Thank You Ottawa

I am pleased and grateful to be able to announce that I am a beneficiary of the 2013 City of Ottawa’s Arts Funding Program. Specifically the Creation and Production Fund for Professional Artists. More specifically, I’ve received an Emerging Artist Grant for English prose literature.

What does this mean? It means I can spend my summer focusing on creating a polished, submission-ready manuscript as a follow up to OIM. It means I don’t have to chase paid work elsewhere. For this reason alone, it’s great (as you can imagine). However, receiving a grant like this is also very validating. It’s validating of the applicant, as an artist, and it’s validating of the particular project. To receive this grant, three well-respected, artistically qualified jury members have to all agree you, and your project, are worth awarding money to.

I received one of these grants in 2009, before I was published, and it was really helpful in making me think I did have talent as independently assessed by a knowledgeable group of people. You might think it’s less important this time around – after all, I’m already published so I have some indication people think my work is good. However, it’s amazing how helpful it is to know the jury thought this project – this work-in-progress – was worth funding.

Part of the Terms and Conditions of accepting this grant is a requirement to acknowledge the support of the City. I do so happily. I sometimes complain about the city, sometimes don’t like the decisions they make, but this funding program really is meaningful. It shows a commitment to local artists and I definitely appreciate it.

Interested? You can apply. That’s the other nice thing about this particular program – whereas grants from higher levels of government require that you already have a book published to qualify, there is no such requirement with the City of Ottawa program. You just need to put together a compelling proposal, follow their guidelines, and hope it’s your year. There are all sorts of artistic grants, too – not just for writing and not just in English.

So, to sum up:

Tudor Robins gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the City of Ottawa.

Yes, I do.