Do it Differently Fund

The Do It Differently Fund is designed to help independent, entrepreneurial music creators build their career by providing grants of £500 - £3,000 to fund professional development opportunities and creative projects at a crucial point in their career. We can support opportunities relating to Recording & Releasing and Touring & Live Development including time to create, access to creative spaces and content creation.

In addition to this, successful applicants will be able to access a suite of development and wellbeing services worth up to £2,000, including business development sessions via ThinkMusic, Featured Artists Coalition PRO membership, education around “healthy” touring practices via BAPAM, online or face-to-face Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and wellbeing tools, specialist hearing assessment, bespoke hearing protection and short-term treatment of performance related conditions.

The fund is open to emerging and professional musicians of all genres and disciplines, with a focus on independent music creators who can evidence self-sufficiency in one or more aspects of their career (e.g. self-managing, self-releasing, self-producing). Applicants can be a solo artist, songwriter, composer, group member, artist/producer or a multidisciplinary artist. We can also support bands or ensembles of up to 6 members.

Please read the application guidelines for further details on eligibility criteria

Through the Do It Differently Fund we can offer grants towards developmental activity under the following two strands:

Recording & Releasing

• Recording costs (studio hire, engineering, mixing, mastering)
• Session musician fees
• PR & Marketing (including social media campaigns and radio plugging)*
• Content creation (video, audio, promotional photography, artwork and design etc)
• Manufacture and distribution
• Merchandise (design and production)
• Access to creative spaces (rehearsal and writing rooms)
• Time to create
• Costs of musical equipment, production and composition software/hardware*

Touring & Live Development

• Touring expenses (accommodation, transport and fuel costs, venue hire, ticketing)
• Session musician and crew fees
• PR and Marketing (including social media campaigns)*
• Content creation (video, audio, promotional photography, artwork and design etc)
• Merchandise (design and production)
• Session musician fees
• Access to creative spaces (rehearsal and writing rooms)
• Time to create
• Costs of musical equipment and performance-focused technology*

Please read the application guidelines for further details on what we can and can't fund.

The Do It Differently Fund includes access to a suite of wellbeing and development services (valued at £2,000) in addition to the project activity grant. The wellbeing package includes:

• Opt in access to the pilot Healthy Touring programme in association with the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) preparing music creators to go on tour and consider risks to health, develop strategies for things to go well and have a plan for what to do when things go wrong.
• Opt in access to health assessment and short-term treatment of performance related conditions via the Emerging Musicians Health Scheme if required.
• Opt in access to specialist hearing assessment and bespoke hearing protection via the Musicians Hearing Health Scheme (delivered in conjunction with Musicians’ Hearing Services and the Musicians’ Union).
• Opt in access to online CBT and wellbeing tools, debt and legal advice via Music Minds Matter.

As part of our holistic approach to grant-giving, all successful applicants will also be required to participate in our new business development sessions to help ensure a path of long-term sustainability in their careers. Delivered in collaboration with ThinkMusic, the offer will provide 2 half day sessions of business development advice with industry experts who are best placed to lead on your chosen topics.  This will enable the recipient to work on ideas following an initial consultation with opportunities for subsequent feedback.

All awardees of the Do It Differently Fund are also provided with one year of PRO Featured Artist Coalition (FAC) membership. All FAC PRO members are able to access free pro bono legal advice, free access to all FAC events, example management contracts, exclusive networking opportunities and much more.

Firstly, please read the application guidelines which set out in detail what we’re looking for.

There are multiple deadlines per year and decisions will usually be made within 4 weeks of the application deadline. Remember that we cannot fund retrospectively, so please check when the funding period begins before making your application.

Application round	Applications open	Deadline	Results	Funding period begins
Round 1	27 April 2020	21 May 2020	19 June 2020	6 July 2020

Application is by online form. You will be asked to provide a biography outlining your artistic achievements and career highlights to date along with details of the specific project or activity you wish to apply for funding for and a summary of how this activity will benefit your progression and future career as an independent music creator. You should also be able to evidence the elements of your career to date in which you have displayed self-sufficiency, and how this creative independence will factor in to your upcoming project.

You will be required to provide recent examples of your music as weblinks.

You must also supply a reference from a reputable musician or industry professional not connected with your application. 

All materials including your reference must be received by the closing date otherwise your application will be considered ineligible.

Once the deadline for applications has passed, applicants will be shortlisted for consideration by a panel of industry experts who will inform the final decision based on the strength of their music, projects and supporting reference. 

The Do It Differently Fund is our most highly subscribed, competitive funding initiative to date. We receive hundreds of applications per round, on average totalling over £1,000,000 in grant requests. By comparison, we are currently only able to award a total of £60,000 in project grants each round. It is inevitable that with all open funding programmes there are some difficult decisions to be made, and the Do It Differently Fund is no different.

We understand that preparing a funding application is a very different skillset to that of being an artist, and for some, it may take time, persistence and further support to build on. We want all music creators to be able to submit the best standard of application possible and we strongly encourage you to take the following steps if you are unsuccessful on this occasion:

• If your application proceeds to this round’s decision panel but does not go on receive grant support, we will offer you a phone call to receive bespoke feedback from the panellists. This can be very useful for revising and improving your application. We often see applicants incorporate this feedback and go on to be successful in future funding rounds.
• As a small team with limited capacity, we unfortunately cannot offer tailored feedback to all applicants. If your application does not proceed to the panel this time round, please take up an opportunity to have an application development chat with one of the Creative team, in order that you can talk through your project and your next application in advance of resubmitting. You can contact the team during office hours, either on creative@helpmusicians.org.uk, or by calling 020 7239 9119. We will arrange a time to speak with you in more detail.
• Twice a year, our team hits the road to offer regional funding advice sessions. In the most recent run, we visited 13 different locations across the UK regions offering artists the opportunity to book in for half hour, one-to-one sessions to discuss their creative projects and top-tips on how to apply for funding. Subscribe to our newsletter and keep an eye out for when the first run of 2020 will be!
• We have a number of resources on our website that offer advice on how to best approach a Do it Differently Fund application. For general top tips on applying to the Fund, see our Q&A with Creative Programme Officer, Joe Danher. Joe has also written a budget-specific blog, which should give you an idea of the level of detail expected when breaking down your project costs. A new blog on how to prepare a high-end video application will also be available shortly.
• You may be eligible for other funding initiatives offered by the charity, in addition to opportunities available through PRS Foundation, Arts Council, BPI and other like-minded organisations. We are frequently updating our Funding Wizard; a very helpful search tool where you’ll be able to find details of all the funding initiatives we offer through the Creative Programme as well as those available further afield.
• The majority of the wellbeing services offered as part of Do it Differently are not exclusive to the fund and can be accessed independently. If you are in a crisis and wish to find out more about any of these services as a priority, please call 020 7239 9101 or email help@helpmusicians.co.uk to speak with a member of our Health & Welfare team.