The budget goes hand-in-hand with the project brief. It is a description of the project in numbers. Remember to be realistic and to pay the artist appropriately. The whole process can often be more time-consuming than you imagine. For Year of the Artist Projects in 2000, the Arts Council of England recommended that artists should be paid at least £150 per day. Artists are usually freelance and for them any time spent on a project is working time. Therefore, when costing the artists fees, remember to include time for meetings, gathering materials, preparation and evaluation as well as contact time. The artist may also need to spend some time carrying out research for which they should also be paid appropriately.
Other elements of the budget will vary significantly from project to project. Some of the other items of expenditure you may need to consider are:
- Marketing and publicity
- Materials
- Travel
- Room hire
- Evaluation
- Administration and administration costs such as postage and photocopying
- Project management
- Fees for support workers
- Costs for accommodating special needs such as a translator or a crèche
- Insurance
- Installation costs for exhibitions or permanent artworks
- A contingency for unforeseen items - usually about 5%
You will also need to consider how you will fund the project. It is a waste of everyone's time to go through a full recruitment procedure to select an artist until funding is in place. If you need to raise funds for the project, make sure you allow enough time. Eighteen months is ideal as some trusts and charities may only meet once a year. The lottery scheme for grants up to £5000 - Awards for All, has made an effort to make decisions quickly but even so you should allow at least six months from the date of application to the date when your project is due to start.