Writing an application and want to have a better chance of getting the gig?

I had a ‘SOS’ call with one of my EVOLVE artists yesterday. This is a 20-minute call when help is needed ASAP.
 
The artist wanted to discuss a solo exhibition proposal due the next day. We focused our discussion on the exhibition idea, the heart of the application.

We both knew the major challenge was going to be communicating her beautifully complex ideas, processes and vision clearly and succinctly. We needed the reader to ‘get it’ immediately.
 
You may be surprised, but most of our 20 minutes was focused on one sentence. Yep, one sentence. The first sentence of the exhibition idea, a 200-400 passage of writing. 
 
“We need the first sentence to sum up your idea completely. We cannot hide this in the third paragraph or leave it up to the reader to put it all together.’ I heard myself say. ‘We need to make it easy for them and the best way I know how to do this is the old what, how and why method.’
 
So, what does this look like?
It could look like this.


WHAT is the exhibition?
Is it a sound installation? A collection of large sculptures? Is it participatory? A video? Performance? Group? Solo? Online? New work? Retrospective? Site specific? A collaboration? 
 
HOW will the work be made and how will the exhibition be created?
Your medium? Your materials? Your processes? How will the work be installed and presented?
 
WHY do you want to do it?
Why is it important to you? What are the key ideas? It is personal, local, connected to place, or a current world issue? Are you bringing together two disparate ideas or elements? Are you shining light on something unseen? Starting a new conversation? 
 

It seems simple, but it’s tricky.

This first sentence takes time to construct. You need to extract the essentials and part with the non-essentials. It’s best done after you have written everything else. You need perspective on your own work and ideas.

So, we thrashed it out, the artist and me. We were both stumbling our way through, not landing on it right away. Chucking ideas back and forth. This is an essential part of the process.

Just before we were about to finish, she spoke her sentence. Yes! That’s it. No fluff. Straight to the point of what the work and the exhibition was going to be, how she would create it and why she wanted to do it. It was distinct and exciting.

It felt good and right.

In this SOS call the focus was on a solo exhibition proposal. I would use the same approach for a grant application, an artist residency application or a public art or community engagement proposal.
 
So, in your next application, pay a lot of attention to that first sentence.

Perhaps give it the most attention of all.