The Grant Reviewer’s Perspective | Tips on Writing A Successful Grant

What makes a successful grant application? Let's ask the people who review them! This webinar is for any grant applicant who wonders, “What exactly are they looking for?”  Join Maine Arts Commission Program Director Martha Piscuskas and guests for a discussion about what makes a grant application stand out as a cut above the rest. We’ve assembled a stellar panel of grant reviewers, who are also artists themselves, to share their best practices and techniques for effective grant writing. This virtual workshop is free and open to the public. The video will be available on demand as a resource for the 2022 Maine Arts Commission grant cycle. 

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PANELISTS

Samaa Abdurraqib, Associate Director, Maine Humanities Council

Samaa provides strategic direction for the development and implementation of the MHC’s statewide work and is staff lead for advancing the MHC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities. In partnership with the Executive Director, she works to support the strategic planning, budgeting, fundraising, and administrative functions of the MHC.

Samaa lives in Brunswick with her cat, Stashiell Hammett, Resident Charmer & Most Attractive Feline In The World. She enjoys birding, hiking and being outdoors, and coaching leaders of color. She is an Outdoor Afro leader in Portland, Maine, and has been connecting with Black people in the outdoors for over three years. Samaa also loves writing and has recently returned to writing poetry and creative non-fiction after a 15 year hiatus. She’s recently published her first chapbook, Each Day Is Like an Anchor (2020).

Nat May, Program Officer, Onion Foundation

Nat is the Arts Program Officer at the Onion Foundation and a founding Board member of Common Field and the Hewnoaks Artist Colony. He previously served as the first Executive Director of SPACE in Portland, Maine, where he established The Kindling Fund, supporting individual artist grantees. Nat has worked with or advised numerous local and national arts organizations such as National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital, Americans for the Arts, The Alliance of Artist Communities, The Portland Museum of Art, Maine College of Art and Indigo Arts Alliance. In addition to his interest in the arts, Nat worked with Portland Food Co-op to plan and open its retail location, volunteers with the Maine Tool Library, and has trained as a Master Gardener Volunteer.

Sara Trunzo, Musical Artist and Organizational Consultant

Sara Trunzo is a singer-songwriter andfood system organizer.  She has toured nationally and worked in Nashville, but always returns home to Maine. Her latest record, Cabin Fever Dream, appeared on both folk and americana radio charts. She is a co-founder of Veggies For All andWaldo County Bounty, both rural Maine food security organizations. She provides consulting services (fundraising, grant writing, and storytelling) to organizations, and is a former advisor of the Waldo County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation.