Research project

Affects of Funding in the Arts

Lead researcher:

Professor Daniel Ashton
Status:

Active

Project overview

Exploring the lived experiences of applying for funding is a vital way to identify funding challenges, collaborations and futures. To examine funding application opportunities and processes, this project will focus on arts professionals responsible for applying for funding – the pivotal, intermediary “connector” role (Reddington in REACT, 2013) operating at the meeting point of funders, organisations and publics. Recognising the challenging conditions and passionate investments associated with this role and working in the arts, the concept of “affect” will be developed to understand ‘moments of resentment, kindness, grumpiness, ennui and feeling good’ (Wetherall, 2012). By combining theories of “affect” with empirical research into funding processes and practices, this project will present distinctive insights into the delight and despair behind the data and decisions on arts funding, and establish priorities for future research projects.