Sunday, October 8, 12-3pm
Thursday, October 12, 7-9pm
Maximum 15 participants
$60 Member* / $75 Regular

Member price accessed with discount code at checkout. Are you a member and don’t know your code? Email [email protected]! Not a member but interested in these perks? Join here!

Women’s Center for Creative Work presents an intensive two part grant writing workshop lead by professional grant writer Beth Pickens!

In Part One,  we will cover an introduction to grant-writing and fundraising for individual artists and small arts organizations (especially queer, trans, people of color, immigrant, and/or female identified) including dispelling myths, financial anxieties, and cultural socialization that prevents these artists from seeking support. We will review the core components of a standard artist’s grant application including artist statement; narrative; budget; and support materials. We’ll discuss the most efficient ways to identify strategic opportunities for you. You will also get a homework assignment!

In Part Two, each participant will submit an online $500 request for professional development activities through the Center for Cultural Innovation’s Quick Grant. For this session, please arrange to bring a laptop.

Beth Pickens is a Los Angeles-based consultant for artists and arts organizations. She provides career consultation, grant writing, fundraising, and financial, project and strategic planning services for clients throughout the US. She earned her M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before relocating to Los Angeles in 2014, Pickens was based in San Francisco where she served as Senior Program Manager at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Managing Director of both RADAR Productions and the Queer Cultural Center. She specializes in supporting queer and trans artists, women, and artists of color. Her forthcoming book Your Art Will Save Your Life will be published by Feminist Press in April 2018.

Pickens understands artists as people who are deeply, profoundly compelled to be creatively engaged. Making work and creative practice are central to an artist’s well-being and how an artist understands and processes being on the planet. She integrates person-centered Rogerian therapy training, financial management and fundraising, feminist analysis and capitalist critique, and goal-oriented actions to move her clients in the direction of their ambition. She focuses on both the internal and the external work necessary to build art careers. Inspired by Emily’s List which raises early money for pro-choice women candidates running for public office, Pickens understands how ‘early money’ and opportunities can push artists’ careers ahead.

After the 2016 election, Pickens responded by producing a tool-kit pamphlet called Making Art During Fascism. You can contact her through her website – bethpickens.com to receive a free copy. A 2.0 updated version is for sale through Women’s Center for Creative Work; all sales 100% benefit the organization. Visit KCHUNG Radio archives to find episodes of her radio shows Person-Centered and Making Art During Fascism.

*All members get 20% off paid programming. A limited number of free spots are also available for Warrior & Goddess level members. Email [email protected] to inquire about free tickets.

Our program costs go directly towards compensation of the instructors and staffers who work the event. We want to make programming as accessible as possible to anyone who is interested, however, so we offer volunteer opportunities in exchange for membership, as well as free community tickets to each program (number varies depending on capacity of the class). Email [email protected] for more info or to find out more about these opportunities for a specific event.