Hello Jamie,

I don't think the objection was as much ideological as practical - we did not do the sort of writing that competitions sought, so to enter would have been to throw good entry fee money down the drain.  Grants at least allowed a broader range of creative approaches however the grant application process gradually became a vehicle of humiliation as trained arts administrators took over with their executive speak and blue sky brain storms. The stupidity of the questions on application forms increased and seemed designed to annoy or wrong foot you and I finally saw red when the last grant form I saw actually asked me what my sexual orientation was!  I complained that the question was deeply offensive and they wrote back and said it was 'government policy'.  I was so livid by this intrusion of the State into the state my knicker drawer (so to speak) that I sent a copy of the form off to my MP for an explanation.  At the time it was Richard Caborn (who apart from his support of the Iraq Adventure was actually a very good M.P.) - he was as taken aback as I was and assured me the government didn't give a toss what or who turned me on and wrote to the offending Arts Board clarifying that no government policy existed.  A rather flustered response came from the Arts Board.  It was a Pyrrhic victory as I didn't get the grant.

 

So the bottom line is we are all charity cases and I am easily humiliated! Poets have always been charity cases.  It is our lot in life.  And I won 20 quid on a scratch card last week so I think that may be the way forward....no strings attached...and more money than I've ever won through my writing.

 

Cheers,

 

Geraldine