Toto Funds The Arts: Calling All Artists!
Now in its 13th edition, Toto Funds the Arts – a non-profit trust and multi-disciplinary award – is inviting artists from various disciplines to submit their work for the chance to win cash prizes to further their artistic pursuits. The trust will give out eight awards in total in 2017 – one for Music (Rs. 60,000), two for Photography (Rs.30,000 each), two for creative writing in English (Rs.30,000), one for creative writing in Kannada (Rs.30,000) and two for Short Films (Rs.30,000 each). Submissions from photographers, filmmakers, writers, musicians and bands are being accepted, with the deadline for submissions being October 7th 2016.
“All the Toto Funds The Arts awards are about recognizing potential and originality, as opposed to achievement” says Toto board member and former Lounge Piranha frontman Abhijeet Tambe, elaborating on the supportive nature of the grant’s ethos and approach. While several other industry grants require a certain level of accomplishment, Toto places the emphasis on providing a stepping stone for up and coming talent. “However this is a slippery slope in a rapidly changing music industry” continues Tambe, “ten years ago we used to say that recording quality does not matter while applying for the award. But young musicians these days have access to great gear for recording their own music – so yes, we are still invested in recognizing potential, but we do expect our applicants to put some time and energy into their recordings and find creative ways to explore their ideas and express themselves well”.
With past winners including the likes of Peter Cat Recording Company, Prateek Kuhad, and Parvaaz, the grant has supported several musicians in earlier stages of their career who today are established performing artists. Founded on purely philanthropic principles, it honours the memory of music, film and art lover Angirus ‘Toto’ Vellani who was tragically killed in an accident in 2004. “We are for the most part self funded” Tambe told IndiEarth, “We raise funds for our awards by doing workshops and other kinds of events through the year, and we also get some donations. One of our awards for photography is funded by Tasveer, a gallery in Bangalore, but for the most part we don’t have sponsors and fund ourselves”.
Applying is simple – simply fill out this form and follow the instructions.
Deadline: October 7th 2016
For more details visit http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.ca/
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