Artsbridge (July 2021)

Allison Bell - $3 000 towards a mentoring program with the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio

Bethany Reece - $3 000 towards professional development support

Jane Woollard - $1 300 towards bringing playwright Peta Murray to Launceston for creative development for The Wallflowering Project

Kim Jaeger - $3 000 towards presentation of Good Silence at The Unconformity

Michelle Boyde - $3 000 towards capacity building in specialist design techniques

Stompin Inc. - $5 998 towards the Next Generator mentoring and performance project

Scott Tinkler - $2 837 towards the development and presentation of new work at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues

Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival - $10 000 towards bringing interstate writing and publishing professionals to present a suite of masterclasses in the Huon Valley

The Dead Maggies - $2 150 towards fostering networking relationships between local folk and punk artists and nationally recognised professionals

The peers considered the overall quality of the applications to the July 2021 round of Artsbridge and made the following comments:

• Applicants should remember that applications to Arts Tasmania’s programs will be assessed by multi-artform panels.
• Applicants were encouraged to use plain English and accessible language and to avoid using jargon, and complex or confusing language.
• Applicants were encouraged to check whether expenses were eligible (equipment cannot be purchased with grant funds under this program), and to seek guidance from Arts Tasmania if they were unclear.
• Applicants should provide assurance of eligibility, in particular, being clear about relationships and outcomes when working with schools, students and educational projects.
• Stronger applications presented compelling and exciting ideas in a passionate, engaging and relatable way.
• Stronger applications provided a curated selection of artistic material that identified career highlights or artistic achievements, rather than presenting large bodies of work (for example, a song recording rather than an album; an excerpt rather than a full performance).
• Applicants were encouraged to provide artistic material that is easily accessible, rather than files hosted on member-only platforms or sites that require an account or login.
• Applicants were encouraged to provide information and support material about the proposed activity and the key individuals involved, to allow a thorough assessment without the need for assumptions or extra research.
• Applicants were encouraged to develop clear and itemised budgets based on industry wages and rates.
• Budgets that included commentary around each item helped peers to understand the rationale, context, and relevance to the applicant’s proposed activity and artform and provided evidence of planning and research.
• Stronger applications included letters of support from individuals and organisations with an understanding of the sector or project.
• Applicants were encouraged to make sure attachments and links are functional, working and available, and to use PDF format (rather than Word or documents hosted on external platforms) where possible.
• The peers recommended applicants speak to Arts Tasmania staff about budget items, including artist wages, in-kind costs and fees, if they were unclear.