| Grants & Awards |
March, 2010
Canada Arts Council Grant
$12,000 Professional Writers grant, awarded for a
non-fiction manuscript by a peer assessment
committee.
June, 2009
Ontario Arts Council Grant
$12,000 Works-in-Progress grant, awarded for a
creative non-fiction manuscript. Projects are
selected from a large pool of applicants across
Ontario and recommended for funding by a panel
of four jurors on the sole basis of literary merit.
September, 2008
Toronto Arts Council Grant
$2000 Level One grant, awarded for a non-fiction
manuscript. This grant from the Toronto Arts
Council is awarded to Toronto-area emerging new
writers and provides assistance for the creation of
new works or works-in-progress.
July, 2008
Timothy Findley Scholarship,
Humber School for Writers
Awarded on the basis of an early manuscript draft,
this scholarship allowed Elisa to attend the 2008
Humber School for Writers intensive Summer
Workshop.
Canada Arts Council Grant
$12,000 Professional Writers grant, awarded for a
non-fiction manuscript by a peer assessment
committee.
June, 2009
Ontario Arts Council Grant
$12,000 Works-in-Progress grant, awarded for a
creative non-fiction manuscript. Projects are
selected from a large pool of applicants across
Ontario and recommended for funding by a panel
of four jurors on the sole basis of literary merit.
September, 2008
Toronto Arts Council Grant
$2000 Level One grant, awarded for a non-fiction
manuscript. This grant from the Toronto Arts
Council is awarded to Toronto-area emerging new
writers and provides assistance for the creation of
new works or works-in-progress.
July, 2008
Timothy Findley Scholarship,
Humber School for Writers
Awarded on the basis of an early manuscript draft,
this scholarship allowed Elisa to attend the 2008
Humber School for Writers intensive Summer
Workshop.
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Elisa Hategan
© Elisa Romero Hategan www.elisahategan.com
My Philosophy...
Until now, if you chose to be a full-time writer you would face an
uncertain, grueling profession - you could get piecemeal publication,
one or two poems at a time in various magazines, and get rejected
ten, twenty times over for no reason other than that the editor’s style
did not reflect your own, or they had an idea of an angle for the new
issue and your work just didn’t fit in.
Where could you go for money? One place you tend to assume artists
can get funding from are municipal and provincial art councils.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the jury members on
those arts committees don't have their own preferences for certain
types of art. I'm not talking about all juries, of course - and it's not
an issue of sour grapes because I have had projects funded. But
sometimes biases do happen, because everyone is human. Rejection
is an unavoidable part of a writer's path, and, as anything in life, such
personal judgment calls on the part of editors, reviewers or literary
juries are unavoidable. And you cannot assume that your writing is
crap simply because your project is not recommended for a grant or
an award.
In fact, having just very recently served as a juror on an arts funding
committee, I can tell you that there simply is NOT enough government
money to fund all outstanding projects, and A LOT of exceptional
writers and projects can suffer as a result. In fact, the top three
projects I felt most strongly about were NOT funded. (There were
about ten in total I felt terrible about not being funded, but the
competition was fierce – as luck would have it, we had a record
number of applicants, the most applications ever in one cycle of this
organization).
I fought as hard as I could for them and other works I absolutely
loved, but in the end my hands were tied by the budgetary
constraints and the process itself. By the end of the day I was
absolutely dejected, feeling guilt at having failed to push them
through, and I know for a fact that all the other jurors also had
personal favourites that didn’t make the cut. It was an eye-opening
experience. So remember, such things DO happen. There are tons of
brilliant artists out there – writers, poets, graphic artists – and not
enough money to go around. So please don’t let an arbitrary decision
influence your future as a writer.
Sometimes I think we should step back and look at the historical
context of publishing. A large number of writers of the past, including
the 19th French poets I looked up to when I was a student, had all
self-published, then distributed, their own work in various circles,
until it “caught on”. No self-respecting publishing house had
published Rimbaud, or Baudelaire, or any of the more scandalous
writers of later day. But those “scandalous” writers – think Henry
Miller, Anais Nin – eventually swayed, and altered the course of the
industry.
