Overseas study (Part 2: 2 of 3)...Fundraising: Trusts & scholarships...

Believe it or not, there is more money out there for singers than we think there is. It just takes many many hours of searching for them, finding out what they are and their relevance, and finally being disciplined (some would call it being anal) enough to put them in order and mark each of the closing dates so you don't miss out on any opportunity. 

One fantastic resource that will help you to find information regarding trusts & scholarships (among other things like auditions and competitions) is YAP Tracker. This is a premium service (ie, requires money) and is essentially a search engine for upcoming scholarships, auditions, trusts and of course, Young Artist Programmes (YAPs) worldwide. It currently costs USD $55 for one year or $95 for two. You choose what types of things you want to be notified about and also specify which countries you want these things to come out of. Save the preferences and they send you any new updates right to your inbox daily. Of course, you're able to do a standard search as well just in case you want to search for other things outside of your chosen preferences. You can even upload your CV with cover letter, have it at the ready and have YAP Tracker send the application in for you. I've never tried this feature but I can imagine people do use it.

Trusts & Scholarships

Similarly with the donations,  when I applied for trusts & scholarships I would send through a copy of my sponsorship brief for them to peruse. This was done to show them that I had approached other individuals and organisations, proving to them that I was making a serious effort at raising the money by other means, not just relying on them, and  that I had a realistic chance reaching my target. 

TRUSTS & PEOPLE THAT RUN SCHOLARSHIPS ARE ESSENTIALLY BUSINESSES AND WILL USUALLY ONLY SUPPORT INDIVIDUALS THEY BELIEVE WILL SUCCEED. 

Trusts & organisations that run scholarships will be more inclined to help you if you can show them that you are doing everything in your power to raise the money you need. It's usually a good thing to say that you've saved up "x" amount and that your target is "x" and you need help to get there. Tell them your avenues of raising this money (i.e. other trusts, scholarships, fundraising concerts) and MAKE SURE you mention their particular trust/scholarship and how you believe in their mission of helping musicians like yourself reach their goals/dreams. I won't say you need to suck up to them, but a little ego stroking goes a long way.

Cover letter with a very brief mentioning their strong support of the arts...yours should stroke more ego!

There's not too much more I can say about applying to trusts/scholarships other than make sure you read  CAREFULLY over all their requirements and fulfil them to the letter, no matter how mundane or stupid they may be. Their money, their rules! Lastly, even if it doesn't call for one, make sure you include a recording with it as well so that can put a voice to the application. 

It usually helps to keep in touch with them every month or so while they are providing financial assistance. Having said that, you will usually be required to provide a report of some description at the completion of your course or project. This needs to be quite detailed and usually requires you to provide a financial blow-by-blow account of where their money went. 

Below is a sample list of trust and scholarship websites that I looked into for myself before my heading to the UK. Hopefully they will be of some use to you.

Stay tuned for "Overseas study (Part 2.3)" where we'll look at how to present fundraising concerts/events...

Trusts:

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Tait Memorial Trust (for Australians in the UK)

The Australia Council Grants

Opus 50 Charitable Trust

Ars Musica Australis Fellowships

The Seaborn Broughton Walford Foundation

Ian Potter Cultural Trust

PPCA Performers' Trust Foundation

Australia-Britain Society - NSW Branch

The Countess of Munster Musical Trust
(for Commonwealth citizens in the UK)

Simon Fletcher Charitable Trust (for singers in the UK)

Scholarships:

Sir Robert William Askin
Operatic Scholarship

Marten Bequest
Travelling Scholarship

Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust
Scholarship Program

Australian Music Foundation
 (for singers planning to go/are already in the UK)

ABRSM International Scholarship
(for those enrolling into the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal Northern College of Music or Royal Conservatoire of Scotalnd)

Chevening Scholarships

Opera Foundation Australia

Commonwealth Scholarships
(for those wishing to study in the UK)

Overseas study (Part 2: 1 of 3)...Fundraising: Donations

So, you've decided that overseas study is the way to go and you've roughly worked out how much money you need to save...how are you going to raise all those funds, you ask? The simple answer...?Any way you can!

For me, fundraising fell into three categories:

1) Donations

2) Trusts & scholarships

3) Concerts & events

I'm going to walk through each one of these processes and hopefully by the end of it, you'll have found it worthwhile.

