Seeking commissions and writing draft proposals

Seeking commissions and writing draft proposals

The working life of an artist or performer can be split into three distinct strands -

· the work you undertake on your own behalf and then sell,

· the work someone approaches you to do,

· the work you tender for.

It is very common for someone in the Creative Industries to have to actively seek work and there are many ways of doing this.

Getting a Commission

Commissioning Agencies.

Many pieces of work are paid for by funding. The bodies holding this funding seek out the appropriate artist for the job. Often artist pre-register with these agencies to ensure that they will be allowed to tender should a suitable project come along.

Examples of these agencies are:

British Arts: www.britisharts.co.uk/agencies.htm - a national database of commissioning agencies

The Arts Council: www.artscouncil.org.uk and www.artscouncil.org.uk/links/links_for_category.php?cid=23&page=14

Lime: http://www.limeart.org - the NHS arts commissioning project

Locus+: www.locusplus.org.uk on Tyneside

Euclid: http://www.euclid.info a Europe wide arts agency.

These are just a small proportion of the large number of commissioning agencies across Britain. In addition, consider contacting large corporations such as:

London Docklands Development Corporation: www.lddc-history.org.uk - mainly visual arts

Bruntwood: www.bruntwood.co.uk - writing, painting and sculpture.

The UK Sponsorship Database: www.uksponsorship.com/art1.htm - a database of all companies who sponsor any forms of art

It is recommended that you create a database of all these agencies and any others you come across.

• Send each agency a copy of your creative CV and where appropriate some examples of your work and the name and contact details of a referee.
• Inform them that you want to be included on their database of preferred artists.
• Keep them up to date with regular updates on what you are doing.

Commissioning Agents will usually have a list of criteria against which they have to spend their funding. The more they know about you, the more likely they are to contact you about a specific project. However, in most cases you will be entered onto a database and receive regular updates by email on the latest projects up for tender.

Tendering and Draft Proposals

Having registered yourself with the relevant bodies, you may well receive an email with a project you feel confident and qualified to undertake. You will be required to register your interest and may well be asked to submit your CV and an example of your work. This is generally a preliminary and allows everyone involved in the selection process to create a list of the most suitable candidates.

If you get past this first hurdle, you may then be required to submit a draft proposal. In this you need to:

• Detail the nature of the project.
• List the benefits to the end user.
• List the benefits to the commissioner – i.e. why they should choose you and not another artist.
• Give some indication of timescales – the most impressive tenders include a timeline showing how the project will run.
• Give an indication of the resources that will be used and by whom – remember, people are also a resource and you should include your own time.
• Include a budget sheet. This should include budget headings that show how the money will be spent – sometimes the commissioners will tell you how they want the money to be spent and under what headings – you then have to make the expenditure fit! You will also need to show the timescales for spending the budget – again you might want to relate this information directly to the timeline.
• Include a risk assessment. Detail any potential pitfalls (physical and fiscal) and how you intend to deal with them should they arise.

The key word at this stage is DRAFT. If you are being asked to submit a draft proposal, then you need to stress within the text that the figures and timescales outlined are based on information received at this stage – that details can change subject to discussion with the client.

There are never any guarantees with tenders or draft proposals. If you have been given a list of criteria, it is significantly easier to meet the requirements. However, frequently this is not the case and the best you can do is:

• Show that you understand the purposes of the project - both the obvious ones and any hidden ‘political’ ones – it helps to do your research on the commissioning agent with this one as well as where the funding is coming from.
• Show value for money.
• Indicate added value – i.e. the things that the commissioner will get that they do not pay for i.e. guaranteed press exposure, links to organisations you are associated with etc.
• Illustrate that you are organised, computer literate, have a good grasp of the budget and are hardworking – back this up with examples as well as the proposal.

If you are unsuccessful, do not count the experience a failure.

• Contact the commissioning agents and ask them where you failed.
• Ask them if they can give you any pointers on how you could successfully secure a contract from them in the future.
• Make sure that you record all successes and failures on your database so that you are prepared for working with individual agencies in the future.

Tania M C Lewis

Business Advisor

Sterling Design Services Ltd

2nd March 07