One of the biggest hidden barriers to inclusion are financial ones. If you are living with disability in Australia then it is more likely that you are living below the poverty line than any other group of Australians – 45% of people with disability live in poverty in Australia. That’s almost 1 in 2 and is more than twice the average OECD level of 22%.This is one of the reasons why Creatives Collective is actively seeking funding for all of the group’s activities. We want as many local artists with disability to be able to access quality art education, community and leverage support and promotion of each other for as little financial cost as possible. Free if we can.
We make no bones about the fact that if there is a grant that will cover something that will benefit local disabled artists then we are going to go for it. Being able to access what is taken for granted by non-disabled people takes many hours of hard work, and is certainly not an easy hand-out,despite what some people in the community believe. So far over 40 hours of grant writing has taken place – and there’s plans for many more hours to come.
It was very exciting to hear back about our first grant application today from the Warrumbungle Shire Council who have awarded us a Community Financial Assistance Donation for the $167 the group requires to incorporate. This grant may seem small, but it is the first step to being able to apply for grants under our own name. We currently use the excellent services of the 2357 Partnership Inc to auspice our grants, and they earn every dollar of the fees they charge to perform that service, but being independent was one of the group’s first decisions and incorporation is step one to achieving that.
If you want to help us get grants we are always looking for people to write supporting letters for the grants we are going for. These usually involve explaining your interest/connection with Creatives Collective and why you think we should get the funding (we help with pointing out the hot topics that the grant givers want to see covered). If that sounds like you then please send us an email to info@creativescollective.org and will contact you back!
Fingers crossed this is the first of many grants in the coming months.
