How to get a lighting grant ?

[davidlighting]

Dave Here,

 

Well I am 13 and I am doing lots of show with some of my own equipment and hiring equipment of stage electrics and I heard about a grant where thay support your talent's and help pay for equipment to help in shows and productions. I have 2 moving heads, 3 channel dimmer, 6 par-cans, loads of cables and cases. I use these in the shows I do, I do sometimes hook up into there system and they pay for hire from "stage electrics" I have an "Behringer LC2412" little lighting desk with 120 sub-master and 24 channels and no theatre stacks or cues. I just need starting money to buy a "maXim MP" which is £3438 or the "fat-frog" £2105 or an "mambo- frog" £2499. The maXim or the Mambo wold be best, I am asked to do shows about every 2 months at school or at the local halls these have there lighting rigged but no lighting desk. mine is to small not enough sub-masters to use in these pleases all I need is some money to get me started or to get a grant to get one of these panels and to get a simple kit made up. I can prove my talent's I can get my lighting GCSE teacher to do test and rite a report about me and all the peoples shows I have done I can get reports of them to.

 

Thanks so much I hope you can help, Dave

 

Updated 21/6/6

 

PLEASE - Do NOT remove sections from posts that people reply to later. It makes them look as if they are answering a question that wasn't asked. In this case, your early comment about being 13 and looking for a grant. Clarify things later on with a new post. Lots of BR members don't go back to the start of a thread they have already contributed to. I have restored one of the relevent sentences to make the OP look more like it's previous version.

 

 

Paul

[SceneMaster]

Hi,

 

Not to sound discouraging but at 13 your not legally old enough to work in a pro theatre/venue let alone go up high. I have never heard of a Stage Electrics grant if that’s what you meant or did you mean a general grant from an Art Council of some sort? Many organizations do discounts for educational establishments (such as schools and colleges) but not individuals. If it is possible to get a grant I would have thought you would have to show a portfolio of your work to prove you have the talent you say you do (which you may of course have). Out of interest where have you heard about this grant? When you say you do a lot of shows I presume you mean school/amateur shows?

 

Hope this helps…

 

P.S Welcome to the Blueroom…

 

Edit: Spelling Corrected...

[James S]

What is it you currently do showwise and technically wise?

[Nick S]

Sorry, I've never heard of such a grant...I once had a vague gander into the world of individual Arts Council grants (for music though), but eventually gave up with a combination of confusion and exasperation.

 

Your profile intrigues me - you say you're looking at buying a control desk...for you? What are you exactly doing? School productions, community theatre? Surely it's not you yourself doing the hiring out It's possible you (and by you, I mean the production staff as a whole) might be able to find a particular grant for a production...is that what you meant?

 

Edit:

Thanks for your PM. I'm posting this here so that anyone who wishes to comment or correct me can. Like I say, I don't know of such a grant.

 

From what you've told me, and that's not an awful lot, you're hiring out this gear yourself to bands and the like. I really do advise you to check out the legality of this - you are legally a minor, and there are simply too many issues raised to cover in depth here (in particular, insurance). I urge you to post more details to the whole board, who really are a very friendly and experienced lot willing to offer advice.

[niclights]

Great that you are already so enthusiastic about the job. I'm sure the majority of those here working professionally started out just as young. I know I did & I'm sure I was up in the fly tower at 14/15 although H&S wasn't so strict back then!

 

I don't know details re age etc. but maybe Prince's Trust is a good place to look?

[Nickwoolley]

Or you could always look at the National Youth Theatre, not for grants, but experience in an environment catered for young people.

 

PM me if you have any questions....

[Nick S]

Depending where you live, there are also a variety of theatres offering summer courses or more regular youth theatre groups with a technical side (Bristol Old Vic, for example.)

[Ynot]

well I am 13 and I am doing lots of show with some of my own equipment and hiring equipment of stage electrics and I heard about a grant where thay support your talent's and help pay for equipment to help in shows and productions.

Hi Dave - welcome to the Blue Room.

 

Unfortunately, as others have said you are by a LONG way too young to be considered as an individual for any grant applications that I've come across - I would dare to say ALL grant apps, for that matter.

 

Your best bet, if you're working with a specific group or groups is to look at what they asa group might be able to apply for. However, the obvious thing there is that any grants they get will be spent on kit for the group that applied, andhence that kit will belong to THEM, and not you.

 

Unless you're REALLY lucky, I don't see any way that you can get financial support to buy any gear for you.

 

Sorry.

 

Tony

[niclights]

Editing and completely changing your original post makes things rather confusing. As friendly advice this is never a good idea in forums. Edits should only be done immediately after posting - ie. additions/spelling/grammar. Anything later is better as a reply - this also bumps the thread and means you don't need to PM me! ;)

 

I think your questions have been answered. You are probably too young for grants etc. but the suggestions given are worth following up. Just stick at it - interest and enthusiasm will provide you with a career/living in the long term, but for now money should not be an issue - just have fun. Help out wherever you can. Borrow equipment etc. There's a lot to be said for making do with whatever is available - character building you might say. I'm sure those of us who started out in this way are far more confident than those who immediately got to play with all the big toys. For example amplifying a friends band in a pub with bits and pieces you cobble together teaches a lot more than a course on a Midas. Or learning to control some moving lamps with a basic two-preset desk etc. Frustrating maybe, but will make you better in the long-term.

