Purpose
The Ausdance ACT Covid-19 Small Grants Fund has been established to provide modest but useful one-off financial assistance to local dancers experiencing negative impacts on their dance activities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Examples of Covid-19 negative impacts are – pre-Covid personal or family income reduced due to the Covid-19 economic situation, resulting in aspects of needed dance activities being unaffordable to the dancer; likely personal income earning opportunities removed due to Covid-19 public health restrictions, resulting in a significant drop in anticipated income of the dancer for 2020. An applicant may be experiencing more than one negative impact.
The total available funds for these small grants, are limited. Applications must be made on the form provided, below.
Application Guidelines
What the Ausdance ACT Covid-19 Small Grants Fund offers
The Fund offers eligible applicants a one-off payment of up to $750 to support an applicant’s professional or pre-professional dance activities. Without limiting what an applicant might seek support for, Ausdance ACT envisages that a grant might be used for –
Assistance with the costs of classes, training, assessment or auditions, the costs of which are very difficult or impossible for the applicant to meet, because of financial impacts on the applicant of the Covid-19 lockdown
Assistance with materials and items needed by the applicant for training or performance
Contribution to a fair payment for a professional public performance by the applicant
Contribution to professional career experience and development of an applicant who is an early career dance artist.
The application process is simple (see attached form). Applications must be submitted by email and will be assessed by the Director and 2 Board members and responded to quickly.
Eligibility
The applicant must -
(1) live in the ACT or live in the near-surrounding region and work or study, or otherwise regularly be, in the ACT;
(2) be suffering negative impacts on their dance activities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic; and
(3) be:
· A pre-professional dance student aged 15-22, and/or
· A professional independent practitioner in dance or dance theatre regardless of career stage.
Applications are strongly encouraged from dancers living with a disability and/or from socially or culturally diverse backgrounds.
Ausdance ACT employees and board members are not eligible to apply.
Assessment
Decisions will be made by an independent panel of Ausdance ACT Director and 2 Board members experienced in assessing small grant applications.
The panel will convene to make funding decisions as applications come in. Applicants will receive a response as quickly as possible, and no later than two weeks after Ausdance ACT has received application.
The decision to award assistance is a matter for the absolute discretion of the panel. Their decisions will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. The panel has the right to impose such terms as they consider appropriate.
Reporting on a grant
A condition of being given a grant is that the successful applicant provides a short, written report, with any useful attachments (such as receipts) on their use of the grant.