Just a 48-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). 2025 is the year of Grants, for our household.
MH was instrumental in getting a grant for the cable access show that he works on. This grant was secured last year but took some months to come through. It's not a lot, but MH is receiving $50 every time he works in the studio or works an event. He also just received a reimbursement for some dues he needs to pay to access the public studio. That's $460 for 5 months. (He missed out on at least $100, re: travel plans the past month). The grant should last through the end of the this year. Future grants seem more unlikely.
I believe this grant was specifically awarded so that they could pay their volunteers and invest in more studio time. I don't remember all the logistics, but MH zeroed in on what would actually get them money. Some version of investing in and improving the community.
MH's current plan is to get a grant for his next film. He's talking to more people who got grants for their films. This is clearly a lot less work (and a lot less fees and overhead to pay) compared to the alternative of crowdfunding. Though realistically he'd probably have to do a combo of both.
If you read my blog, you are well aware of the middle class grants my kids are getting for attending public California colleges. I was surprised that DL(20)'s grant amount bumped up this year.
& then MM(22) got a job as a student research assistant at his college, when unexpected grants came through. It sounded like a situation where other students expected that not to come through and they accepted other jobs. MM(22) made out well with the turn of events. He made $5,500 at his very part-time summer job. & then the job was extended through the school year, when another large and unexpected grant came through.
Edited to add: No idea if this has anything to do with grants, but MM(22) just told me that he no longer has to buy food for his infite LA road trips (re: rose float project). He drives down most weekends, during the fall quarter. His college got a budget to cover more meals. Lucky for him.
October 15th, 2025 at 11:59 am 1760525981