Snow is still on the ground, but it’s time for the spring round of the Peer Application Review Groups! Visual Arts Nova Scotia is facilitating this six-week peer-review process to help current members strengthen their upcoming proposals. Artists will get and give feedback by email on applications from two peers, matched based on the type of application that is being made.

If you’re writing a grant or residency application or an exhibition proposal, join a Peer Application Review Group to have your writing looked over by other VANS members writing similar applications. Participants will be given two rough draft deadlines and will be expected to send edits back to their peers the following week. Since it is all done by email, you can participate from anywhere and connect with other artists across the province. Previous participants have had their projects funded/ approved so it is definitely a worthwhile process! But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Previous participants have said:

I am endorsing wholeheartedly the Peer Review opportunity and encourage others to take part in it. It is invaluable.

The Peer Application Review Group program was TERRIFIC! [My fellow group member] and I were a great fit, and I think we helped each other immensely, despite neither one of us having ever applied for a grant previously! We even have plans to hang out, check out some galleries and chat, so that’s cool too!

I have gotten the grant I wrote through the Peer Review group! Both [the other members of the group] were really great to work with and for a first-timer applicant like me, it was extremely valuable! Thank you for giving us this opportunity to improve our writing, make a better application and improve our chances of getting a grant.

To participate in a Peer Application Review Group, sign up by Wednesday, February 28. This deadline gives us enough time for writing and editing before the Arts Nova Scotia deadline for Grants to Individuals on May 15, and the Canada Council for the Arts deadlines in early April. We should have enough time for at least one round of writing and editing before the deadline for Arts Nova Scotia’s Arts Equity Funding Initiative on March 15.