How to get Music Grants for Touring

/ FACTOR/

So you want to get a music grant for touring/showcasing but have no idea where to start. I know the feeling. I wrote this blog to show you exactly what I did to get almost $5,000 in grants to tour Japan and showcase my music at an international music festival.

It might not be much, but I did it. As I have been applying to music grants, I have not been able to find a lot of “how to” information.

Here is an interesting fact, touring/traveling/showcase music grants are approved more than sound recording grants.

Stats from Factor’s 2018 report published on January 7, 2019

Stats from Factor’s 2018 report published on January 7, 2019

Why? Well as you can see from the above diagram, it’s because there is less applications/competition. I have been applying for music grants for my band, Lauren Spike, for the last two years. I can admit that I have felt a lot of frustration. I have applied for about 5 recording grants and 3 touring/travel grants. For recording music grants, I have applied twice to the FACTOR JSR program, twice to The Toronto Arts Council and once to the Ontario Arts Council. To date, out of those applications, I have had 3 touring/travel grants approved for funding.  So to do the math, 0% of my recording music grants have been successful and 100% of my touring/travel grants have. I tell you this not to showcase how bad I am at writing music grants for recording (lol), but to show you that you should not to give up on this. Being a punk artist, I assumed the odds were stacked against me. I thought “Only Folk bands get music grants”. Many people I talk to say things like “music grants are just not for me” but they are wrong. They are for everyone. You just need to find what works for you.

What worked for me:

1. The FACTOR Live Performance grant for Showcases.
2. The SOCAN foundation’s Travel assistance grant.

FACTOR has a list of approved eligible showcases that can be found here.

TIP: Find a showcase on the list that you would like to present your music at and apply. Once accepted to the showcase, apply for a Live Performance grant from Factor.