Have recently been refused funding by ACE (arts council england) for the 2nd time on the same project. It is an RnD project to develop a community box which will allow new ways of art engagement with locality and local groups using digital technologies that will be available on in specified locations.
The 1st application was refused because of a mix up with the budget. This would have taken about a minute to sort out on the phone..
The 2nd refusal was due to, err, not enough money and we prioritised other projects..
Shortly we are going to put a 3rd attempt.. To assess eligibility, it costs ACE around £2k worth of working time, so including the 3rd attempt, it might cost, so far, around £6k – and this will grow if they refuse again, because we are convinced this project should be done.
In other words, they might spend more than the proposed budget, yet the last excuse was financial…
I understand that in large organisations such as Arts Council England there are budgets for different activities, hence money for assessments is not the same as money for projects.
However, surely someone might look at the overall picture? Here are some dudes with a good idea. Arts council said twice it was a very good idea – not just me. What would you do if you had a good project in need of funding? Would you not keep knocking..?