KAF16 – It’s Kresge Time

Whoa, I was just getting the hang of being a Kresge Fellow, and it’s already time to gear up for the next cycle. When do these KAID folks sleep? Anyway, if you don’t know, Kresge Fellowships are these incredibly boss annual awards that go to two sets of disciplines, which rotate every other year. We just had Visual Art/Literary Arts (I’m one of those), and 2016 will be Film & Music/Live Arts (which includes theater, dance, whatnot). Here’s some info about it, and here’s the real payload, the KAID website, which includes the access point to the application.

Be like this lady, just jamming her heart out on the bassoon or whatever.

And here’s a little real talk: START YOUR APPLICATION NOW. Today. Start today. I know, it is so tempting to put it off – there is soooo much time. But there isn’t. Because there’s holidays and seasonal affective disorder, and there’s stuff you might need to do, like getting your documentation together or putting together a C.V. and everyone knows that’s super-boring and you probably don’t want to deal with it more than 20 minutes at a time.

Being a great dancer takes daily practice and discipline, and so does turning in a great Kresge application!

Here’s the thing, though. If you start now, you really only have to deal with it 20 minutes at a time. Just work on it a little bit, every day, or every other day, and by the time we’re closing in on the deadline, instead of scrambling to get something half-assed in at the last minute, only to fall victim to tech failure and miss out entirely, you will find yourself looking over your application with days to spare, thinking, “Huh, I really nailed this thing.”

That’s what I did, and that’s how I felt, when I turned mine in early. That I did the best I could, and if it wasn’t good enough, well, at least I knew I tried my hardest. It worked out. And you know, even if you don’t get one of those spots (I think you will though, I have a good feeling), it is not a wasted effort. Taking time to really think about your practice, document the work you spend a huge part of your life on, put together a professional-looking list of your accomplishments–these are TOOLS and they are USEFUL TOOLS for your art practice. For other grants. For potential jobs.

Just do this thing, is what I’m saying. Do it! I believe in you!!