THE COST OF DOING BUISINESS (MAKING ART)

It is not going to cost me a lot of money to write this book. It will, however, cost me some money. I will have to go to the Ontario Archives in Toronto at least twice. I will have to travel to and around Muskoka. Parking alone in downtown Ottawa, where I spent time at the Archives and at the main branch of the library, cost $30 in one day. Some reference material will cost money to borrow, like the book I’ve ordered from the University of Guelph.

The money I make from writing magazine articles and running workshops doesn’t come close to covering the expenses I will incur in the writing of this book.

I’ve never applied for arts funding before, but I plan to do so this time. This is what arts funding is for. To help cover the cost of doing the business of making art, and to help pay for the daily living expenses of the artist while she’s working on a project.

The rules of the game are:

• I have to show that I am a professional writer, which is defined by the Ontario Arts Council as someone who “has developed skills through training and/or practice AND is recognized as such by artists working in the same artistic tradition, AND has a history of public presentation or publication AND seeks payment for his/her work AND actively practices his or her art.”
• I have to provide documentation of at least three “publishing credits”: books, stories or articles I’ve published and been paid for. My workshops (for which I am paid) may or may not count. My self-published book does not count.
• I have to provide between 20 and 40 pages of manuscript, depending on the funding program I apply to.
• If I receive a grant, I have to provide a report describing how much writing I was able to accomplish due to the receipt of the grant. 

Deadline for application to the City of Ottawa is January 17, and to the Ontario Arts Council is February 15, 2011.

Life just got a whole lot busier.