In the ordinary world, poetry isn’t the real winner. My poetry lecturer frequently laments the fact that Tim Winton outsells him 500 to one, and most aspiring poets would find it difficult to convince their neighbours to switch off the television and listen to a spoken word performance instead.

Most aspiring poets’ neighbours don’t know what they’re missing.

The final event of Canberra’s You Are Here festival brought together the capital’s finest spoken word poets for an afternoon to prove that yes, poetry can be the real winner.

Poetry slams aren’t a more cultured version of the rap battles in movies like 8 Mile, as some (me) may have been anticipating. They’re poetry readings, but with more attitude than the ones you encountered in high school.

At Poetry Is The Real Winner (the brainchild of slam poetry family patriarchs Andrew Galan from BAD! SLAM! NO! BISCUIT! and Julian Fleetwood from Traverse Poetry) the audience was treated to poems about the city of Cocksville, sex with Lego and talking breakfasts.

Raphael was the star of the afternoon. His poems had depth that defied his youthful appearance, including a haunting but brilliant poem about the night that Canberra burnt down and “we didn’t notice because we were in the Phoenix reading poetry”.  There is nothing like hearing about the silver goon bag in Garema Place shaking off its blanket of homeless people and soaring into to the sky while those odd metal sheep statues outside the Canberra Centre Subway come to life.

The audience loved Malcolm’s piece about poets and authors in a mock-horse race, read in horse racing commentary style. He also performed a very sweet, longing poem about the class divide in Canberra and sneaking glances at upper class women on Murray’s buses.
The lack of female performers was a little disappointing. Surely there are more lady performance poets in the nation’s capital than the sole female poet, Ali McGregor? Her poems, particularly her piece on why solace trumps hope, were strong and heartfelt, but it would have been lovely to see some more girls on stage too.

It was heartening to see that poetry can exist (and thrive, judging by the packed Phoenix bar) outside of classrooms and musty textbooks. It’s events like these that will help your bogan neighbours to come around to the idea that poetry can be the real winner, as long as they’re back in their lounge room before Home and Away starts.

Competition for arts funding is notoriously tough. If I was a successful applicant, I’d create a reality television show called Survivor: Starving Artist  – Outwit, Out Art and Out Grant-Apply the Others. Paint would be spilled and words hurled in compelling prime-time viewing.

Bad television aside, successful art grant applications are few and far between. Even acclaimed Australian authors like Tony Eaton struggle to score funding for projects. He has received just three grants in his entire writing career, one of which was for a $200 flight (another was for an all expenses paid trip to Antarctica though, so let’s not feel too sorry for him).

If you’re an aspiring arts grant recipient or looking for some extra cash to get a project off the ground, do not despair. Here is the best advice from Yes, Granted, a joint Scissors Paper Pen and You Are Here festival arts funding discussion panel featuring artist Jacqueline Bradley, authors Tony Eaton and Nigel Featherstone and artsACT’s Mia Ching – or, Canberra’s most qualified arts funding experts.

Learn how to write a grant application

Seems like common sense, right? Wrong.  artsACT’s Mia Ching reads hundreds of grants every year and said that a well-written, well-thought out application can be the difference between receiving funding and not.

While she has seen a lot of “dud” applications, she’s never seen a dud idea. So if you’ve missed out on funding, it’s probably because of flaws in your application, rather than the project or concept itself.

Funding bodies need to see that their money will be spent on something tangible. Clearly mapping out your project in the application is good, Ching said. Defining exactly what you plan to achieve with the grant is better.

This approach worked for artist Jacqueline Bradley, who successfully applied for funding to transport works from Canberra to Melbourne for an exhibit. She said that being explicit in her application about how the money would be spent was a likely reason for being approved.

Being a great artist with an incredible vision doesn’t guarantee that you’ll secure funding. Knowing the difference between “you’re” and “your” and being able to spell helps too.

Use rejections

No matter how awesome your application-writing skills are, you will still get rejected. While rejections are a good excuse to wallow and convince yourself that you’ll never create anything ever again, Ching says that they’re also a good way to improve and evaluate your professional practice. She recommended viewing “the outcome [of the grant application] as not essential.”

“Even if you don’t get it, you’ve been forced to define your work and what you need to do, regardless of the outcome.

“It’s annoying, and embarrassing, but it’s also a good exercise,” she said.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. It is incredibly rare for someone to get accepted for an artsACT grant the first time they apply, but the applicants who ask for feedback tend to do a lot better the second time than those that don’t.

Ching estimated that about one in four applications to artsACT are granted, so your chances of eventually receiving a grant are high. Do apply more than once – a lot of artists have landed funding on their fourth or fifth application.

Do your work anyway

Don’t wait for funding to write that ten-book fantasy epic, or you’ll never start. If your project is worth doing, you’ll find a way to get it done without funding, Eaton said. He said that in some ways, not getting funding approvals was “healthy”, because it forced him to get work done regardless.

“Grants are kind of unimportant in their own way. They’re nice, they’re helpful, but things get done anyway,” he said.

Fiction writer Nigel Featherstone agrees. “If there’s a project where you absolutely need a grant, go for it, but if you don’t, just plough on and get it done.”

Grants don’t count as income

“You need to tell yourself right at the start that ‘yes, there is arts money out there, but the odds aren’t in your favour.’… If you’re going to be an artist, try to assume that you will not get funding,” Eaton said.

Artist Bradley pointed out that grants shouldn’t be thought of as an income source. “They’re a supplement,” she said. While she doesn’t make “buyable” work (“I made an inflatable boat dress,” she joked. “No one wants that in their house!”), she doesn’t rely on grants to make a living. Instead, she lectures at ANU’s art school and does small commissioned pieces as her primary source of income.

There you go, aspiring arts grant recipients. Get better at writing. Make your vision clear. Learn from rejection and make your art anyway. I look forward to seeing your funded projects in a gallery or bookshop soon.

It will happen. Eventually.