Business and Grant Proposals Assignment

Business Proposals / Grant Applications and Project Budgets:

Preliminary outline due Monday, June 7th (to discuss in class)

Final due Friday, June 18th

In order to get you to start thinking about how you would approach a business proposal or grant application, which are often required of artists to garner clients and/or funding for their projects, you will be required to submit a mock business proposal or grant application, along with a project budget.

Business Proposals are most often required of freelance artists who are being considered for a specific project. Most potential clients will want to see a proposal that explains how you would approach a particular project, given the opportunity, so they can make a more informed decision. In many cases, the client will have specific needs that they want met (or specific aesthetic goals in mind), while others may only have a more general set of goals – such as increasing sales of X product to teenagers or developing a “modern” look. When the process is more formal, clients will generally ask you to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP) – which usually provides specific questions or categories for you to respond to. In other instances, it will be solely up to you to provide a business proposal, based on the information you gather from the client. So while business proposals can follow a variety of formats, they generally have the following elements:

• Front cover – a cover page that features your name (a logo if you have one), contact information, the title of the project, and the date of submission.
• Copyright statement – in order to protect your ideas, it is always good to include some sort of statement of ownership for your proposal ideas, such as “YOUR NAME owns the copyright for this document and all of its contents” or the © symbols with “all rights reserved”. This would usually go at the bottom of the cover page.
• Executive Summary – this is usually a few paragraphs that explains your understanding of the client’s needs (as explained to and interpreted by you – through conversations with the client, when possible, and/or research). Oftentimes, an executive summary will also explain your understanding of the business itself (perhaps its main goals and objectives) and the industry in which it operates. So – if a coffee chain is asking you to design a logo, you would describe your understanding of how they view coffee (and its experience), as well as your general understanding of the industry (i.e. how coffee plays such a huge role in today’s society, how people look towards their coffee not just as a beverage, but also as a way of keeping alert, focused, and/or perhaps even the act of drinking coffee as a social ritual). This necessarily requires research, of both the company and the industry. For this assignment, you would provide a very abbreviated version (about two-three paragraphs) of an executive summary – outlining only the major points.
• Current Situation – here, you would explain your understanding of the client’s current situation (its successes and failures in terms of whatever efforts have already been made – i.e. a current design or logo). For instance, Geico (insurance company) recently went from using its little green gecko to a pile of money with eyes on top. Whoever designed the new brand logo most likely talked about what did and didn’t work well with the current (gecko) model. Or, if one were now hired to produce a new logo for Geico, one would perhaps talk about the confusing change that just occurred between the gecko and the money pile with eyes (i.e. a short history of changes that have recently occurred, etc.). Of course, while you want to point to problems that you can address, you also want to be diplomatic in the way that you approach this section. The person that designed the previous logo, for instance, might be reading your new proposal; or a board member might have had a particular investment in the previous logo. Overall, the aim is to assess the previous piece in such a way as to pull from its strengths and describe its weaknesses (which you will then later address with your own project). Again, for the purpose of this assignment, you would provide only a brief summary (perhaps a few paragraphs).
• Target Audience – here, you will address who will be viewing/using your design or art project. Give demographic details such as age, industry sector, language, etc. So if you are proposing to install an artistic installation piece in a park, for instance, you’d address the primary people who would be viewing it – so that you can later explain how your project would best “speak” to this demographic.
• Project Goals – at this point, the client should be well focused on what they want to achieve, so this is your opportunity to address those objectives. Though these are usually longer documents (can often be up to several pages long), for the purpose of this exercise, you will provide a “project brief” – which describes the project you want to do, how it will meet the clients needs (based on the information above) and how your project will specifically meet those needs. So if the client is primarily focused on aesthetics (i.e. an installation in a park) to draw more attention and get folks to come out more, then you would address that need. If a client is more interested in developing and sustaining a brand identity, then you would address those needs.
• Implementation Process – though this can be broken down into several smaller sections, for the purpose of this assignment, you will describe – in a paragraph or so – how you see your project actually being implemented (including timeline, your creative vision, use of any prototypes, technical skills/equipment, and how you will actually carry out the plan). Sometimes, this will also include a rough sketch or drawing of your plan, depending on the project.
• Budget – because all projects under consideration involve a financial investment, clients will always want to see a proposed budget for your project. How much will it cost to produce your project? Here, you would often list the materials needed and their general cost, as well as your own fees. While this is always going to be an estimate (and you should always indicate that), you should try to determine your projected costs as best as you can.

For those of you choosing to create a business proposal, you would create a business proposal for a business that already exists, but that you imagine has asked you for a project proposal. For example, you could take an existing real company/shop (i.e. Starbucks) and work from that. Be careful, though, with the larger corporations, because while you want to provide some research, you don’t want to get too caught up in the process of researching (Starbucks is HUGE – and one could spend months, if not years, investigating their marketing/branding history). So if it helps, you may want to choose a current (smaller) company that would be easier to research (for example, GMU asked you to design a new logo for the university). Normally, in a regular semester, you’d spend more time on this particular assignment and develop it more fully, but since we are severely limited by time (and have so many other writing projects to complete), your business proposal will necessarily be an abbreviated version, but should nevertheless give you an idea of what would be required.