I’m not saying we should all go and self-publish directly, since I
myself am pursuing traditional means of publication. But I also realize
that when the beat poets of the 1970s made up their own poetry,
they distributed it illicitly, like political manifestos, in taverns and on
the street, and nobody gave a hoot as to whether the prestigious
Harvard Review published them. When rappers put verse to song,
everybody laughed. They’re crazy, they said. This isn’t art. Until it
caught on.
Always remember that demand is what drives any industry. We are in
a new age, where talent only, where the story itself, not the censors,
will control which way the industry goes.
If you don't allow yourself to be discouraged, you will succeed. It's
only a matter of time, a continuous process of improving and refining
your craft. Once you have something in print, it CHANGES you. It’s
hard to describe -- it’s as though a process begins inside you, deep at
the molecular structure of your being; your self-esteem unwinds, as
does your realization that it IS possible. ANYTHING is possible.
There are so many talented voices out there, and we are all making
our way through the muck. But at least we are shaping our own
futures. We can begin today to promote ourselves and revolutionize
the world. We hold our destinies in our own hands.
Until now, if you chose to be a full-time writer you would face an
uncertain, grueling profession - you could get piecemeal publication,
one or two poems at a time in various magazines, and get rejected
ten, twenty times over for no reason other than that the editor’s style
did not reflect your own, or they had an idea of an angle for the new
issue and your work just didn’t fit in.
Where could you go for money? One place you tend to assume artists
can get funding from are municipal and provincial art councils.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the jury members on
those arts committees don't have their own preferences for certain
types of art. I'm not talking about all juries, of course - and it's not
an issue of sour grapes because I have had projects funded. But
sometimes biases do happen, because everyone is human. Rejection
is an unavoidable part of a writer's path, and, as anything in life, such
personal judgment calls on the part of editors, reviewers or literary
juries are unavoidable. And you cannot assume that your writing is
crap simply because your project is not recommended for a grant or
an award.
In fact, having just very recently served as a juror on an arts funding
committee, I can tell you that there simply is NOT enough government
money to fund all outstanding projects, and A LOT of exceptional
writers and projects can suffer as a result. In fact, the top three
projects I felt most strongly about were NOT funded. (There were
about ten in total I felt terrible about not being funded, but the
competition was fierce – as luck would have it, we had a record
number of applicants, the most applications ever in one cycle of this
organization).
I fought as hard as I could for them and other works I absolutely
loved, but in the end my hands were tied by the budgetary
constraints and the process itself. By the end of the day I was
absolutely dejected, feeling guilt at having failed to push them
through, and I know for a fact that all the other jurors also had
personal favourites that didn’t make the cut. It was an eye-opening
experience. So remember, such things DO happen. There are tons of
brilliant artists out there – writers, poets, graphic artists – and not
enough money to go around. So please don’t let an arbitrary decision
influence your future as a writer.
Sometimes I think we should step back and look at the historical
context of publishing. A large number of writers of the past, including
the 19th French poets I looked up to when I was a student, had all
self-published, then distributed, their own work in various circles,
until it “caught on”. No self-respecting publishing house had
published Rimbaud, or Baudelaire, or any of the more scandalous
writers of later day. But those “scandalous” writers – think Henry
Miller, Anais Nin – eventually swayed, and altered the course of the
industry.
I’m not saying we should all go and self-publish directly, since I
myself am pursuing traditional means of publication. But I also realize
that when the beat poets of the 1970s made up their own poetry,
they distributed it illicitly, like political manifestos, in taverns and on
the street, and nobody gave a hoot as to whether the prestigious
Harvard Review published them. When rappers put verse to song,
everybody laughed. They’re crazy, they said. This isn’t art. Until it
caught on.
Always remember that demand is what drives any industry. We are in
a new age, where talent only, where the story itself, not the censors,
will control which way the industry goes.
If you don't allow yourself to be discouraged, you will succeed. It's
only a matter of time, a continuous process of improving and refining
your craft. Once you have something in print, it CHANGES you. It’s
hard to describe -- it’s as though a process begins inside you, deep at
the molecular structure of your being; your self-esteem unwinds, as
does your realization that it IS possible. ANYTHING is possible.
There are so many talented voices out there, and we are all making
our way through the muck. But at least we are shaping our own
futures. We can begin today to promote ourselves and revolutionize
the world. We hold our destinies in our own hands.