Freelance Futurism Commissions Q&A (English)

What do you mean by community?

The community your project is aimed at might be all cultural freelancers, or those working in a specific industry, or those from a specific demographic or who share an aspect of their identity. Or it may be an intersection of industry, location, and identity.

What is a “need” – and does it need to be proven with data? Will you be asking for estimates of how many people will benefit and how they’ll benefit?

We trust you to know and tell us what the struggles are in your community. We don’t need you to take a survey or pass on data – we know that the freelance community is already under researched, so this would already be an unfair ask. We trust you as freelancers, experts in your own lives and communities, to know what the problems that need fixing are.

We are looking for projects that can run sustainably and have a long-lasting impact. We are, therefore, wary of the idea that the more people one can “get through the door” of a project, the more value it offers. Instead, we are looking for projects that can grow with their communities. We would rather support a project that might seem to have a small reach initially, but with lots of potential to last and grow, than a project that will reach far but not be able to run again. We also don’t want to burn out the freelancers who build these projects. We would love to hear from you who you will impact, how you will do so, and how the project might be able to grow and adapt in the future.

What will we be asked at the end of CFW’s support of the project?

We will be answering to ACW for our grant, so it would be great at the end of the grant to hear from you how the project went. We will ask for an overview of how the project went, what went well, if you had any struggles, and what you would want to see from CFW if we ran this grant again. (This is what we are hoping to do.) We will also be checking in with you over the course of the project.

We want to acknowledge that we aim for these projects to be long lasting and sustainable, but that that takes time. The questions we will ask in August are not intended as a judgement on the quality of value of these projects, nor a suggestion that the effects of these projects can be completely assessed at that time. Hopefully your community will be seeing the ripple effects of these projects long past August. As your project develops beyond August, we would be happy to hear any further updates if you wish to share them with us or the CFW community – it would both make our team very happy but also make it easier for us to apply for further funding to run more grants like this in the future.

Where can the activity take place? Where can it not?

The activity should be to support cultural freelancers in Wales, but it can be delivered in ways that work best for your project. The project might take place entirely online, only in one location, or in several locations, but provided it is oriented towards supporting your freelancer community in Wales it would be welcome to apply to the Freelance Futurism Grant.

Can CFW help with promotion of the selected projects?

Yes, we can promote the projects via our own social media, newsletter, and those of our partners, and can suggest resources on marketing. If you feel you might need promotion support beyond this, then you might want to add marketing to your budget.

Are there any guidelines about what equipment can or cannot be bought for the project?

No. We trust you to ask for what’s needed. Provided it’s reasonable and is going to benefit a community of freelancers, we are open to funding equipment.

How does the accessibility pot work?

The accessibility pot is for you and the other facilitators of your project (i.e. other freelancers you hire to deliver the project). It is currently budgeted at between £1500 and £2000 per project, but as some projects will not need this much, we can discuss with you if your project
might need more. It is for access requirements related specifically to disability and illness.

Unfortunately, this access pot is not accessible to participants of your project, only those involved in building it. This is the way the Arts Council Wales funding that we have received is structured. Access for participants will need to come out of the main budget of the project.

Is funding to be bilingual “access”?

Unfortunately not – Welsh language translation does not come under the access budget, and should come from the main budget.

Do you have recommended day rates for freelancers?

CFW team members, and those that we hire, generally work for a day rate (8 hours) of £200 or an hourly rate of £25.

What is the timeline of the project?

We will be able to commit to actively support the projects until August, when we as CFW will enter our phase of evaluation for our own funding. It’s fine (and encouraged!) if the projects continue beyond that point, but we will be less able to support these projects.

What are the alternate applications methods?

You can apply via Google forms in English or Welsh, or submit an audio or video recording in which you answer the questions via Google Drive, WeTransfer or Dropbox. If you do this, please send your application to hello@cfw.wales, with the subject title “FREELANCE
FUTURISM COMMISSIONS APPLICATION”. The questions are available in a Word document to facilitate this application method.

Can it be part of a bigger project?

Yes. Please let us know in your application – there is a space to describe other funding you might be applying for or have received.

Can it be an event (e.g. annual event)?

Yes, provided you have a plan for how this will have a sustainable future (i.e. to reoccur) or lasting impact.

Can the project be to research a problem and what needs to be done about it, rather than a full ready-made solution?

Yes, if that is what is needed. One of the first things CFW addressed when we were founded was that there was a huge lack of data and that’s one of the things that we sought to remedy – and we are still researching – look out for our third research project later this year! So we are very aware that sometimes the need is for research, and a research project
would also fulfil our hope that these projects can be sustainable or create ongoing change – research will last, it can be built upon.