts and fragments. It references social justice & history, immigration, language and the exploration of my Jewish identity. Since 2005 I have made art quilts and photographic collages. In 2022, I moved into acrylic painting. I have participated in group shows in the UK, Australasia, Europe and the USA, shared two large duo gallery shows with Leah Higgins and had three solo shows in Manchester and Liverpool. I was represented by a Jerusalem gallery for several years. I have been commissioned by Stockport Council and Menorah Synagogue. Four of my works were acquired by the International Quilt Museum, Nebraska.
My current writing practice has shifted to focus on the lyric essay, a form that suits my tendency to create a cohesive whole from fragments and allows new subject matter. My Substack, ‘Encore’ focuses on the practice of creativity in the second half of life. I have published 12 books and numerous articles about law, criminology, psychology and art.
Despite this success, my law career severely restricted making and experimentation time and dictated the separation of my art forms. This year I am stepping up to full-time creative practice, and this is the ideal time to explore innovative ways to combine my art and words, try new media and ways/places to display my work and to develop a bolder artistic identity
Tell us about the developmental opportunity you want to undertake, what you hope to get out of it, and how you will go about it.
Tell us about the developmental opportunity you want to undertake, what you hope to get out of it, and how you will go about it.
Serious illness forced me to retire very early from law in 2020. I have now fully recovered. This was both a confidence-affecting loss & a wonderful gift of freedom, time, renewed energy and opportunity for deep reflection leading to clarity: more of the same is not enough. I want to develop a more ambitious, independent and holistic practice which fully reflects all parts of me.
However, I am also left very isolated in my studio and with less income to invest in my own development. My art grew away from the art quilt world where curators facilitated my international work. Further, both the Jewish art world and the literary/art publishing world have a large global presence I need to learn to access. To move from a hiatus to full-time practice, I need support to experiment with new studio routines and creation/presentation methods/locations so I can expand my career without damaging my regained health.
I am ready to fly high again, but having changed to a bigger aircraft, I need some co-pilots to take me through some training before I can go solo!
Once I gain the confidence & knowledge this grant would enable I will be able to access venues/ publications which currently feel merely aspirational and will have new ways to present my ideas. More importantly I will have created an expanded artistic identity, rebuilt confidence and sustainable routines, and a sense of belonging to ameliorate the solitude of practice. I will be gaining the wisdom to ultimately mentor others.
What I am using the money for
I asked for money to combat my perceived isolation in my home studios in the North West of England and to gain expert guidance on this stage of my diary. My budget set out precisely costed figures for
- working with Art Mentor Susan Stockwell via Zoom
- working with editor Elizabeth Winder via Writers.com
- accommodation and travel costs to visit art exhibitions and to visit my mentor
- a private session at my home with a Jewish artist and Rabbi Linda Motzkin when she visits the UK
- registration costs for a Jewish Writers Conference
I am writing this at the three-month stage and have contacted the Arts Council to check if I have flexibility within the budget granted as I can see from my development so far see that I might want to allocate a little more than I anticipated for travel and to work with an additional mentor/ editor who had different skills. ACE gave consent to this.
It was clear on the application that ACE wanted to be sure that applicants had considered their own wages for the time spent on their developmental work. I had, but given the length of my project, there was no way that the level of funding would cover my living costs as well as the disbursements. In fact I have income that meets my needs. I was afraid if I didn’t reference wages however I would not meet their criteria. I added a line in the budget to explain that. I use the budget space so as not to waste precious words in the rest of the form! The form would not however allow me to ask for £0 so I asked for £1 and was granted it!
How can you follow my DYCP process?
I am keeping a blog diary of my year here. You can see a full index of the posts with a description of main content here. The introductory post explains the intention for the diary and why is is being written with a little reflective delay built in.