D.1 Lifeline Plan / Sustainability Plan
The Lifeline Plans replace what is known as a funding application. While conventional funding applications obey the logic of production, expansion, and productivity in the face of judgemental evaluation—approval or non-approval—this system draws from the ethical principle of inclusivity and care, and makes a plan that celebrates life and living processes. It does not shy away from experimentation and interrogation, leaving open the door for trial and error.
The Lifeline Plans that we create, become ‘lifelines’ which reflect all the interests, needs and priorities of the organizations that form the Arts Collaboratory and serve as a kind of foundation for the network. The plans serve as a readily available main reference which can be used to learn about the activities of the members of the network.
The Lifeline Plans are written for a period of minimum 5 years, the agreed time that each organization will receive funding from within AC.
In 2015, AC secured funding from DOEN for a 3-year period, with a high possibility of a renewal for an additional 2-years. This was a guarantee to enable Arts Collaboratory to start building sustainability without a competitive or (self-) exploitative scheme.
This proposal invited all the current Arts Collaboratory members to create a Lifeline Plan of maximum 5 pages.
It was requested that the Lifeline plans include the following details:
Articulate the resources already generated by each organisation by creating a Resource Map (see section D2 for full details of the Resource Map);
Discuss ‘life-lines’ (instead of deadlines) and ways to survive long-term by creating a Lifeline Proposal that includes long term thinking on the sustainable survival of our organisations (create a timeline to articulate how we are thinking long term);
Budget (see section D3 for details): At the moment, the funds available are equally set between the current members of the AC ecosystem at 75,000 Euro per year for a period of 5 years. The usage of the funds is two-folds: a max. of 50,000 Euro could be used to fuel the life-line of each member, while the rest is destined for the permanent activities and working groups of AC (Assembly, Banga Meetings, communication, ETP, etc.).
The Lifeline plan is one of the investments that each organization gives in terms of imagination for sustainability, it is an exercise to imagine how to survive with the possibility of using some specific resources and walking with the other experiences of AC Members.
The plans were submitted to DOEN and a commitment for funding for 3 years was given to all of the organizations.
See Appendix for the Guidelines to develop a lifeline plan.
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