FUNDRAISING FOR LITERATURE RESEARCH TENDER
Background
Free Word (FW) and the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) have been awarded funding by Arts Council England from the Catalyst Arts: building fundraising capacity programme. Both organisations have a need and desire to diversity their funding streams as part of their long term business plans.
Looking more widely, FW and BCLT have jointly identified a common need across the literature sector in its broadest sense. At present the literature sector is not as good as many other arts sectors at fundraising, and in particular is not from getting philanthropic support from individuals. In general, the literature sector is heavily dependent on the Arts Council and on funding from a narrow range of Trusts and Foundations.
Furthermore, while individuals have sometimes begun to pilot models like crowdsourcing to raise money, there is little current drive to find new, and more diverse models for funding. Literature as a whole has not got a good track record of advocating for funding for literature and translation; BCLT and FW have indentified the need to learn the language of philanthropy and how to advocate our work - particularly on international literature, translation and the flow of ideas and writing around the world - to a wider audience outside the sector and industry.
The Research Brief
At International Translation Day 2013 Koen Von Brockstal offered a fascinating insight into the work that the Flemish Literature House is doing exploring new models of funding literature – including different forms of sponsorship, partnership funding, co-investing and crowd funding. We want to continue this conversation, with a wider range of stakeholders to explore the key questions. The focus will be on how we ensure that continued core funding is available for organisations who work with the flow of ideas and literature around the world, and how we can ensure that the UK continues to be a centre of excellence for this and a leader in this conversation.
The brief is to explore the following questions, and provide a written report that is focused on providing practical and sustainable recommendations for literature organisations, with a particular focus on international literature, translation and free expression. This report will be shared with the wider literature sector, and will be used as the basis for fundraising strategies to be developed by Free Word and BCLT.
Key questions:
· What are the main sources of funding for international literature and translation in the UK currently?
· How do you make the argument for giving to literature? Why are individual donations to literature so low?
· What makes individuals give philanthropically?
· How can we encourage philanthropists to give to literature?
· Internationally what aspects of literature get funded?
· What do funders get in return, and what do they want?
· What methods of fundraising are literature organisations outside of the UK using?
· What lessons can we learn from this?
· How do we engage more corporate donors in giving to literature organisations?
We want this research to look at models from around the world and engage a range of stakeholders who would bring a wider perspective on fundraising, to inform the report. Possible stakeholders may include:
· High level donor and frequent giver to another art form;
· High profile corporate sponsor of the Arts;
· Funding bodies in other English-language countries, such as the National Endowment for the Arts; Canada Council for the Arts; Australia Arts Council;
· Other literature houses from around the world, eg Flemish Literature House and the Wheeler Centre;
· Other centres for translation from around the world, eg Center for the Art of Translation, San Francisco; Vietnam Writers’ Association’s Translation Centre or the Korean Literary Translation Institute
· Arts funders (public and private) and literature organisations in other Asian countries such as Singapore, Japan, China, Korea
· Fundraising Consultant – possibly from elsewhere in the EU;
· Crowd Sourcing organisation eg Unbound or Kickstart;
· Major current literature funder eg Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation;
· European Literature Funder eg NORLA or FILI.
It will include the co-ordination of a half day roundtable discussion that brings together a number of stakeholders to engage in a conversation which will broaden the thinking behind literature fundraising. Other stakeholders will be engaged through a number of phone- or skype-consultancies and their views will feed into the report.
Aims
The aims are to:
· engage a range of stakeholders in exploring the key challenges of fundraising for literature, in particular international literature, translation and free expression;
· engage stakeholders from other industries, or who fund other art forms;
· interrogate innovative and new fundraising methods;
· investigate what makes a donor give money;
· explore the argument we need to make to donors and what they expect from their money;
· research all of the above and provide a concrete report of that research, that focuses on practical solutions.
Timeline (outline)
Deadline for tender: Midday, 26 July 2013
Tender interviews 8 August
Main research period September – November 2013
Final report December 2013
Please submit your tender to by midday, 26 July 2013
Your tender should include your proposed process, timing and a budget, which should not exceed £5000.
Free Word
Free Word works at the meeting point of literature literacy and free expression as a catalyst for collaborations, nationally and internationally, that explore the transformative power of the word.
Established in 2008, Free Word brings together under one roof seven Founder Members - Apples & Snakes; Arvon Foundation; ARTICLE 19; Booktrust; English PEN; The Literary Consultancy; and The Reading Agency - and over 25 Associates to enhance their work and the profile of their sectors.
Free Word runs a year round programme of events - conferences, debates, exhibitions, book launches, film, schools programmes-that push boundaries to promote, protect and democratise the power of the word for creative and free expression.
Free Word is also a dynamic production centre and laboratory. Working in close collaboration with its Founder Members and Associates, Free Word’s three Lines of Enquiry, around translation, the environment and unheard voices, engage a multiplicity of creative voices globally to investigate key questions of our time.
BCLT
BCLT is Britain’sleading centre for the development, promotion and support of literary translation and contemporary writing from around the world. We are part of the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia and a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England.
What we do
• Promote translation and translated literature
• Encourage the production of translated literature
• Supportprofessional literary translators at all stages of their career
• Share models of best practice
• Generate and encourage academic debate
BCLT combines teaching, research and expertise with an ambitious outreach programme. We work in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders in the literature sector to curate events at various festivals across the UK and to deliver training and networking events regionally, nationally and internationally.
www.bclt.org.uk
This work is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England
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