 

Good luck ;)

[Ynot]

Dave Here,

 

Well I am doing lots of show but I cant pay for the equipment, because my little DMX desk is to small and I need lots more sub masters and moving head control I just need some starting money

 

please HELP,

Thanks, Dave ;)

 

Updated 20/6/6

Well, have to admit, I too was rather confused when I re-read the OP!!

My advice still stands though - get by with what you have at the moment, but if something bigger is needed for specific shows, talk to the group involved and see if they can hire in something more suitable.

 

However, one thing I will say is that whilst you're just 13, there's no excuse for poor grammar & punctuation. Something that comes up regularly here on the BR is an annoyance with what amounts to laziness when it comes to what and how you type. For example, I've corrected your original post:

Dave here,

 

Well, I am doing lots of show but I can't pay for the equipment because my little DMX desk is to small and I need lots more sub masters and moving head control. I just need some starting money.

 

Please HELP.

Thanks, Dave

Seems a little pedantic, I know, but in this life, if you're asking people for anything (information, help, money etc) it pays to look at HOW you're asking. The occasional error or mis-type is not a problem (eg my space bar doesn't always co-operate!!) but just paying attention to the details of a post can help enormously.

Tony

[niclights]

...there seem to be full-stops missing from your 'eg' and 'etc' or were you applying style conventions? ;)

 

(Appologies. Disgustingly offtopic. I too hate bad grammar though I admit I often get confused with comma rules. Just couldn't resist uber-pedant mode ;) )

 

/Edit: ooops!

[Pete Alcock]

Dave,

 

Please don't be discouraged. Many members of this board started out very young, with a fascination and passion for lighting, sound and theatrical stuff generally. I built and ran a mobile disco when I was 14 (mobile courtesy of a mate's Dad's car), and know the frustration of simply not being able to buy the stuff you want.

 

You mention you're limited by the desk; does this mean that you already own movers, dimmer packs and so-on, or do you hook-in to the venue's DMX, fixtures and dimmers? What kind of gigs/shows do you do? Are you hoping to hire yourself (your desk & expertise) or just your kit out?

 

I suppose there is some merit in buying a good desk yourself - you can become totally expert with it's programming, but if you're in a school environment there is the issue of whether it might get damaged. Schools probably wouldn't pay for repairs if someone say dropped a hookclamp on it during the set up for a school production!

 

If you're dead serious about this, could you borrow some dosh from a member of the family on the understanding that you'll pay them back over time? As other folks have said here, you won't be able to get a grant or gift unless you're an organisation like a youth club, school or Church, and after all, you couldn't really expect that if the kit's going to end up being yours anyway.

 

Give us some more information and you'll get plenty of helpful ideas.

 

Cheers,

 

Pete.

[PDD]

I'm not being harsh here, but simply-speaking, why should you get some money for kit, when I'm sure 100's, if not 1000's of other teenagers would love 2 or 3 grand to spend on whatever they liked (let's face it, so would we all). At the end of the day, you're still at school, you cannot make a living from this, and you don't have a need for a grant. Enjoy the hobby, enjoy building up your kit (there's a lot to be said for saving up the money to buy something you really want), and get the experience, but I doubt anybody is going to give you money just for a new lighting desk at your fancy.

 

P.S. Please can you stop completely re-writing your original post... try hitting "reply" instead ;) (a little edit is fine, like I've done to this post)...

 

P.P.S. As others have rightly (and more productively) said, hire or borrow a desk in the meantime.

[Pete McCrea]

Hello David.

 

We'd all love grants to get going- I could do with more new projectors and screens....

 

The best way is to save towards getting one of the desks you mention. Work what you've got and learn how to use it well. If you get a good reputation for doing a good job you'll be fighting the work away, and before you kbow it, there may well be the cash available to buy it.

[mumbles]

I couldn't agree more with LittleDJ. Having spent a fair bit on kit, I now have 8 movers, many par cans, 48 ways of dimming and lots of cable, but now want to buy a desk. Preferably a used pearl, but cant afford it. On this basis, I hire a fat frog for most things or a pearl for bigger shows, and use my USB-DMX for others where the money is tight, but am slowly accumulating funds to buy a desk.

 

I can only suggest to persevere with earning bits here and there (difficult for a 13 year old I know) and very soon you'll be sitting there with enough to buy something to offer a greater level of control. Also, depending on what hire budgets you have for school shows, don't be afraid to hire a desk. It will take a surprisingly long time for a desk to earn back its value especially if you have any problems with it.

 

Good luck and persevere, you'll get there in the end.