Donations

Receiving donations is amazing. I mean, who doesn't love free money? Having said that, as the saying goes, nothing comes for free. Unless you're receiving money from your parents (and even then), donations should never be viewed as just free money, but seen rather as a trade. You should ALWAYS give something back, or at least offer something in return, even if it seems unnecessary. Your reciprocation to a donation could be as small as keeping people in touch with your progress via e-mail, to publicly thanking them by placing their name on a list of donors. By making what may seem as a small gesture, it could pay off dividends in the future if you ever need to seek donations again in the future.

Australian Business Arts Foundation

One fantastic resource for Australian artists is the Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF). This foundation  facilitates in accepting tax deductible donations on behalf of artists with a particular goals in mind through the Australia Cultural Fund (ACF). You would need to write to them to explain your project and they would then need to approve it. Once approved, your profile goes up on their website and you will be able to begin accepting donations either through the mail or online. 

The way the the ACF is able to pass on the tax deductible status onto you is this. Any donation you obtain will go into the pot at the ACF. When donors donate, they are asked who their preferred recipient would be and a record is made of how much money is coming in towards your project. The board of trustees meet (I believe) every month and money is allocated accordingly. As far as I'm aware, all money that is tagged for you as a preferred recipient will go to you and not to any other project. For more information please see the link in the previous paragraph.

Sponsorship Booklets

My first fundraising initiative was the creation of a 12-page A4 sized (3 x A3 double-sided) sponsorship brief booklet. These briefs were split into two categories; businesses and individuals. The contents of these two booklets were identical except for the sponsorship packages on page 4. The 12-page booklet looked as follows:

- p1:      Front cover

- p2-3:   Cover letter requesting sponsorship

- p4:      Sponsorship packages

- p5:      Expenses (tuition, accommodation, living expenses)

- p6-8:  Three letters of reference 

             (I had one from Opera Australia, Victorian Opera and my singing teacher)

- p9-11: CV

- p12:    Back cover      

The idea of sponsorship packages was taken and adapted from Art Centre Melbourne's philanthropy model. I didn't have much to offer in way of reciprocation except for my singing, so I offered that, along with tickets to my upcoming fundraising concerts and public recognition. For more details see the two pictures below.

Business Sponsorship Packages

Individual Sponsorship Packages

I ended up printing over 120 of these booklets (Business and Individual combined) a good 10 months before I was even ready to head to the UK. I don't exactly remember, but I may have printed them before I had even heard back from the colleges...quite a risky move...

In hindsight, (and something I would recommend anyone that plans on making a booklet similar to this one), I would say delay creating a booklet until AFTER official letters have arrived and you've accepted. Having the official letter and being able to scan it into your booklet will be another selling point for your cause. Because my booklet was full of "am going to" or "I plan to" it was all a little bit uncertain, and people will more likely support you if they know you've already secured a spot.

If you've had a look through the booklet you'll notice that I also included something one other thing before when sending this out, that being, my audition CD. This disc contained three arias of contrasting styles showing me in my best light. THIS IS A MUST as even if you look terrific on paper, it still means squat if you can't produce the goods. If you can include a professional recording that would be ideal, however if you can do it with say a mini-disc recorder and a room with good acoustics, that should work well too.

It takes money to make money...

At the end of the day you want everything to look as professional as possible! Treat this as one business person dealing with another, and not a needy student begging for scraps. For this reason alone don't print these booklets off your inkjet at home. Have them done by a company that specialises in printing. Yes it will cost money, but remember that the organisations, businesses and individuals you send this to will have most likely received applications similar to this on more than one occasion. YOU NEED TO STAND OUT!

I used Kwik Kopy to print off my books and also all my promotional material used for my fundraising concerts. They were a little on the pricy side, but I had established a great rapport with them and because I was bringing in so much of my printing to them they gave me a discount. The results looked amazing and the booklets really made quite an impact.

(For those who are interested, the print was done on 3 double-sided A3 gloss 170gsm and saddle stitched down the middle.)

So, after I created my little booklet I needed to work out who to target. This actually took a bit of thinking, but I began with places that I had a relationship with. I target places like my old high school and it's Old Boys association, organisations that I had done concerts with, places I used to work for etc. This list wasn't that big and I needed to think bigger. I went to the Opera Australia website and looked at who their sponsors were and targeted each of them, both the companies and individuals (or at least the ones that I could find a mailing address to). I looked at other arts websites such as The Australian Ballet, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and targeted their sponsors as well. I also had a look at the Philanthropy Australia website which provided a few possible leads as well. In regards to individuals, obviously look for wealthy people that support the arts in some way, and not just anybody that's wealthy! Looking a people that donate to organisations such Arts Centre Melbourne or the Sydney Opera House would be a great place to start.