Grant Applications are usually in response to specific grants that are being offered for you to initiate and complete a particular artistic project; so most times, these will have specific themes and issues to address and/or perhaps a form for you to fill out, with accompanying text. For the most part, however, most grant applications will ask you to describe the following:

• Front cover – a cover page that features your name (a logo if you have one), contact information, the title of the project, and the date of submission.
• Copyright statement – most grant applications do not necessitate a copyright statement, but it’s never a bad idea to do so, in order to protect your ideas. So you might want to include some sort of statement of ownership for your proposal ideas, such as “YOUR NAME owns the copyright for this document and all of its contents” or the © symbols with “all rights reserved”. This would usually go at the bottom of the cover page.
• Letters of Recommendation – typically, a grant proposal will ask that you forward letters of recommendation (either from faculty or previous clients/people with whom you’ve worked and who know your art and your work ethics). For the purpose of this assignment, however, you do not need to include these.
• Synopsis – A project synopsis is a brief but specific statement of the project objectives, methods and impact on you as an artist. This is usually a short paragraph.
• Project Description (sometimes called Project Narrative) – most grant applications will require that you outline your proposed project in narrative form. These descriptions often include your professional goals and objectives. A goal would define the ultimate result of the project that is being proposed, whereas the objectives are the measurable steps you expect to accomplish in the process of reaching your goal. Simply put, a goal is the end result that the objectives help you to reach. These can include everything from how you propose to learn a new artistic technique (demonstrated by your final project), what you hope to accomplish with your project (perhaps exploring the “vulnerable body” through mixed media), and/or what your personal and professional outcomes will be. One way to write a good objective is to start your objective statement with phrases that suggest a purpose, such as “to reduce,” “to increase,” “to decrease,” and “to expand.” Here’s an example: “The objective of my photographic exhibition is to address the issue of child labor in South Asia.” Objectives must be clear and concise. Your goals and objectives should tie directly to the need statement (I need this money because . . .). The grant reviewer needs to be able to figure out that by the time the goals and objectives are met, the problem or need statement will have been addressed. While this can usually run anywhere from a few pages to several, for this assignment, you need only briefly describe your goals and objectives – though in enough detail as to provide a good example (perhaps a page long).
• Methodology – this section describes which methods you will use to reach your objectives. A method is a detailed description of the activities or strategies to be implemented in order to achieve the end specified in the objectives. This can be presented in narrative form (paragraphs) or in bulleted points – but be sure to include full, descriptive sentences. This is the section in which you explain what methods you will be using for the artistic project and why you have selected those specific methods. This often includes, but is not limited to, a discussion of the following:

Medium and Technique:

• Describe in detail the artwork you intend to accomplish.
• What area or media will you be working in?
• What conceptual approach are you taking with this project? What concerns do you address?
• How do you envision your final product?
• What techniques will you use? Why and how will you use them?

Current Dialogue:

• Cite sources that have inspired you for this proposal.
• Compare the proposed project with past or current work by other artists.
• Describe how your work relates to analogous works in other artistic métier.

Creative Biography:

• What formal or informal training have you had?
• What relevant experience prepared you for this project?
• How does your past work inform this project?

Process:

• How do you plan to accomplish this project?
• Provide a detailed timeline, including preproduction research
• Production schedule, itemizing tasks and allocating time and organization for each postproduction work, if applicable

Outcomes:

• How will this project or product enhance your interests and skills, directions and opportunities for further work?
• Exhibition, presentation, performance or publication: How, where and when do you plan to present your work?

Budget – details the funds you will need to carry out the artistic project. Every item that’s written in the budget must tie into the rest of the proposal. Funders want to know exactly where their dollars will be going. The budget section can be itemized using topics such as art tools, framing costs, film rolls, travel expenses, and so forth. Depending on your project, this may also sometimes include living expenses (i.e. if you have to live in a certain area for three months to paint a series of landscape pieces). Usually, the grant application will outline what is or is not covered, so you would necessarily work from that. But when in doubt, it’s better to cover everything you will need rather than not ask for enough. You have to be sure, however, that you will be able to explain the need for each item on your budget, if asked.

For those of you choosing to create a grant proposal/application, you can either choose to respond to one that exists (a real call for grant proposals) or imagine your potential funder. Normally, in a regular semester, you’d spend more time on this particular assignment and develop it more fully, but since we are severely limited by time (and have so many other writing projects to complete), your grant proposal will necessarily be an abbreviated version, but should nevertheless give you an idea of what would be required. It could even serve as the foundation for a real grant proposal in the future (from which you would rework or revise to respond to that particular proposal).