In this blog, Hannah Kirkham, Project Manager for Locus+ shares her experience on The National Arts Fundraising School 2014. Locus+ is a visual arts commissioning agency that works with artists on the production and presentation of socially engaged, collaborative and temporary projects, primarily for non-gallery locations.
The National Arts Fundraising School was the best fundraising training I’ve had.
Bernard and Philly were engaging and inspiring as they successfully communicated a lot of information on all aspects of fundraising. I must admit the idea of a six-day training course filled me with some dread, however I’m so glad I did it and can honestly say it was a really enjoyable experience and I got to meet a great bunch of people.
Coming from a lean organisation, with no full-time fundraiser, the ability to focus on fundraising for a whole week and to study alongside people from other organisations and backgrounds was really intense and I don’t think I would have come away with the same rich experience, had I been on six separate training days.
The presentational work we did was particularly challenging, but really rewarding. Working closely in a small team to develop a pitch which we would then be filmed presenting to the group, was stressful, but really enjoyable. The coaching that we received during the process and feedback afterwards was so useful and will stay with me for a long time.
Hannah Kirkham,
Project Manager,
Locus+