One thing I noticed was that large businesses and organisations was that they were much less likely to help individuals. They usually liked helping communities or groups with certain goals in mind that would benefit more than just one person. That's not to say don't try them as you may find you get something else out of them than money, but don't be surprised if you get a lot of rejections.

Speaking of rejections...YOU ARE GOING TO GET A LOT!!! It's inevitable! I know rejection sucks but you need to factor that a lot of people will say "No" to your call for help. And you know what? That's ok. It's their money and they can spend it anyway they want. All you really need though is one or two "Yes" and believe me, it'll make all the hard work and heartache from the "No" seem worthwhile.

After all that, I sum it up to these four main points:

- Sign up to the the AbaF ASAP so you can reap the benefits of tax-deductible donations
- Stand out like a professional, present professionally and people will remember you
- Always give something back for people's generosity
- Target businesses, organisation or individuals that you have a relationship with, or, target those that are involved and/or are passionate about supporting the arts.

Next entry will be on focussing on Trusts & Scholarships...stay tuned...

Overseas study (Part 1)...Costs involved

I'm a musician...an opera singer to be precise. Up until two months ago I was in London doing some independent study after dropping out of a Masters of Performance at the Royal College of Music (RCM)...(I'll explain more of that later)...Before arriving at RCM I was a full-time chorister for Opera Australia. It was a great job, one of the rare full-time jobs one could get as a classical singer in Australia. Like many young singers, I have aspirations to become a principal artist and I wanted to give it a real go so I decided to leave the chorus.

Royal College of Music

I was told by a number of people that if I wanted to be taken seriously as a soloist in Australia  (especially at Opera Australia) I would need to go overseas and get more experience, specifically through a college. These music colleges are prestigious institutions with long standing reputations, with celebrated alumni of the likes of Dame Joan Sutherland, Peter Pears, Alfie Boe, Gerald Finley and many more. I had it on good authority that they would be comparable to the Young Artist Programmes (YAPs) offered by our state and national opera companies here in Australia.

My fundraising booklet for Sydney

I did a lot of fundraising to get over to London. It drove me nuts, but I did it because while it was crazy and ridiculously exhausting, it was also incredibly rewarding. That, and I really needed the money to go! I calculated a cost of approximately $125,000 to cover the two years of tuition, accommodation and living/other expenses. Now, it might sound a little excessive, but let me break it down...

Tuition

Royal College of Music International student fees x 2 years = £39,240 ($60,972~ AUD)

(This number is based upon my yearly fees of £19,620 not taking into account inflation)

Accommodation

Let's assume you decided to live on your own at somewhere like Goodenough College or Victoria League for the two years.

Goodenough College 

£159 per week (1BR) x 104 weeks 
= £16,536 ($25,680~ AUD)

Victoria League

£129.50 per week (1BR) x 104 weeks 
= £13,468 ($20,920~ AUD)

Living/Other Expenses

Annual student oyster card (Zone 1-2) x 2 
= £1,632 x ($2,534~ AUD)

Average food allowance of £100 per week x 104 
= £10,816 ($16,792~ AUD)

(includes groceries, modest eating out & drinking)

Average music related expenses over two years 
= £5,500~ ($8,556~ AUD)

(includes concerts, texts, scores, coaching, summer schools etc.)

Initial flight from Melbourne to London  
= $1,885~

Return flight for London to Melbourne  
= £1,070~ ($1,662~ AUD)

Flight home from London to Melbourne 
= £645~ ($1,001~ AUD)

Initial UK (Tier 4 student) visa application fee
= £394 ($613~ AUD)

Sundry expenses for two years = £3,000~ ($4,659~ AUD)

(medical, clothing, travel, emergency funds)

If you add up all the red highlighted numbers you'll get $124,354~

Now, of course, these numbers are approximate figures and I'm sure you could do it cheaper if need be. I know of a number of people that didn't raise anywhere near that amount and they survive, if only just. It requires a lot of discipline, running a tight ship by not travelling around too much, keeping your outings to a minimum, shopping mainly at Poundland/Iceland for groceries, limiting your music expenses, etc...essentially you'd need to save every penny. 

(NB: This estimate is also based upon the assumption that you will not be employed during this time and solely focus on your studies.)

My point is this..it's not financially easy living overseas, especially in London, and it's definitely better to over budget than under when initially planning. Begin fundraising as early as possible, apply for scholarships, enter competitions, do anything you can to save as much as you can because you're going to need every cent!

My next blog will look at different avenues for fundraising so please stay tuned...