If you want to see a snapshot of a world in a particular moment, I have the perfect camera.

This camera reveals the good, the bad and the fundable of all it captures for people like me who like to grasp a sense of a community through raw data as well as reputation.  What is my camera?  It isn’t a camera but actually a lens on a specific group.  This particular group is the literary nonprofit world in New York State.  Why am I so interested in it?

I work in a field populated by artists of diverse backgrounds and disciplines.  The scope and range of artistic activities in Queens is astounding.  Yet, the one discipline that does not meet the eye as often as it should is the literary arts.  There are many reasons why:  writers tend to work alone, there are also many writers in this borough who create work in languages other than English and depend on translation to make their work accessible.

In planning to address this, I began looking at the literary universe more closely and talking to writers about how I could be helpful in supporting their creative efforts.  When Laurie Torrell of Just Buffalo, an upstate writing center, asked me to serve as a panelist for the LitTap strategic technology grants, I immediately said yes.

This is my lens.

I read thirty applications requesting technology support for a wide range of projects.  This gave me a rare birds eye view of the literary scene across New York State and more importantly, a better idea of what resources, existing programs and unexpected areas of need are out there.

Here are some of my thoughts after the panel review:

1.  All unsuccessful applicants should be invited to sit as panelists so they understand how a fundable application “reads” on the other side of the table.

2.  Basic grantwriting is a skill every organization needs.

3.  Technology is a one legged runner if it is used in programs but not in marketing.

4.  Everyone is all over the place on the tech trajectory.  Any initiative that is worth funding is worth sharing as a pilot.

The panel review process is a fascinating one.  Not perfect, but democratic and somehow it just seems to work.

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